Hello, I have no idea how there is an A axis DRO on the openbuild software 1.0.370. I am sure it was not there couple of days ago and there it is. When I click on it obviously I get an error 20 Was there an update? Thank you for your help.
when control asks the Blackbox who it is, the BB is telling it that it has an A axis. so, either it is lying, ie a USB communication error, turn everything off, unplug/replug all the cables, move power cables away from the USB cable, turn everything back on and see what happens or, the XYZA firmware got flashed to the blackbox, and it really thinks it has an A axis.
to my surprise, after the relaunch of the application the A axis is gone. Why it showed up, its fascinating, good to know that its there. how to bring it back is another mystery.
Very good question…. I am searching for a rotary A axis control software for GRBL and saw that in openbuilds control picture…. But I don’t see how to get it…
you need a Blackbox X32 in CONTROL you use the wizard to flash the XYZA firmware. exit CONTROL reset the BB start CONTROL and it will show the A axis. Note that now the Y output on the BB is Y and the Y2 is now the A axis. you must wire the 2 Y motors in parallel to the Y output, and only the A axis to the Y2 output.
Not surprising, clean start, checks with controller how many axes it has EMI: See EMI causes serial corruption, messes with the parser, - the data travelling between BlackBox and the PC updates every 100ms or so, and the EMI messed with the reliability, flipped some bits - it sees an A instead of X,Y,Z due to corruption of the data stream, and (as it should) displays the A-Axis stuff because the position report said you had an A (even though you don't - but EMI messed with the text): docs:blackbox-x32:faq-emi [OpenBuilds Documentation] When its an actual 4-axes machine (or 3 axes lathe or other config needing an A-Axis) 1) Have a BlacBox X32 2) Wire the A-Axis to Y2 3) CONTROL > Wizards and Tools > Firmware Flashing tool > BlackBox X32 Tab > Machine Style > 4-Axes > Flash Now the position feedback stream contains A-positions so the frontend will show the A-axes DRO and Buttons and the firmware accepts A-commands to move the motor attached to Y2 (Y2 is the reconfigurable spare axis, defaulting as a ganged-Y, but can be set to anything)
Thank you for the detail answer. I appreciate it very much. Now the issue is gone from A axis to openbuild just stop in the middle of the job, I hit resume, it goes for a few seconds and it stops. After few tries, I abort the job (every aboad I lose my home position). I then disconnect the USB cable, as machine is not responding. Connect the USB cable, make the connection on port 5 again. Start with my homing, zeroing and the job again. Repeat. Not able to use the machine. I moved as much as i can to avoid interference as per documentation. Now the A axis shows up more often.
Exactly. The same EMI that corrupted your serial stream to the point of showing non existant axes, is also corrupting the stream causing stoppages and random moves and all kinds of other problems. Fix it. I
replace your USB cable with a better quality, shorter one. follow ALL of the EMI recommendations in the docs, not just some of them. if you are running from a laptop, unplug the laptop power and do a test run. just make sure the laptop does not powersave during the run by moving the mouse every 30 seconds or so. if you get a successful run it points to the laptop PSU as the problem. try putting the 2 pin plug in the other way round. (2 pin plugs are evil, I replace all mine with 3 pin) if you have a VFD running your spindle, then that is the problem and you will have to do all the EMI preventions things, they are electrically noisy (even good ones). Even LED lights can cause problems, back when we had free to air TV our LED kitchen lights would put one TV channel into snowy interference, turn the lights off and the picture was sharp.
Thank you so much for your time and advise. I will try to take as much measures I can. I ordered few more preventions and will see how it can help. Thank you again. Your help is much appreciated
Update: I installed an EMI Filter at the VFD switch, added ferrite chokes to all the cables. Combined all the grounds to one. I no longer see the A axis or random stops. Thank you all for your help.