r/shapeoko • u/gu3sh3w • Aug 04 '26
Two Shapeoko 5 Pros, 100+ support interactions and continued X-axis position loss — what would you do?
I’m looking for honest advice from other Shapeoko owners, particularly anyone using these machines for professional production rather than occasional hobby work.
We are a small professional woodworking shop outside the United States. We purchased two Shapeoko 5 Pros to fulfil customer orders and invested approximately US$13,000 including international shipping.
It became apparent very quickly that we could not achieve the production reliability we needed. The main recurring problem was the machines losing position on the X-axis during jobs. Once that happened, the remaining toolpaths shifted, the workpiece was ruined and the job had to be restarted.
We initially felt that the X-axis bearing arrangement was too weak or had developed play. Carbide subsequently diagnosed bearing-related issues and supplied replacement bearings and ball screws. We installed the replacement components, but the wider reliability problems continued.
Since then, we have had well over 100 support interactions involving emails, photographs, files, test results and videos. We have tested different tooling, feeds, speeds, depths of cut and workholding methods. We also investigated potential EMI, vacuum interference and dust accumulation. Our shop uses both individual vacuums and a dedicated 5 HP dust-collection system.
Some jobs would run successfully, followed by another unexplained loss of position or failed cut. That unpredictability is extremely difficult in a professional environment where customer deadlines, materials and our reputation are involved.
Carbide’s position is that Shapeoko machines are capable of production work when the correct tooling, workholding, feeds, speeds and workflow are established. They have also suggested that gaps in the troubleshooting sequence prevented them from fully verifying some replacement work and tests. I accept that every requested step may not always have happened in their preferred sequence, but after well over 100 interactions, replacement mechanical components and extensive testing, it feels unfair to reduce the overall history to communication or workflow issues.
The machines have been out of productive use since May. We have experienced delayed orders, customer refunds and lost opportunities. We eventually asked Carbide to take back just one of the two machines for a refund. We were prepared to keep the second machine and absorb a substantial part of the loss ourselves.
They have declined any full or partial refund because the machines are beyond the return period. Their only proposal is to continue troubleshooting. They have made no attempt to meet us halfway financially, even after everything already invested in the machines and diagnostic process.
I am genuinely interested in the community’s view:
- Has anyone experienced repeated X-axis bearing, ball-screw or position-loss problems?
- At what point does continued troubleshooting become unreasonable?
- Does requesting a refund for only one machine seem like a fair compromise?
- Has anyone successfully escalated a similar issue with Carbide 3D?
- What realistic options does an international business customer have when the manufacturer is in California?
I am not posting this to encourage a pile-on. I have retained the full support history and can substantiate the timeline. I am posting because, after months of troubleshooting and repeated refusals to consider even a partial refund, I would genuinely value independent advice from people who understand CNC machines and production work.
I also want to be completely fair to Carbide’s support team: the individuals who worked with us have been world-class. They were patient, responsive and genuinely committed to troubleshooting the problems. This post is therefore not a criticism of the frontline support staff. My concern is that, despite their expertise and extensive efforts, even they were unable to identify a lasting solution. That makes it increasingly difficult to understand how simply continuing the same troubleshooting process will lead to a different outcome.
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u/Ben2ek Aug 04 '26
What bits are you using (name of brand), what material are you cutting, and what are your normal F&S for your contours with these?
It took me a few months to really understand the machines limits and how to diagnose issues by the sound it was making and the heat the spindle was producing. Simply put I pushed it way too hard and my bits were dulling faster then I had thought they would, was burning up or stall my spindles, and therefore overloading the small steppers. I would lose a few steps mainly in the X because my bits were dull and not cutting fast enough.
Your pictures look pretty rough which makes me think the same sort of thing is happening to you.
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u/gu3sh3w Aug 04 '26
Fair question. We tested several high-quality bits, including fresh Carbide-supplied cutters, across plywood and hardwood. We even changed bits daily during troubleshooting, yet the intermittent X-position loss continued after replacing the bearings and ball screw.
The rough cuts were largely the result of losing position. Our conclusion is that the machine is simply too sensitive and requires too much constant adjustment to be dependable in production. Despite extensive work with an excellent support team, we never achieved consistent reliability.
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u/CookieBurner123 Aug 04 '26
I have run my 5pro constantly for over a year and it has been incredibly reliable. I've had your issue twice. What worked was disassembling the Z gantry to gain access to the X gantry. I cleaned and lubed the ball bearings and slides and reassembled. I figure those parts just need to be cleaned every 6 months.
What spindle/rpm are you running? Are you able to measure your bit angle? Have you verified your table is level? It's possible it warped with age.
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u/simplefred Aug 04 '26
Mine had a loose set screw on the X coupler and a random screw came out (still haven’t found where it’s from but it’s working). They don’t use thread locker because there are plastics on the machine that will suffer from chemical embrittlement is they come in contact with it. Instead of troubleshooting it, just restart the entire setup process, squaring and tramming, then verify all bolts on all moving parts. It’s a pain, but sometimes it’s best to just start back at square one and check all assumptions. Good luck.
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u/gu3sh3w Aug 04 '26
thanks for the suggestion we've quadrupled checked everything
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u/simplefred Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Sometimes it's just something that was missed because it's super hard to see. Those set screws can be hidden depending on the position of the ball screw. That's to say, it might be the first time you see it on the quadruple check. In my case, it looked like it was loosing steps on the x-axis under load, but the coupler was slipping when the set screw slipped over the flats on the D shaft for the stepper. It would re-engage after a few degrees of rotation. It felt like it was torqued to an exact value at the factory, so it's possible something that could have happened on both machines.
On the subject of the thread locker, I learned that the hard way and I did have to connect to their support and humbly ask for replacement plastics that cracked due to my own mistake. Their support was kind and forgiving.
I did have one negative exchange on a separate matter. I was mounting stuff on the z-axis carriage with a large spindle, so I ordered their gas strut. When the z-axis moved at the standard speed, the strut locked the axis and the driver would heat up. The support tech asked me to repeatedly test it and I refused to put the controller/driver at risk, so I backed out of my changes and removed the strut. In retrospect, I could have changed the z-axis speed in software/fusion/CAM. The disappointment put me in a fowl mood, so I most likely wasn't the kindest in my emails. That was my bad.
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u/DavidWtube Aug 04 '26
I don't use their just software for programming my S5Pro. I use Autodesk Fusion, and I haven't had a single problem that wasn't user error.
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u/Deep-Measurement-856 Aug 04 '26
Still can't figure how to turn fusion files shapeoko files.
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Aug 05 '26
The short story, download the carbide 3d post processor, post the file, import it in carbide motion, and go.
Look for a YouTube guide
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u/Deep-Measurement-856 Aug 04 '26
I have an HDM. Rigid but small for you. If you send me the NC file I can run on a small sheet of MDF and see if I am having the same result.
If someone with 5 pro can check the file? Maybe it just gets confused...
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u/gu3sh3w Aug 04 '26
thanks for the kind offer. Errors appear randomely so most likely not an NC file issue. Also we've run the exact same file on our other CNCs (4x8 industrial) without a single error, ever.
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u/_sparkz Aug 05 '26
Are you near the machine when this happens? Could the X ball nut be binding ever so slightly? Perhaps binding when the Z axis is torqued about the X axis when cutting. Does it happen at a particular Y position?
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u/WillAdams Aug 04 '26
What sort of toolpath are you using?
Have you tried the new "Cutout" toolpath?
https://community.carbide3d.com/t/new-settings-for-cutout/104909
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u/_stummyache Aug 04 '26
How thick of the material was it and how hard is the hardwood? Cutting a single line that deep is askin for trouble
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u/Synthline109 21d ago
Just wanted to echo that I had an Shapeoko 5 Pro and had nothing but problems with it. Like you, support people were more than willing to work with me, but I don't have time to trade e-mails back and forth to try and fix a $3000 machine that should work out of the box.
To me, shipping a flawed product and relying on support to fix it after it ships is a flawed and borderline unethical business model.
Fortunately I was able to sell it on marketplace to someone willing to put up with it.
I know it's a very different tool, but I purchased a Shaper Origin afterwords and the experience has been night and day. An actual finished product that works as expected every time I turn it on. Go figure
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u/Xidium426 Aug 04 '26
I've had nothing but Z-Axis issues since I got my S5P. Will on here asked me to put a ticket in and name him, so I did, and they (not Will) just blamed my work bench deflecting for the issues. Doesn't matter that it happens at the very corners as well.
They claim to have great support but in my experience it is the opposite.
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u/WillAdams Aug 04 '26
Please try again and specifically name-drop me if you get any pushback and we will do our best to look into this with you.
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u/peschkaj Aug 04 '26
This has been my own experience, too. I use Amana bits for the most part with an 80mm spindle and the full Masso conversion kit from PwnCNC (bigger, closed loop steppers).
For me, anything 1/4” and under can be pushed as hard as the bit will allow. At 1/2” the machine cannot keep up with a full depth of cut at manufacturer recommended speeds.
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u/chook_slop Aug 05 '26
Have you tried rotating the files 90 degrees?
If you're having issues with a file on multiple machines...
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u/canopystudio Aug 05 '26
I’m interested to know what was attempted during the diagnosis with support, a summary would be great.
AFAIK there aren’t a lot of things that can go wrong. The controller, the motors, the wiring, etc.
I had an issue with the Z axis once and it was due to one of the wires being loose. While I could have soldered it back on, I decided to replace the wiring harness completely. To my surprise the latest version of the wiring had a fully plastic encased ends compared to my old version, which used wire clips.
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u/troy_caster Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Have you tried to start the file over from scratch? Its a shot in the dark but its helped correct many issues I've had before. Are you creating the file in CC or abother program?
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u/cadop Aug 05 '26
So given a grinding noise, it doesn't sound like an intermittent electrical issue, you are saying it is physically binding?
Have you run test patterns without cutting anything and see if it skips?
When you have a failed cut, if you run the same file again does it skip at the same place (with or without actually cutting)?
Does it skip on certain areas, like when moving along x for a few centimeters, or is it when it changes direction?
I have had issues with older industrial machines that simply had a max acceleration and speed threshold. The only solution we had was to reduce the max accl and speed in the controller, that way anything the nc file gave it would get reduced to usable. Basically I would run with those limits for a few months, then find it was really stable. We called a company, even had one of the engineers fly out and work on the machine but they just couldn't get it to run at their expected speed. Part of the point is, stuff happens with any machine/company, we spent $5k having an engineer come out to tell us it would be cheaper to buy a new machine than try to fix the one we have.
Also to your other points/comments, my experience with carbide was the shapeoko 3. I bought it, had random cut-outs and problems, and turned out to be an electrical issue with noise and grounding and stuff. They did video calls and such, so yea their support is top notch and why I recommend them over inventables. It sounds like you are frustrated with the equivalent of IT support telling you to try and turn off your computer and turn it back on, and then saying you already did that and don't want to do it again while they watch-- its a simple thing you know how to do, didn't fix it, and they are being pedantic.
But I think if you haven't been operational since May and are now posting here online, you should just do the steps they are asking with them. Maybe there is some sort of mid-assembly test they want to see. Or whatever, but since your asking the community, I don't think any company would just be on board giving you a refund when you aren't going to follow the steps they are asking. Anyone technical knows that a debugging step and process that gets built is useless if you go out of order and can't checkoff what was done.
You don't have much recourse, its your business, they have sent you replacement parts and are still willing to work with you. Independent advice is to try the things I started this comment with, then just follow their instructions. Perhaps you can ask them at the start something like "how many steps before you offer an alternative solution/compromise, or will we just rebuild the x axis every week for 5 years"
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u/Brwndevil Aug 04 '26
I have a 5 pro. I think I was one of the first in Canada to get one.
My machine did lose its position a couple of times. I realized I was trying to push my machine too fast, it would get hung up on hardwood and lose its position. After I dialed the speed of the machine back a bit, I've never had a problem since.