When I bought my Shapeoko 3 XL I longed for a Z-zeroing touch pad. The folks at Carbide3D were terrible at keeping their $120 Touch Probe in stock. It was frustrating and I had little patience … so I looked for an alternative.
Check it out, a tiny touch plate from China for $3.15!
I agree with the touchpad. Getting started the paper trick is okay, but gets old pretty quickly. Second only to dust collection.
I came across an XYZ probe made by Spark Concepts that is supposed to work with the Shapeoko, though I have not tried it. It is currently on sale for $50.
“ We also added a hole… Rather than entering in the bit diameter and the measurements of the probe into your sender, simply lower your mill end into the hole and run the macro. ”
Good find, Lem, now I’m curious to learn more!
With the hole they can determine diameter.
Too bad they don’t have a video posted.
My first purchase in support of my Shapeoko was a dustboot from Etsy as Carbide3D’s dustboot was out of stock.
seasonalnovelties ](https://www.etsy.com/shop/seasonalnovelties) on Jan 2, 2020
Not really happen with it. Hard to get a good visual on setting zeros. They say the lower section of the boot is “easily” removable. Not in my opinion.
Looking for a better solution.
Rex
Rex, Suckit’s DIY dust boot is clear acrylic for easy viewing:
The dust shoe at the shop is a pain overall, changing bits, setting zero, etc. there has to be a better answer.
Here is the best accessory I use. Too bad they do not make one for the CNC router we have.
https://www.musclechuck.com/
My fav accessories (touch plate - I think necessary), Remote for control away from the keyboard, Laser with auto-offset, for setting 0,0.
I have a probe (nice but rarely used), precision collets (stopped using), 7w laser -ok but needs better software. Donek knife - need to revisit that.
V/R,
Ian