Hello. Once in awhile my y axis is dropping steps on one side. It did it on my first carve today. Also after about 20 minutes the Openbuilds sender disconnected from the controller and that is when I noticed the one side of the y axis had failed. I adjusted my file so it would cut deeper, I homed my machine, checked to see everything was square and started to recarve the 3d horse. About 20 minutes later the controller disconnected again. I set up a new blank, reconnected my controller and the stepper lost steps in the same spot, about 1/4 of the way into the carve. Usually if I reset my axis, it will be fine for a while(many carves). I have checked to see if my frame is square and it is. My machine has worked great until now. I am using the black box and nothing has been changed on my machine. I have the y axis power turned up as far as they will go on the Blackbox and have always run it that way. I am running nema 23 motors. I have ferrite cores on my cables. I do not run a vac system so I do not think it is static. I have a 1.5 kw spindle, using a .125 bit, feed rate of 50 plunge rate of 20(I know that is very conservative but I am trying to get through this carve without ruining another blank). I am at a loss where to start looking. Thanks in advance.
Normal position at about 50% is fine. All the way up will cause overheating. Check for the red Fault Indicator to confirm Random disconnects could also be EMI.
Well, all the way up is odd, so something is going on there. 3rd party motors? All the way up is 4A RMS and should be burning up our motors and very very likely putting the drivers into overheat condition, especially now in Summer. (Our motors are 2.8-3A PEAK (not the recommended settting!) so the Max setting there is still sus. But OK lets check everything else Dial down acceleration and max rate to half current values in Grbl Settings to see if those are set too high Its been in use for a while, so also check mechanicals (Setscrews rattled loose on shaft couplers?) causing mechanical binding or slippage. Leadscrew lubricated with PTFE (Never use oil)? Could also be fatigue breakages in cables: docs:blackbox:faq-identify-motor-coils [OpenBuilds Documentation] It helps, but not proven as 100% fix. If the symptoms (random disconnect) confirm EMI is still an issue, see docs:blackbox-x32:faq-emi [OpenBuilds Documentation] Also make sure you did do step 4.2 of docs:blackbox-x32:install-windows-selective-suspend [OpenBuilds Documentation] and that it hasnt reverted since because of OS updates or similar
I turned the power down and I tried swapping the 2 y axis connection on the box to see if it is the motor. I will go through your other steps and let you know the outcome. Thank you for all you help.
Ran the file again. No lost steps but it disconnected. I have ordered a new shielded usb cable. I will post how that works out.
Blew out the Blackbox, the cable ends, the computer. Changed the usb port i was using. Ran the file again without the spindle plugged in. Was going for about 2 hours and the attached warning came up. I am really stumped as the limit switches were far away.
that is definitely EMI doing a false trigger on the hard limit,. or just possibly a loose connection getting flexed by the motion causing it. got through the wiring , pushing and pulling on every wire, pull out and reseat every plug, and so on (just looking is not enough)
Or 3rd party spindle? Any 3rd party components? Fixing EMI is an art, so you could take the shortcut of turning off Hard Limits (Use them for Homing only, optionally you can set up Soft Limits, but really now that you have learned how to CAM properly when was the last time you crashed the machine through mistaken toolpaths?)
I did some aluminum about 2 months ago and my feeds were way too fast and then again with the first carve yesterday. I didn't think to reset my zeros and I told the machine to go to job home. It drove the bit through the work piece and tried heading somewhere else(oh dopey me ). Yes, it is a third party spindle and vfd. I have run this setup for about 30 months and have had very few problems. I will try your other suggestions and report back. Thanks.
I changed my USB cable and lubed my lead screws. I tried homing and my x axis crashed. After looking at the limit switch, one of the terminals was loose. I never did like the crimp connectors so I soldered the wires to the switch. I ran a 3 hour air carve and no more problems. Thanks for all the input.
