Did anyone have the y axis binding initially? When assembling the y axis actuators to the frame, and spinning the lead screws, there is a binding happening. I believe this is due to the set screw getting caught on the 8020 aluminum pieces at the front and back. Any direction here?

 

Adam, I experienced the same issue when I built mine. A solution that worked for me was to create a flat spot on the lead screw shaft where the locking collar attaches. Doing this will allow the collar set screw to go in further and clear the 8020. Hope this makes sense!

Josh

 

Probably your set screws are too long. You need a 5mm x 4 set screw, hard to find, but the OB store has them. Grinding the flat on the lead screw should work.

MG

 

So I have everything assembled now. The file idea worked great. No restrictions on my movement when doing it by hand. After downloading the software and trying to jog the machine, I found that my motors will not move. It seems like all of my axes are too tight. I followed the instructions for tightening the eccentric nuts. I can move all the lead screws by hand pretty easily. And I set up the control software as instructed from the black box documents. Any ideas what the issue could be here? I can't seem to find anything similar to this in the forum. Thanks in advance.

 

I don't think your motors are binding, sounds like a step issue. Increase your steps/mm, also double check all of your wiring to the steppers. Although, I have been wrong before!

 

Can you post your GRBL settings here?

MG

 

Viewed the video, sounds like you have the motor wiring wrong. Either one coil is not connected properly, or the wires are mixed up.

Make sure the coils are connected properly, and the same for all motors.

And seriously, Romex for power wire?

MG

 

Peter, does the black box use the Motor Enable output from GRBL? Does it reduce motor current when disabled?

MG

 

Does that not cause the motors to overheat? In my experience, they get hot as a firecracker when left on at 2.8A.

MG

 

Here are some more pictures. The Romex was due to me not having any speaker wire on hand. It is now the recommended 18 gauge same as the open builds website power cord. The pictures show my wiring connections. It is the same for all four motors. I'm not sure I understand how these are wired wrong. I followed the instructions for the black box.

 

Check your motor wiring. I seem to remember that the High Torque motors use a different color code than the standard motors? Never go by wire color, always check. First time I wired up unfamiliar motors I blew 4 stepper drivers. Same color wires, different internal connections. Ouch!

To check, rotate the motor by hand to get a feel for how hard it is to turn, May have to loosen the set screw on the lead screw. Now short any two wires together and try rotating the motor again. If the motor is much harder to turn, that means that the two shorted wires are the same coil. By elimination, the other two are the opposite coil. If not, try another pair of wires.

One coil goes to A+, A- the other coil goes to B+, B-. Not sure how the black box is laid out, but the two A coil leads are next to each other on one side, the B coil wires are the other side. Don't worry about the + and -, the only thing that will change if you reverse them is the direction of rotation. You can fix that in the GRBL configuration. Wire all motors the exact same way.


MG

 

I will give this a shot tomorrow. Thanks for the advice.

 

Thank you for posting, this was very helpful in the assembly of the mechanical portion of my build. I purchased the C-Bean XL Bundle with Smoothieboard 5xC, DQ542MA Drivers and motors and the 24V/14.6A power supply. I plan on adding limit switches and the spindle LED light ring. I expect to start out using the OpenBuilds Control software. When searching the forums I see lots of detail but I am missing the Big Picture for the electronics portion of the build.

My questions:
1. Is there a wiring diagram that shows how to wire this configuration?
2. Any problems with longer wires running to an enclosed electronic cabinet in order to keep electronics clean and safe?
3. I saw a design with 2 power supplies, why do some include a second power supply?
4. I also something about adding capacitors to the limit switches, is this necessary?

Thank You

 

Just a heads up for the OB guys, most of the images have now disappeared.
http://www.openbuilds.com/attachments/lotsofbits-v6-png.18558/

 

Huh?

MG

 

Does anybody know of any OB projects that upgraded a CBeam XL to one of the newer moving gantry-style designs? I would like to find/generate an upgrade BOM to turn my CBeam XL into a gantry-style (Lead, Workbee, or Sphinx? I've been away a while). I also need to upgrade my electronics from the TinyG I used. I guess I can go analyze the BOM for the new bundles and do the diff to generate a parts list, but wondering if anybody has already done the work (and maybe even documented the upgrade!).

 

Not possible to convert a C-beam XL to moving gantry.

I would recommend an Arduino/stepper driver combo to upgrade your electronics. Easy and cheap, and eminently repairable.

MG

 

A moving gantry machine is a completely different beast than a moving table. I don't see how it would be possible to convert this to a moving gantry without a complete redesign. It would be simpler to sell it and buy a Workbee.

MG

 

Thanks for the responses; I'll give the Tank project a look. I hadn't thought much about selling and starting over, but I'll think about that as well.

 

Is there any documentation to convert the CBeam XL Into a LEAD CNC 1010 besides comparing the part lists to see what I'd need to do the conversion

 

No.

 

Sorry, I didn't get the notification for this at the time. Most of the images on the webpage have gone missing. I'm running chrome, no adblockers or any other content blockers and it shows up like this. Also the same on tablet and phone.

 

Sorry, I have no idea what you are talking about. What web page?

MG