Many years ago when I decided I wanted my own workshop, I decided that I wanted to own the workshop trifecta, a 3d printer, Laser cutter, and a CNC Router. I bought the 3d printer about 4 years ago, then the laser cutter a year later. I have wanted a shapeoko for a long time, I just could not justify buying one. Now I have enough jobs lined up that it would make sense to have a cnc router. I looked at several different CNC machines, and decided to go with the shapeoko 3 from carbide 3d. I have used the Nomad 883 CNC machine at work and when I have had to call Carbide 3d they were always very helpful and courteous.

Step 1: Part 1

I ordered the Shapeoko 3 on a monday night at about 10 o clock at night and choose the cheapest shipping. To my surprise it showed up at my shop on Thursday morning. That is some fast shipping, They had it packaged and out the door within 12 hours, and to my door within 3 days, I was shocked at the service.

The box was very well packed. Once opened I saw that all of the main components had been preassembled. This takes the assembly time from many hours, down to a little over an hour.

www.carbide3d.com

Step 2: Part 2

I have the frame assembled, as well as all three axis and the wasteboard. That was the easy part. There were a couple parts were the assembly instructions that I was pointed to on the internet did not include a few necessary steps. I ended up having to go back a step a few times to fix this. It was nothing major though and I worked around it.

Step 3: Part 3

In this part I put all of the belts on the gantry, Installed the Endstops, mounted the mainboard, and routed all of the wires through the appropriate holes and such.

When it came time to install the endstops I had a little harder time finding the instructions to properly install the endstops. I ended up finding the instructions to install them in the shapeoko XL instructions found here.

Step 4: Squaring the Machine

Now that the machine is assembled it needs to be squared. The instructions stated that in order to square it you need to loosen some of the screws holding the frame together, and then slide the Y axis all of the way to the front. Then hold the gantry against the front of the machine making sure that it is touching the left and right side evenly. Then systematically Tighten the screws once by one until all of the screws are tight, and the machine is square.

It took a little more than that in order to get it square, I ended up having to use a speedclamp to get the machine square, then I tightened up all of the screws and made it square.

Step 5: Final Thoughts

I am very impressed with the build quality, service, and rigidity of the Shapeoko 3 CNC Machine. It was very easy to assemble, and I would highly recommend it to anyone thinking about buying a CNC Router.

Thank you for taking the time to read my instructable.