Hello all, and thanks in advance for help. I am using a blackbox to control my mill. I was moving the mill around to set zero, and I lost the ability to control the z axis. I was still able to use x and y. I checked wiring and didn't see anything noticable. I restarted the blackbox cutting the power off to it. Started it back up and the z axis worked fine. Cut out a piece of ply wood and the z axis was way off. I was all the way through a 1/2" piece of plywood and the control z axis read -.24. I tried adjusting the z and nothing. I tried restarting the blackbox and it worked fine for a few minutes and then I lost control again. As soon as the blackbox is turned off and back on I have control again of the z axis..... The x and y seem to be working as they should. Any ideas? Thanks! P.S. It shows on the openbuilds control software that the z axis is moving, but I don't get any physical movement when it isn't working
Is the red exclamation mark LED on the front on when it stops? See docs:blackbox:currentadjustment [OpenBuilds Documentation]
I've had this several times over the last couple of jobs, where mid way through cut Z stops responding to up/down movement and drags bit across workpiece, luckily not damaging beyond repair. This is really helpful, now I can investigate further when it happens again.
If you don't have the LED, its then probably an intermittent wiring break/loose terminal: docs:blackbox:faq-identify-motor-coils [OpenBuilds Documentation] - either one of the two, so you know about both
Thanks Peter, I did have the fault indicator light on. I reduced the z adjustment screw to keep it from over heating. It has not given me the fault indicator any more. However, now my z axis is not working properly. If I send a job from the open build control, and I am trying to step down .06 with each step down, it is actually going down about double. It reads -.06 on the open build control, but the actual measurement is more like .12. I tried recalibrating my z axis and it was spot on when I tried to recalibrate. X and Y seem to be working as it should. Any ideas? Thanks!
If you are sure its not wiring related? I.e. Then maybe you adjusted it too low and its skipping steps.
I just ran a different design through. It appeared to be cutting correctly it was dropping about .06 with each pass and the next thing I know the bit was back up almost at the top of the design and the control said it was -.5. I checked wiring and everything looks to be fine. I can try adjusting it back up some.
@Peter Van Der Walt thanks for this, I think its power, as had the same issue again and found Z alarm light on so turned power down slightly. Thank you very much,
