Little background I bought this machine years ago, I have a Shapeoko 2. I upgraded the cutting surface to a 12x24 and a Makita Palm router. Besides that it’s all stock. I went to school for graphic design so I used Illustrator for the creation of my SVG files. I put them into Makercam and then used a gcode reader to send them to the machine. I use this to put inscriptions on projects as I do woodworking not CNC projects
From what I can tell the, makercam doesn’t exist and I need to do some upgrades to make the machine work properly. So what can I do to do that in a reasonable way? What’s the most cost effective way to get this back to something usable?
Any help I would appericate
I had an S2 and upgraded it to current x carve specs. Easel wlll read svg files. You should probably register and try it out. As far as upgrades, I added risers and stiffeners, 9mm belts and pulleys, and an aftermarket z axis. I added extra extrusion and t slot too. Mine is 750 x 1000. The X controller is a lot nicer than the arduino and g shield, but that would be an expense.
Along the way I swapped out the current wide makerslide over the S2 bolts and spacers as well as the X carriage. That would be a good place to begin. If inventables is out of the stuff you need, you can find it on amazon and online. There is also Openbuilds.
When you say risers and stiffeners, are they just steel plates? Any more info on the z axis? I have had issues with my skipping so the 9mm belt would make sense i’m assuming you had to increase the pulley size as well?
I’m a bit of an idiot when it comes to this, give me a parts diagram I can build anything but when it comes to something you’re just building it can be more difficult for me, quick search on the shop for inventables and it doesnt look like any of those parts are available anymore.
Here’s a picture: The z axis is an older cnc 4 newbies. You can see the risers and stiffeners are just 1/4" thick aluminum. I added extra 2020 extrusion underneath, and later put in t slots and 1x4 basswood between them as a surface to mill.
Xcarve SLIDER
