Hi Guys: I have a weird problem on a Workbee 1010 with a black box controller. The two motors on the Y axis don't appear to be in synch. If I square up the gantry, as soon as I move the Y axis, it goes out of square. One motor appears to start moving before the other. They do both move, but not in synch with each other. Seems to always happen in the same order, ie the lost steps always occur on the same motor. Happens in both Y+ and Y- directions. It eventually gets out of whack to the point that the Y axis starts binding. I checked all the ususal suspects, both Y axes appear to have about the same friction when turning by hand, there is no play on the leadscrews, the BB current settings are the same for both motors. GRBL settings appear correct. All wiring connections appear tight and plugged in for both motors. There are no error lights on the BB, power is good, everything else appears good. It was working properly initially, this problem developed after using it for a while. Got me stumped, I've never seen this before. Could it be a failure of the BB controller? Bad motor? Settings? Is there any warranty on the BB if that proves to be the problem? MG
always the same side that loses steps... then it might be the driver chip. test this by swapping the 2 Y plugs on the BB (power off first!) . if the other side now loses steps then it is the driver. if not then it is the motor/screw/nut/wheels - ie somewhere in the mechanism is sticking.
Thanks David It's a client machine, I won't have access to it until tomorrow. I'm starting to think that one of the motors/drivers is dead, and the other is just dragging it along for the ride... MG
Yep, that's what it was. Controller is fine, just a plug came out. I don't much like the BB plugs, they don't have much retention force and fall out easily. MG
