User:Enraged

Enraged is located in BC Canada, and is currently collecting parts for his Shapeoko.

Ordering Parts in Canada
Unfortunately I have not found very many parts distributors within Canada, so you will likely need to buy parts from the USA. Just keep in mind that there may be duty and taxes on top of shipping costs. I have had good luck shipping USPS Air. UPS and Fedex will charge brokerage fees on top of duty/taxes/shipping. Companies like Seeedstudio ship free worldwide if your order total is high enough. I ordered: 3x Stepper Motors from Sparkfun for $16.95 each 3x Pololu A4988 Stepper Drivers from Mixshop for $12.50 each 1x Arduino UNO Rev3 from Seeedstudio for $29.90 1x Arduino Stepper Shield from Seeedstudio Fusion PCB Service for $3.49 ($9.90 base fee, +$15 for max 10cmX10cm board, +$10 for a red PCB, QTY:10, so cost per board was $3.49) 1x 24V 4.5A 285-1806-ND Power Supply from Digikey.ca for $33.12 1x Enzotech MOS-C1 C1100 Forged Copper Heat sinks from Newegg.ca for $14.99 for a 10 pack, so $4.98 for this build. 1x Rotary Tool from Princess Auto for $34.99, they also have the bare rotary tool on sale for $12. 1x Shapeoko Assemblers Pack from Shapeoko for $175 Notes:  I am building the Stepper Shield myself due to the Makerslide Store not having any in stock at the moment. I am buying the components locally and will include a total when I am finished. The heat sinks are the same as those sold at the Makerslide Store.  Current build total (less shipping/taxes/duty): $369.83

Power Supply
This is the 285-1806-ND power supply from Digikey.ca. It provides 24V 4.5A. 

Drivers
These are the Pololu A4988 stepper motor drivers I bought from Mixshop. Mixshop actually included the small aluminum heatsinks, but I will be using the ones I bought from Newegg.ca. I highly recommend Mixshop, they had my order sent out within a day, the price is the best I've seen, and they include heatsinks at no charge!  These are heatsinks I bought from Newegg.ca. 

Stepper Driver Shield
Original design is trashed, gerber files on the wiki were wrong. I'm waiting on new boards of my own design from Seeedstudio.

Spindle
This will be a log of my build of a version of the Buildlog Brushless DC Router Spindle

Assembly and Wiring
I needed some practice with my soldering skills, so I picked up a MintyBoost from Adafruit. It's a simple kit with few components, but it's a great little product. Now I have a battery backup for my phone!  I picked up a rotary tool from Princess Auto locally, it was $34.99 for the kit. They also sell the bare tool for $12 on sale right now. I also bought a set of hex keys, nut drivers, ratcheting tap handle, and wrenches. For reference, my total for the tools was roughly $100, so if you are starting with no tools whatsoever that might help you budget. The tools are not the highest quality mechanics tools, but they are just fine for this job and I needed a basic set to keep at my apartment, rather than hauling my good tools from my shop.  I also HIGHLY recommend getting a ratcheting tap handle, they make tapping the Makerslide a lot easier. I bought one from Princess Auto for $20.  I painted my steel parts with Duplicolor Perfect Match automotive spray paint, in dark metallic red. It's hard to tell the metallic in the pictures, but it sparkles nicely in the sunshine. The picture makes it look a bit pink, but you can see the other parts in the background that are a darker red.  This is one of the steppers I bought from Sparkfun. I'm using Molex 2x2 connectors. These are cheap (about $3 per connection IIRC) and the have a little notch in them that will only allow you to plug it in the correct orientation, so no more issues with accidental crossed wires. I used my crimping tool to crimp the ends on, and after using needle nose pliers on previous projects with these connectors, I highly recommend getting yourself a pair. I bought mine locally for $40. They aren't professional quality, but they are certainly enough for my hobby use.  I finished the first prototype of my Shapeoko Stepper Shield (I've been waiting for the last few parts for over a week) and made my Hello World. I modified the Buildlog rev3 design to use dip switches (I have large hands, and those tiny jumpers do not like me, they always escape) and I rearranged things, added connections for the nice Sparkfun headers and connectors, gave clearance for the USB port on the Arduino. It is on a second set of risers due to the local shop not having the right capacitors, so I mounted them on the bottom because I wanted to run my machine. I'm having an issue with my Y axis, but it might be simple, so I mounted my Y driver in the A axis position for now. I have a few more proto boards and parts to complete them, so I'll try another and see if it has the same issues.

Ideas
Once I have my Shapeoko up and running, I plan to upgrade a few things. This is where I'll be putting some of my ideas. 

ACME Lead Screw Z Axis Upgrade
I'm looking at changing to an acme lead screw for the Z axis. Acme threads are offer better accuracy and less backlash than a standard threaded rod. These are cheap upgrades, usually selling on eBay for less than $20 for a lead screw, delrin nut, bearings, and lock nuts. 1/2-10 seems to be the most widely available, but I will have to do some measuring to see what will fit. This will likely require changing some fasteners and spacers on the carriage.

ACME Lead Screw X and Y Axis Upgrade
This will be much more in depth of an upgrade, so it is not a priority.

Timing Belt Anchor
These may be the best belt anchors: SDP-SI A 6M16M080, I'll just have to figure out the best way to mount them. Another alternative may be to model it and cut my own with the shapeoko. I'm not a fan of using bolts or flat plates to anchor the belts. These anchors look more secure. Ferny posted this over on the Buildlog forums. MXL belt clamps, which with some modification should be able to be cut with the Shapeoko using a small endmill.

ACME Spinning Nut
As an alternate to the spinning lead screw, a spinning nut would be mounted near the motor. This allows you to secure the screw to the frame. You can generally run higher speeds without having to worry about whipping in the screw. It also make the whole stepper/nut assembly very compact. Right now, it looks like it would be around $30-40 per axis to do this. I'll post more details when I'm farther along.

3D Printed vacuum attachment
I'm also building an ORD Bot, so I'm looking at printing upgrades for the Shapeoko. This upgrade would be used to attach a standard vacuum hose to the spindle, clearing chips and keeping the mess at bay.

Z Axis Coupler Upgrade
I found these couplers with one side tapped M8 and the other side 5mm for the motor, the come in sets of two from Mixshop. 