I lowered the speed to what you have yours set at, and it still made a noise. It wasn't as loud as it was going slower, but it was still there. It sounds like their is binding where the lead screw goes through the backlash nut. I decided to take some WD-40 and spray on the lead screw and after doing this and running up and down several times, it sounds much better. I don't think you are supposed to have to do this, so there is probably an underlying issue, but I'm not sure what. The backlash nut appears to have an adjustment screw. Could it be it is out of adjustment?

Thanks!

 

It was sounding good enough, and I wanted to try and cut something. I've gone from one problem to the next. Now it is up and running and seems to be much stronger with the 48v and rack and pinion, but now I am assuming I am experiencing EMI. The job was about 3/4 through and it just stopped.... said idle at the bottom of CONTROL, but nothing was moving. I clicked pause and then resume and it did resume..... The first time. After that nothing. Clicking pause and resume over and over nothing happens.... I started the job over at 200 percent and it stopped several times with same symptoms....
I used ethernet wire for my limit switches. I used the twisted pairs to try and prevent noise, but I could have done it wrong. The two wires going to the NC switches. I ran one wire of the twisted pair to one of the contacts of the switch (Green/White) and the other(solid green) to the other contact of the switch. The solid (Green) went to the correlating pin for the limit switch (9, 10, 12) and the other went to ground. I did this to hopefully pick up the same EMI on each wire and neutralize it. However, in addition to this, I may have made a mistake now that I think about it. I also ran another twisted pair (blue/blue white) to ground and to the contact on the switch that went to ground (Green/White). I am thinking now this was a mistake. Those two together could be picking noise and sending it to the ground pin?

To clarify I have (green/white, blue, and blue/white) all running to ground. I have Solid Green running to the limit switch pin..... This doesn't make sense to me now. This is wrong isn't it?

Thanks!

 

Just a correction before someone thinks we have totally lost it. Nicks statement "While making these changes, I increased the z axis amount of travel. I moved up to a 1040mm lead screw from openbuilds." He failed to say that we cut that in half. Acutally we ended up at about 18" Z height.

 

ok. I have checked and the windows selective suspend was enabled. I just went through and disabled it. I also downloaded the ftid driver from your link. I’m hoping one of these is the issue.

A couple of notes:
I only have one limit switch per axis installed. Can I do this? I was not really intending on using them as limit switches, but just wanted them to be able to home the machine when powering up.

Another issue I was having was if I clicked home all, the axis would begin moving back to the switch and would stop randomly as if the limit switch had been triggered. I assumed this was noise acting as the switch, but I’m hoping this could be solved with the fixes above?

I added a pull-up 4.7k resistor shown in grbl wiki to the limit switch last night to help, but it did not. I can add the capacitor if need be. Again, mine is slightly different than the diagram as I only have limit switches on one end of each axis.

I am not getting hard limit errors. It just pauses randomly. But I also don’t have hard limits enabled…

Thanks!

 

Ok, I will check them out. As for my z binding, I still don’t think I have solved that problem. The back lash nut that I ordered from openbuilds, is it directional? Is the adjustment screw to prevent the z axis from falling down when the motors are off?

also, with hard limits disabled, would the limit switch noise cause a job to stop randomly in the middle? As the arduino should not be “looking” for a signal from the limit switches at that time?

Thanks!

 

is the backlash but directional? Could it be what is causing my issue with z sounding bad?

 

Z noise viedo

 

Very good question Sam. I’ll have to take it apart and make sure I didn’t leave those out when we changed z height.
Thanks

 

Here are a couple updates:
We took the gantry off and disassembled the z axis lead screw. Everything really looked ok. Upon reassemble, we noticed where the lead screw/motor shaft coupler appeared to have been rubbing on the top of the z axis. I am wondering if the coupler loosened and slid down the motor shaft until it was touching the top of the z axis and was causing the problem? Either way, we moved it up and retightened and it does sound better. I am hoping that solved the issue.

Also, as for the noise/limit switch problem, we made the adjustments on the pc side that were recommended above and I also added a 100nF capacitors to each limit switch line at the Arduino. As of now, this has solved the issues I was experiencing with the homing stopping prematurely and the jobs randomly stopping while running.

We pushed the limits yesterday for the first time with 48v and the rack and pinion. We were cutting 1-1/2 pine. I was using a 3/8" straight bit 2 flutes. We continued to move the speed up during the job to 200% to a max speed of about 250 IPM. It finished the job fine. The router and/or the cutting noise was pretty loud and we were expecting something to go wrong, but it never did. I finished the job at that speed. We are not sure how much harder we could push it, but we were pretty pleased with the results.

Hope all is well!

 

I guess I spoke too soon. I tried to cut a part yesterday, and the machine froze up randomly several times. I never was able to get it to finish. I disconnected the limit switches completely from the Arduino and it still continued to freeze up. I don't think I have anything connected to the Arduino that is not necessary to run the router other than I do still have the laser pwm wire connected. Other than that it is basically just the step and direction wires for the steppers that run to the drivers. The arduino is not covered. I am wondering if I need some kind of metal shield over it? I guess I am back to the drawing board chasing the EMI issue again.

Thanks!

 

No dust extraction used. We manually do it sometimes, but not when it’s been giving us issue.

yes, cheap arduino ch340 shows in the control drop down menu.

Long usb, but it’s ran away from other wires as best we can and it’s the same one used with blackbox previously….

I will order a new arduino. How do you know which are “real”? Rev 3?

thanks!

 

Ok, I have ordered one. I have another arduino (not sure if real or fake, but it doesn't show as ch340 on the dropdown menu) I have uploaded grbl and my settings to. I may give it a try while a wait and see what happens.

I am looking into them. However, I am a little confused. Do these run GRBL 1.1? From what I understand, they are capable of controlling 6 axis. I didn't think GRBL could do that?

Thanks again!

 

Hi Sam, I am a newbie there. First, thank you very much for sharing your work. It's very impressive and informative. I would like to take a plunge into the shallow end first by making a 3000mm long single axis guide using C-beam. From the earlier pictures you posted, I see that on the X-axis you had a stationary motor mounted at one end, where you drive the belt. In the later posts, I see that you have switched from belt to steel cog wheel system. By doing so, I believe you have relocated the motor and now mounted on a moving platform.

Question -
The platform I wish to move is about 5 lbs (a IR lamp) at very slow speed (0.1m/s) and no jerking motions. My preference is place motor stationary at one end to lessen the weight and unclutter the moving platform. Openbuild suggests that I go with the belt pinon option because the belt will stretch over 3000mm. Lastly, I have a feeling that the steel cog wheels is an overkill for I want to accomplish.

If you were me, which option would you go with?
1. Stationary motor with belt
2. Moving motor with belt (aka Pinon)
3. Moving motor with steel cogs

Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

Thank you
George