ShapeOko 2 Build: Part 1

I've been watching the ShapeOko2 from Inventables for the last year. I've been interested in DIY CNC for the last several years, but the time wasn't right to jump in. When their kit went on sale for "small business Saturday" I decided the time to order the kit had arrived. I decided to spring for "the works" kit which includes the Quiet Cut spindle and a bunch of other upgrades.

The kit was very complete, down to including all the tools you'd need for mechanical assembly, and well packed. The basic instructions on their website were also very good. However, I was a bit underwhelmed with the documentation included for the extras in "the works" kit. The inventables website did have a page: ShapeOko 2 "The Works" kit instructions- not really instructions, but has at least a few more details.

So far, I have the mechanical assembly complete, and have started to wire up the system. The first challenge was to attach the drag chains / cable chains included in the expanded kit. Mounting brackets were not included. The Shapeoko2 wiki did reference these 3D printable drag chain mounts, they look nice but they don't fit the drag chains included in the shapeoko2 "the works" kit. I ended up designing a set of brackets (files posted here on thingiverse) since I couldn't find any ones on Thingiverse that seemed to do what I'd like.

A few of the brackets I designed, ready for trial mounting. (these were old versions, I ended up not using them)

X-axis carriage with drag chain mount. Wires not yet routed through chain

Outboard X-axis drag chain mount installed, again wires not yet routed through chain

It's getting closer to running....

As soon as I have the steppers all wired I'll start in on the Quiet Cut spindle. There are a few different sets of installation instructions- I have yet to choose one to follow:

Quiet Cut Spindle installation instructions:
http://blog.inventables.com/2014/08/quiet-cut-spindle-for-shapeoko-cnc.html
https://www.inventables.com/projects/quiet-cut-spindle-upgrade#instructions

Quiet Cut Spindle w/TinyG electronics instructions:
http://blog.inventables.com/2014/07/shapeoko-upgrade-quiet-cut-spindle-with.html
http://blog.inventables.com/2014/06/shapeoko-upgrade-quite-cut-spindle-with.html