CNC Shark Forum

Hi Bill, Is this the second simplicity you are talking about ? How long does it run before stopping? seconds, a minute, hour or more? That design tolerates a lot of sloppiness but very little tightness. Gear mesh can be very loose, but the sliding surfaces of the weight bearing train must be smooth ...

Hello Mike, Regarding the oval shaped holes, some of the "usual suspects" would be free play, or gantry alignment. You may want to check to see that you don't have free play in the y direction. If you do, it could be traced to the linear bearings or loose bolts etc. The gantry alignment issue can sh...

Sharkcutup, I would be very careful about splitting a G-code file and turning the machine off between runs. It's not for the faint hearted., and relies on absolute positioning rather than incremental, so watch out for that. If the machine fails to stay in sync with the zero positions, your workpiece...

Hello Frank

Is your controller a usb (with NWA software).
or the older parallel port model (using Mach3 software).

Bill, It is possible that the clock will not run correctly if it has too much weight also. I think my Simplicity is about 2.85 pounds net. ( I built the two weight version and the main weight is 3.1 lbs and the counterweight is .25lbs) Clayton mentions his Simplicity runs at about 3 pounds. I would ...

I have to agree with Rando, The unit I had worked on in the past had the same computer style wiring with doubled up connections. I can't see why it would have been more expensive just to use a better gauge of wire and not have to double up on the connections. My gecko g540's use a db9 connector (wit...

Hello Bill I have cut wooden gears with good success using an 1/8 th inch bit. straight sided 1 or two flutes. pass depth of .125 feed rate 10 inches / minute. stepover is 20% but doesn't really matter for this type of cut. for your 1/2 inch pinions you would do 4 passes to get the full .5 depth. If...

Hi Bill It may also be an issue of going too fast. The standard feed speeds in vectric software are usually too fast for a shark to use, and keep precision. That trips up a lot of folks. I would try slowing way down, and see if your cut accuracy improves. start at 10in/min and work up. do one gear a...

This probably is not the issue, but might be worth mentioning. The way the shark is made, it is possible that the y axis bars are not straight. This would be due to the center support not being exactly the right height to support the center of the axis rods. If it is to tall or too short, it will pu...

You might want to contact Sam at Dixie Billet for an aluminum clamp with an 80mm hole, made for the shark.

Bob