Dropped a Z motor screw into the X Carriage

X-Carve Assembly
1

My bonehead move of the assembly process was dropping a Z motor screw into the X Carriage via the belt/spindle access hole. And it got stuck in there, so that necessitated disassembling the MakerSlides from the Y plates, while leaving the Y-plates attached to the Y axes.

When I had the X axis off, I also sorted out what I perceived to be a “problem” wit one of the Y plates. The step motor was very sticky and felt like it was binding up as I moved the gantry forward and back on the Y axis. I swapped out that motor with my remaining Z motor and (reassembled), things move smoothly now.

The disassembly, motor replacement, and reassembly helped me understand belt tension a little better and what the clips are doing. Just a hunch, but the belt clip system seems like an area that could be improved, a lot. It’s a pain to remove, especially with the lock nut, and it seems to take away a good 3 inches of Y work area.

-Brad

3

Fair number of variations on it here: Shapeoko CNC Router, Rigid, Accurate, Reliable, and Affordable

1 Like
4

Lots of ideas there! Thank you @WillAdams! As a software guy, I’ve been pondering a ratcheting wheel outside the bracket in back for tensioning, with an attachment point outside the bracket in front. Presto, 3 more inches. (That’s a great example of why I’m a software guy.)

-Brad

5

Seems legit enough, just a matter of carrying it off. Really, the only requirement is that it hold the belt firmly in place and keep it tensioned. The belt clips supplied are only one of a huge number of possible ways of accomplishing this. They have worked well for me, but something that auto-adjusts the tension would be awesome…

1 Like