TheLab.ms Wiki

NOTE: This startup information was provided by the local CNC area coordinator: Doug Free

This page in intended to help users adapt to the new Shapeoko CNC Router and the differences seen from the previous machine. The spoiler board is new and brings some new changes.

This will describe how to powered up the new router and used it. There may have be other ways but this is intended to help new users get up to speed.

• The spindle acts a bit slower, when initializing and shutting down, than other machines you may be familiar so be patient. It is not a huge change but a change.
• There are 2 collects available a 1/8th and ¼ inch version.

It is suggested one performs the following before starting the machine.

Dust/dirt/saw dust can be a major impediment to successfully carving your project. Debris in the guide rails/belts can prevent the smooth operation of the gantry.

• Members have provided a set of tools that can help the cleaning effort, a small spray bottle of alcohol, a plastic scraper and stiff nylon brushes, lint free cloths.

  The rails can be brushed off with the nylon brushes then wiped down with a lint free cloth containing a bit of dust collecting alcohol, trying to remove as much debris from the V rails as reasonably possible.

• Inspect the drive belts, again cleaning off any saw dust/debris.
• As long as the machine is turned off, one can manually verify smooth operation of the gantry in both the X and Y coordinates. Any hesitation in movement indicates a problem area on the rails/belts. If not cleaned/resolved it may affect the quality of the cuts.

NOTE: Please use this video as a “general” guide only. The machine in the video is not what is available in TheLab so one must use it for basic info only. It will provide discussion of the importance of cleaning and generally what to look for.

Please ignore any portion dealing with lubrication or machine adjustment. That needs to be left to those most knowlegeable. If you feel maintenance is required please contact an area co-ordinator and port to the discord.

• A general Cleaning overview

Empty the connected shop vac of any shavings/dust and ensure the vacuum hose is positioned to allow maximum air movement.

Controls:

• 1. Shop Vac control box
• 2. VDF Controller Start/Stop button
• 3. VDF spindle speed indicator
• 4. Obsolete Start/Stop button

• 1. Turn on computer with pin 2021
• 2. Make sure the the shop vac connected to the Shapeoko has been emptied and vacuum hoses are unobstructed.
• 3. Verify the table and all drive mechanisms are free of dirt/dust/debris as described above.
• 4. Turn on Shapeoko cutter via it's round start button.
  • Note: The LED within the start button is not currently working. Verify power is applied by checking the rear of the control box mounted to the left side of the machine. One should see a blue led lite within the control box.
  • There is a small in-line power button on a cord on the left side of the machine that also must be on for the machine to be powered on. This one is “normally” on.
• 5. Push the round start button on the lower front of the VDF controller, if the lower light is off, push the button. When the lower light is lite the spindle is ready to power on when your program starts. The top led is flashing 0.0.
• 6. plug in thumb drive containing your project.
• 7. Start up the carbide motion software on the attached computer.
• 8. import your vcarve file into Carbide Motion and generate gcode
• 9. For safety, ensure the machine is powered down then insert the desired cutter bit. this requires the use of new precision collets and tighten using two wrenches, with cutter inserted.
• 10 Initialize the machine as you normally did.

• 11. hit resume to measure bit
• 12. jog the cutter out of the way to setup your work.
• Note: Front edge of the new spoiler board is not square.
  • Don’t use it to square your work piece.
  • The spoiler board screw holes are definitely square so use them to align your work piece. We may need to square up new spoiler or square your workpiece to the screw holes.
  • Attach hold downs of choice.
  • I used the holes for alignment today on four projects and it worked fine.
• 13. Zero out x,y,z

• 14. Load gcode file
• 15. Execute job,
  • your program will control the rpms.
  • You won't be prompted to turn on the router. If the lower circular light is not on (see step 4 above), the router will not spin and you will crash the bit. (Trust me I know from experience.)
• 16. When your spindle fires up, the VDF controller will look like the following picture: This job happened to want 22,000 rpms per the program but showed 22,260 on the VDF.

Controller started

• 17. The rest is as normal

• 18. When the VDF powers down it takes a minute or two to discharge the capacitor, so it will appear to be on for a bit.

I have not included all steps in the process assuming you know some of them already. I tried to highlight what I saw as changes to what I normally do.

• 6. The shop vac should start once the spindle reaches a certain speed.

The VDF controller should look like the following,

Suggestions:

• We may want to secure the cables and the controller some. I was moving some stuff and got caught up in the new controller wires.
• We may want to square up the front edge of the new spoiler board.
• We may want to secure the Collets in a special storage case.