I put nylock nuts on to hold the eccentric nuts without needing a longer bolt. It works fine. I haven’t had to re-adjust the V wheels at all.
You’ve pretty much described the eccentric spacers which were the antecedents of the eccentric nuts: Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable
The fact that parts are made to tolerance ranges pretty much mandates that there be some sort of adjustment.
One important thing to remember about the eccentric nuts is that once tightened, they must be turned in unison w/ the bolt they’re attached to or you’ll loosen or over-tighten them.
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As for the eccentric nuts loosening up over time, I put a small drop of the blue (reversible) loctite on the exposed bolt threads after I did the assembly and adjustment, then added a m5 jam nut from ace hardware on top of the eccentric just for a bit of added security.
I have yet to have any of my v wheels loosen up yet at all.
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I was frustrated at the beginning, also I ripped of almost half of my thump nail once. Started to thinking about other options. Looking for less maintenance, dependable equipment. Some how stick my nose to some well known equipment. No name here. Phone exchanged with sales and support people. Here is what I found in real world;
Machine cost $14988.00
Delivery and setup cost $ 1128.00
Yearly maintenance cost (round) $400 - 600
Extended warranty for 3 years after 1 year standard $ 2800
I decided to give a big hug to my machine, sleep together.
Now I have incredable solid, rigid and accurate X-Carve I call him Fredy. We love each other with respect. I give him what he wants, he give me 10 times more.
Because Fredy cost me only delivery and setup cost for so called real world machine.
You can not get what you want if you don’t know giving.
If it makes cents.
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I’m having trouble getting my X-Carve set up but don’t hate the machine (yet). I’ve seen what other users here have done with their X-Carves so know that my problems can be overcome. I’m just getting frustrated in making no progress despite the help I’ve received here.
I’m hoping it will be a Eureka moment, something obvious that I’ll be too embarrassed to mention. 
Eureka moments suck. Of course, I wouldn’t know, I’d never admit to having spent a whole weekend rewiring my CNC cart (and relay) because the 611 wouldn’t start, just to find out Sunday night that the 611 switch was off the whole time… 
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When i was a wee teen I changed an engine in a toyota only to find afterwards that the distributor cap was from a datsun and all the numbers on it were in the wrong firing order… 
Moral: dont overlook the simple things expecting to find something major.
That is to funny Rob! I have been having a heck of the time getting my limit switches to work only to find that the Y and X access wires were swapped where it connects to the G-Shield.
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I hardly ever have to adjust my machine. I use eccentric spacers and nylock nuts with hex head bolts, the rigidity mod and zip ties on my belts. Once in a while I test the v-wheels with my finger and they are easy to adjust if they are loose, but they never are. Also, calibrated the axes. Do those things and it works fine. Little bit of work up front (in retrospect) and many of your problems will vanish. I let gunk CAKE on to my rails as well. Does NOT effect the cut until it really starts to get out of hand. I use a kitchen scrub pad (dry) to wipe once and they are perfectly clean again. Simple dust boot helps here too.
As others have pointed out above, this is a self-constructed device aimed at the hobbyist market. As such, the differences in build quality and operator experience and skill will be significant (and I mean really really huge)
I’ve seen two different tradesmen use the same 50 year old machine, with one producing almost unusable work and the other producing pistons that are accurate to within a tenth of a thou’. I’ve seen people use beautiful machines that are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and produce work that I could have made with a file. I’ve also seen people make stuff with hobby machines in their shed that would put aerospace work to shame.
Machines, even really good ones, are rarely set & forget. Often, it’s relatively simple to make one widget, but astonishingly difficult to produce another 10 exactly the same.
Every machine is different, and to produce good consistent work, the operator needs to learn the idiosyncrasies of their machine and how to compensate for them. Sometimes this is simple, sometimes this takes half a lifetime to learn.
I can understand @Tatmonster45 's frsutrations (as will every apprentice), However time, practice, persevernece and lots of questions will probably be the solution…
What is the rigidity mod and do you have a link to those eccentric nuts you used ?
i had some major issues with the machine for the first 2 months of ownership. most were my fault but there were a few things that i didnt have control over ~ crappy spindle and flaky software. however once i got my machine dialed in its been trouble free. i just check for loose vwheels and check the belt tension before using it each day but havent had any issue with either or anything else for the last 4-5 months
I’ve had much of the same problems starting out. But stick with it, Mine is humming along now with no issues! Once you find that sweet spot, you’ll be very happy
Here is the link to increasing how ridged the X axis is. There are a lot of different ways it is being done.
Dave
Ariel, WA
Eccentric Spacer – Inventables, Inc. They are spacers not nuts. You use nylock nuts with these and they will not loosen. It also helps to use a regular bolt instead of a allen wrench bolt to make tightening easier. It’s hard to get that wrench in there.
There is some discussion of fastening the double Makerslide X-axis together in: Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable
I installed the eccentric spacers and you are correct, it is a much better solution. I hope Inventables will make them part of the standard kit.
The odd thing (to me) is the eccentric spacers were the original design, and were standard on the SO1 — the eccentric nuts were introduced w/ the SO2, I guess to reduce parts count and expense and to allow some parts to be closer / project less.
Yes you are correct. But I was still excited about the prospect of eccentric nuts. And they do work, with blue locktite. It’s just easier to tune with spacers, especiallly using two box wrenches instead of an allen wrench. I am using a combination on “SON OF X-CARVE - THE SEQUEL” because I have them on hand. And, I already have a feeling that an eccentric spacer order is… in order.