[Solved] xPro v3 new build no longer sending commands to drivers

I'm building my first CNC and have the xPro v3 with grbl 1.1f

I ran my first dry run earlier this week with UGS to get each of my 4 stepper motors tested before finalizing mounting the board to the machine in a case. All went well and I was able to observe what proper behavior should be, so I know that it did work. I played around with it for just a few minutes, but all seemed good.

I got everything buttoned up, but didn't test it again as I wanted to focus on getting my motor mount designed and printed so I shifted to that. Yesterday I committed myself to sitting down and getting my settings dialed in for my machine and non of the motors responded. I've been researching and trying things, but still nothing.

Here's what I know:
* I know I had the wiring pairs correct, and everything was working
* The motors are no longer locking when it's running and I can easily move them with my fingers, whereas when they were working, there was clear resistance on the motors.
* When I trip the emergency switch, the motors do lock and each the drivers' LEDs show red (so I don't believe anything is fried)
* when sending jog commands, I get an "ok" response and verbose shows jog command being sent.
* during jog command, none of the driver LEDs light up (I think I remember them flashing green when everything was working and steps were being sent)
* during the initial test, I was running on Linux, but I have tried in Linux and on a Mac since to eliminate the machine being the problem.
* I did not change any grbl $ settings between initial testing and when the motors stopped responding
* the only significant physical changes since initial test and now are that I had the board mounted in a printed case I have the motor mounted to the z axis
* my initial dry run was probably about 30 minutes of total run time on the board

Things I remember, but don't see anymore:
* There were lights on the each driver illuminated and flashing when commands were being sent
* Tension in the motors during run time
* A subtle high pitched whine from the motors when the system was running as if to say they were engaged
* Obviously, movement in the motors when signals were being sent

Since noticing that the motors weren't working I tried a few things I found in the wiki. I flipped the $4 to 0, but that obviously wasn't right, because even the emergency switch stopped working so I flipped it back to 1. I also changed $100 $101 and $102 to 250.00 from 0.0, but that didn't do anything either. The other settings I have not changed.

Any suggestions would be helpful. Thank you.

Here are my current settings:

$0=10
$1=255
$2=0
$3=6
$4=1
$5=0
$6=0
$10=1
$11=0.020
$12=0.002
$13=0
$20=0
$21=0
$22=0
$23=1
$24=25.000
$25=500.000
$26=250
$27=1.000
$30=1000
$31=0
$32=0
$100=250.000
$101=250.000
$102=250.000
$110=2500.000
$111=2500.000
$112=2500.000
$120=50.000
$121=50.000
$122=50.000
$130=320.000
$131=525.000
$132=68.000

 

I've seen on some other post that sound very similar to what I'm experiencing that point to the power supply as a possible problem. I'm using a 12v power supply (110v/20a) that I left over from my 3d printer build. Although I've tested the output and it's reading 12.6v I think this may be a good candidate for being the problem. I just ordered a 24v power supply to see if that may solve the problem. It doesn't seem like any of the other posts have a definitive answer to their problems, but I will update with my results either way so people in the future may benefit.

 

Gary,

Yes, I understand that the e-stop should be normally closed. In fact, as I've been troubleshooting, I've just closed the loop with a jumper wire to try to isolate anything that could be the problem. It's interesting though that you mention the motors shouldn't lock when the e-stop loop is open because I thought I remember the motors locking during the e-stop when they were working properly, but perhaps they didn't. This introduces a new wrinkle to the problem. All four LEDs turn solid red and they do lock now. I haven't tried sending commands during what I'm perceiving as e-stop, but I will try that when I get a chance and report back.

FYI, I'm not using an ATX style power supply, so I haven't desoldered the jumper. I'm powering through the green block. I believe the e-stop works the same regardless of ATX or not.

Thanks,
Alexi

 

Eureka! I'm going to leave my last message in case others completely gloss over what is clearly in the documentation and even when Gary pointed me to it again. This line is the key, and one that I kept missing

• Before you proceed, first remove the ATX-ON solder jumper if you plan to connect an external switch (see above)

My assumption was that I could disable power to the motors only by using the mushroom plunger if not using ATX, but it appears that during non-ATX the stop operates as a NO switch. I wasn't thinking of the plunger as kill switch for the ATX, but instead of a kill switch for the motors which is what I created by closing the circuit. I let my assumptions drive my decisions rather than going in blind and trusting the documentation.

I don't understand how it was working before, unless I wired up the plunger incorrectly and then just compounded the problems by putting that jumper in. I feel a bit foolish, but that's what learning is all about.

Gary, thank you for pointing me in the right direction.