Current Status: Taken home (too loud to use in the current environment)

In 2013, Sam purchased a Shapeoko kit. Made good progress at first, and then it languished in his garage for a few years.

In December 2015, he took it to the space in hopes it would get finished there. It's making progress already

Electronics: Arduino Uno with gShield. Computer is a BeagleBone Black.

Software: We are now using bCNC as the Gcode sender. It also has some CAM functionality.

Another option for design/Gcode generation is Inventables' Easel software, which is made (partially) with the Shapeoko in mind. Design your part, export the Gcode, and load it into bCNC. Just tell it you're using a Shapeoko 1, and keep your design to about 6“ (160-ish mm) square.

• Electronics needs to be better organized in a box with bulkhead connectors, etc.
• Base: Drill holes in base to mount to whatever bench it will sit on
• Calibration: (1/17/17- X&Y were determined to be out of whack. Ran a 50mm square job and found it produced a 45-ish mm square. Read more documentation and found steps/mm for MXL belts should be 43.74 vs. the 40 it was set to. 50mm square carved correctly on the second run) X&Y good. Z TBD- need to design a job to mill out pockets of particular depths and check with a depth gauge. Also tricky to quantify since current workholding uses fairly spongy double-sided tape.
• Workholding- refer to Shapeoko's wiki for more information/ideas- looking at 1/2” thick spoilboard with lots of threaded inserts at the moment.
• Limit Switches: Use mechanical switches for X-/X+/Y-/Y+/Z+. Maybe build/buy a touch plate setup for Z-? Printed the base of a touch plate, and Steve will cut out a brass disc for it on his CNC router. (X- & Y- switches are installed on 3D printed mounts. Additional T-nuts are needed to install X+ & Y+ switches.)