Ok so I have had this problem before and it was due to a loose limit switch wire. I have checked and re checked all limit switch and motor wiring and it still throws a hard limit error when cutting. I have noticed that if I rerun the program, it will air cut perfectly fine, but when actually cutting material it will throw the error. I am at my wits end. The only thing I am doing with my workbee is solving problems. I just took it completely apart to fix travel issues. I am running the black box and xtension limit switches, I have made sure my usb cable is no where near the power cord, router cord is as far away from wiring as possible. I dont know what to fix to get this to run right.
How old is the router? If old may need new brushes. The symptoms sound very much like EMI, but you have the extension limit switches and have your router cable away from other wiring. If you haven't already, try plugging the router into a socket away from where you have your controller power supply. Sorry, can't think of anything else at the moment. Alex.
Thanks Alex, router is 2 months old, and I have the router and shop vac plugged into an iot relay. Do you think the brushes could have worn out that quickly?
A little update on a very strange issue, when it was stopping I was surfacing my spoilboard. Since I finally got it completely surfaced by restarting at failed lines. I am on a project now and about 2 hrs in with no stops. Could it be something with the dust collection hose and MDF dust?
I certainly had issues with that, Brandon. In fact, I disconnected the hose from the dust shoe and vacuumed some MDF dust and could feel the static on my arm. When the back of my hand touched the frame of the machine, it faulted. I improved the grounding of the hose and faults during cutting have thus far stopped. It is truly amazing how much static is generated as soon as some wood material is being drawn up the hose. When running without cutting and generating dust, I had no issue.
Well spotted @Brandon Hurst, tiny currents but very high voltages generated by vacuuming wood dust. To ground it you need to wrap some copper wire around it and connect one end to earth. Alex.
My machine is in the basement. I used bare stranded copper wire and self adhesive copper tape purchased from Amazon to ground the cyclone and hose support above the machine to a nearby copper pipe. I’ll take some pictures and provide a better description later (it is 5:30am here at the moment). But one common method is to run copper wire inside the length of the hose and ground it at the dust collector.
Some pictures showing how I grounded the hose and cyclone dust collector below. Pardon the mess. Everything is connected to a common (star-like) ground. I also might add an additional ground connection to the inlet (dust shoe location). I think it works better if the grounding conductor(s) are exposed inside the hose (hence the one approach to have a wire running through the hose). Where I used the copper tape this always folds over and is secured to the inside of the tubes/cyclone at least a short distance.
