Thoughts on Stiffening mod

I’ll report problem for you Dave, if you remember we were discussing non parallel Y axis problem couple weeks ago.
That was my mistake while drilling maker slides. Hole wasn’t absolute angle, causing maker slides pulling each other unevenly. Result of that, pulling Y axis holding plate a little. The bottom line is not to material using for stiffness, making those screw holes straight under drill-press is the most important key I believe. Thanks for your advises for troubleshooting. I’m back to perfect condition again.
Cheers.

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Alan

I’m glad you were able to solve the problem. You have hit on one issue that can arise when doing the stiffening mod.
With 99% of X-Carve owners not having a milling machine in there shop to set up fixtures on to drill the holes in the 3 pieces dead on, owners have to rely on what they do have.
If an owner has a drill press and clamps then with careful set up good holes can be drilled.
If all that an owner only has a cordless drill and clamps then it is a good idea to drill the holes in stages. Start with a smaller drill and work up to the final size in a couple of stages. If you are using steel for your center plate it is easier to push a small drill through first and then larger drills.
One trick that owners with just a hand drill can use is get a piece of hard wood that you can drill a good square hole in for your starter drill. after drilling this hole check it with your square to insure that it is square with the block of wood. Now you have a drill guide that you can clamp to the work and use to get your holes square with the MS.

I offer this information to help others that are thinking of making the stiffening mod to there machine. This mod helps the X-Carve be a better machine and can be done by all owners beginner to advanced.

Dave

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I didn’t even remove my rails to drill them. In fact, I didn’t disassemble anything to do this mod. The only thing I did was remove the cable from the middle of the maker slide and loosen the mounting bolts on the ends. Then I drilled clean through. No misaligned holes. And just an FYI, you do not have to re-route the wire, say thru the top channel like some have. If you take your time you can thread it back thru the maker slide with the bolts running thru it. The wire should have space either above or below the bolts.

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Hello there. I just wanted to make an observation about this particular part. It certainly is the right shape and thickness. However, the horizontal portion is too wide. The v-wheels cannot roll freely with this part installed. In fact, one cannot insert the carriage with the part installed. I actually tried.
At this point I have a couple of options but I think what I will end up doing is purchasing just a metal beam from Home Depot and drilling the appropriate holes. Trimming this part would be too time consuming.

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I am using an aluminum tee. It was purchased as a 1 1/2" wide and tall piece. I simply trimmed (the bottom, horizontal section) to 1 3/16" wide on my table saw with an appropriate blade and safety devices. It fits perfectly on the underside of the gantry using the same bolt-through treatment as the flat bar. I will post some pics when I get a chance. I believe the aluminum tee is more rigid (and lighter) than a flat bar. The bottom of the tee cradles the makerslide and makes it virtually impossible to sag–it holds itself up.

If you are uncomfortable cutting aluminum, or are not equipped to do so, a local machine shop could do this for you for an affordable price.

I had a steel flat bar in place but decided to try the tee due to the observation I had of the gantry “bouncing” a bit during fast direction changes. There was no longer any noticeable flex, but rather a certain inertia present when the Y axis changed direction. Fastening the whole frame to the table may have eliminated this, but my thinking was that over time the extra weight of the steel may wear on the motors and belts. The aluminum tee is half the weight and is, in my opinion, a better solution. Sag, bow, and twist are gone from the gantry–as well as the inertia bounce. I’m not an expert on the physics by any means, but my eyeballs and test cuts tell me the solution I have implemented works the best for my situation.

How necessary is this mod? If all I need is 1/32" accuracy from my machine, will I even be able to tell? I don’t have my machine yet, so not sure. I’m concerned about adding weight to the already heavy gantry with the dewalt on there.

Ryan, I would consider this mod almost essential, especially if you can do it during the initial build. The additional weight is negligible for the two Nema23’s, not sure how the 17’s would handle the additional weight but I would guess that it wouldn’t be much of an issue. I have a single Nema 23 running the Z axis of my milling machine and I’m sure I’m asking way more of that motor than the X-carve is asking of the dual motors on the Y axis. If you clamp the extrusions with the steel/aluminium bar between them and use a drill press to drill the holes it’s a fairly easy operation. Just take you time to make sure the extrusions are square to each other and the bar doesn’t extend past the top of the extrusions and you won’t have a problem. Drilling the holes slightly oversized will give you some wiggle room when you are making the final adjustments to the machine

It is more removing chatter then accuracy.If you have you calibration right then accuracy follows by default. You will soon discover that if you got your machine ordered before they dropped the cheap motor with a collet adapter that they referred to as a spindle that you will want to move up to a trim router or a VFD spindle that will cut all day without crapping out.

Dave

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Here are some pics of the mod using 1 1/2" aluminum tee, milled down to 1 3/16" width. It ends up exactly even with the edge of the T-slots on the bottom of the makerslide and the top edge of the side T-slots.

This has proven to be more rigid than the flat steel sandwich for me, and the total weight of the assembly comes in at at just under 5 lbs. without the cradle. The steel mod weighed in at almost 6.5 lbs. without the cradle. It feels more solid than the steel as well. Almost like one solid piece; I can’t flex or twist it in any direction by hand with all the force I can give. The steel bar had a hint of flex on the flat side (bowing) but nothing top to bottom (sagging). That may be why I saw a spring or bouncing (kind of like a whipping backlash) action with fast direction changes on the Y axis. I am getting none of that with the aluminum tee.

The aluminum tee cost me $27 for an 8-foot section. I have enough left over for another 1000mm or two (almost three) 500mm X-Carve upgrades. Highly recommended if you want maximum rigidity using the stock makerslides. If someone really wanted to, there is enough room to add t-nuts and recessed machine screws to the bottom of the assembly. For me, the furniture bolts seemed more than adequate.

As a side note… there was an issue with an uneven spot on the “V” edge of the makerslide with the “X-CARVE” decal and it had to be replaced so the V wheels would roll smoothly. The pic without the decal is the final assembly with the new makerslide.

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Ryan, my two cents worth. If you are running the 300W spindle there is no need for this mod imo, but if you are going to a heavier router (DeWalt611 or other) and you are going to hang a dust shoe from the router, then you will need to stiffen the X gantry. I am speaking from personal experience here. By adding the 3/16" X 2" steel bar it resolved all of my carving problems.
I should edit: problems caused by the heavier router and weight of the addition of dust shoe.

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just stumbled on this …

That’s so interesting. Think it would it accomplish enough to add rigidity to the axis? It seems like it would definitely make the Makerslides “one piece”, but doesn’t have the benefit of a piece of aluminum/steel in adding its own strength.

PS: does everyone who owns a Shapeoko own a freaking 3D printer? How in the world are there so many 3D printed parts for the Shapeoko. I’m jealous.

LOL, It seems like it. I got my 3D printer first, a little over a year ago. It seems like with the combination of the two tools you sure can cover a lot of ground.

Hi @WilliamBedingfield I have some of these plates coming in the mail todo the same mod and what wondering what you used to mount them? hoping to avoid having to purchase the T Slot nuts from Inventables.

@WilliamBedingfield I have not placed my order yet as Misumi may have the parts I need to fasen

i did the same thing with the tee-bar and it looks like you did the same thing i did with the groove up on one side and down on the other.
not how i had planned but how it came out.
the instructions say the groove must be up on the back piece for the limit switch to function properly. will turning this around so the x-carve label is in back affect anything and does the groove need to be at the top in the front for any reason. i’m doing the mod as i build so these are things i would probably already know had i put it together.

I reversed the makeslide the other evening because mine were upside down as far as the home switch actuator was concerned. It turns out that the micro-switches I have don’t contact the home switch actuator no matter which way the makerslide is oriented! I fixed this by bolting a small piece of aluminium angle in place of the switch actuator and this gives a much bigger surface for the micro switch to hit against.

U can’t have aluminum tee on top because of belts and idlers

Thinking I’m going to go from 500 mm X rails to 700 mm rails. Using Dewalt 611 router, do you guys think I will need to stiffen my X rails?

I also completed the mod. Thank you all for posting the details.