Shapeoko XL won’t centre and issues with cutting letters

[MMRHL]

I just bought a Shapeoko XL and hooked it up. I had some challenges with getting the alignment correct however I think it’s all set correctly. When I’m in carbide motion and go under the jog tab, I try to centre it by pressing the south button and it comes to the front and let slide 3/4 of the way to the left. I can not get it to stop half way the entire time!! I have looked everywhere.

At the same time when I try to cut a word, the machine continues to shift a little to the right as it continues to cut. At the end the letter has little steps.

I need so much help and can’t believe you spend this much for a machine that isn’t perfect.

[dialfonzo]

Hi MMRHL,

Don’t worry, we will get you up and running on your Shapeoko XL.

It’s a bit difficult to understand what you are experiencing with your Shapeoko at the moment since there are no “south” button in this interface.

First thing would be to know if the “Initialisation” of the machine work. When you first power it up and connect using Carbide Motion like this:

It should move the machine to the Top Right corner for initialisation, that should confirm the orientation of all motors. Making sure everything is fine.

Then the orientation, it should be like in the picture bellow. When you are in front of the machine:
X- / Movement to the LEFT
X+ / Movement to the RIGHT
Y- / Movement to the BACK
Y+ / Movement to the FRONT

Those buttons should only move ONE direction at a time, no diagonals.

Regarding your letter cut, can you send us the Carbide Create file as well as the GCode (nc) file for us to look at ?

All the best,