Powered up my new Blackbox today, My first CNC controller. I connected my 3 stepper motors to do the first test. Went trough the setting page and then tried some jogging. X and Y axis work great but i have some issues with the Z axsis. It was running a bit crazy, spinning up and not moving, just skipping steps i guess.? To make it move at all i had to bring the amp adjustment all the way down and feed rate at max 1000 mm/min I did some voltage measurements on the output for all axis. What i found is, on the working axis the measurement is 24v + between A+ and A- and 24v - between B+ and B- and this will switch between negative and positive voltage when changing jog direction. What i found on Z axis is that there is 24v positive between A+ and A- regardless of changing the jog direction and always 24v negative between B+ and B- Please advice
Sounds like motor output wiring: One only one coil is properly wired, the other coil has an open circuit, then the typical motor response is what you describe. Check wiring, or swop motors to confirm
hI The wiring from the plug to motor is fine. If i plug this motor in to another axis it works fine. and move the x axis motor to z axis the fault is there on that motor as well. For me it looks like somthing internal on the board. Technical support asked to check the wiring as well or send it back to be checked. Since i live in Norway and shipping cost is going to be a alot of lost money for me and already have paid import tax im not to happy about wasting 60-70 $ on something that is not working, Not sure what to say or do
Sure sounds a lot like what Peter was saying...only half of the coils on the stepper are energizing, hence the all 'up' and no 'down'. Could be some sort of short between the A and B leads? Or possibly a firmware mixup... What settings are you using for $2 and $3? Any pics might help
Did some demo video today off the issue. Decided to removed the cover to have a closer look at the board it self. I noticed something different on the chip soldering for the Z axis that did not match the other axis. Maybe this has something to do with the problem. I used a usb microscopic camera. I made a video of all the test and will upload to the post if possible.
The first video there showing the Z axis motor connected to Z output on the board. The second video is where i swapped the X axis motor to the Z output and the fault stays on the output. The Z axis motor moved to X output now works fine.
Ok. That axis is screwy. It may still be firmware. Try slaving Y2 to Z and connect a stepper to Y2. Jog Z again . If it jogs fine, yep a bad Z channel. If the problem persists... We check the brains.
Took another look at your first video and the settings look fine. Can you also measure the amperage out for the Z axis? Those steppers may not like it if the driver is turned all the way up. What's the max I for those steppers? 2.5 amps? 2.8? Or the newer 3.2's? Could also be that the output is too low. Also, those controllers should fixed to 1/8 step pulse. You can check underneath the driver pcb and see that the solder pads are connected at "mode 1". Just trying to clear all the basic stuff before you have to shell out any cash to get it back to OB's.
I tried all kind of amperage for the axis all the way down and all the way up and in between. Checked the pcb solder for correct mode. Tried today slaving the Z axis and that works fine. All tested good. So conclusion is the Z axis driver is not working propperly.
¢rap. What're your options? Maybe you can just send the "Muscle" board pcb to OpenBuilds to reduce shipping costs? Or, buy an external driver like this one and connect it to the "slave Z" DIR and STEP jumper pins and bypass Z channel altogether? ****. Sorry, bro.
Useful information. If the Z axis worked fine on the slaved output channel it shows the Z axis driver is fine. The problem must lie somewhere between the slave jumpers and the output interface on the Z-axis. Hopefully someone who understands the design of the board can narrow it down from there.
Hmm.. The way I understood it, Ronny slaved the Z step and dir output signals from the brains to the Y2 axis driver channel on the muscles with a stepper motor connected to Y2. He has said that it functions normally and thus he concludes that the Zed channel driver installation is hosed somehow. I have to agree with him. He thinks maybe some solder that flowed where it shouldn't have on his muscle board. Check his vids.
I am having a similar problem with the X ... It stutters and doesn't turn. I unplugged it, and plugged into the Y, and runs fine when connected to a the Y axis.
Just double check that a the X axis configs (max feedrate, commanded feedrate, steps per mm etc) are all sane and similar to Y please
All match =| I checked my wiring, and have used three different motors, all wired the same. They shake, and don't turn much on X, but all run fine on Y.
Please email http://support.openbuilds.com/support/home and they will sort you out with an RMA Request
Same issue here on my workbee 1010, except for me its z and both y axis motors. My x axis moves back and forth but doesn’t always jog the direction you tell it. Swapped motors and other motors are functional so it has to be wiring or blackbox. I’m going to go through all the wiring for the 3rd time when i get some free time but i feel like its a blackbox issue.
As it jogs correct sometimes, it sounds like the BlackBox is fine, randomly not jogging the direction you want is usually a sign that one of the 4 stepper wires is making (or losing) contact intermittantly. Check, or preemptively reinstall the terminals on offending axes.
I’ll give it a look this evening but that still doesn’t explain my z & y’s? They shake/ lock up when prompted to jog.
They shake = classic sign of either loose motor wire, or crossed pairs Of course http://support.openbuilds.com/support/home would be happy to help but this really does seem like the classic miswiring symptoms first. RMA can take a couple weeks, so rather make sure the wiring is perfect.
I found this thread when, after having no issues during initial tests, I began having problems similar to those described here. My x axis stepper would sound funny, like it was skipping the belt cogs, but either wasn’t moving at all or was moving in the wrong direction. After reading this thread I went back to my setup to inspect the wiring and the motor side wiring checked out but when I checked my blackbox and found that the connector for the x axis was slightly dislodged from its socket. Plugging it back in more securely has fixed it and it is now running flawlessly. I hope this helps someone.
Awesome to hear you got it figured out. It’s so frustrating when your trying to figure it out and can’t.
I've been having an issue since I got my blackbox. Initially it was for a cnc newbie and it was always a problem with the z axis. I would calibrate it would move the correct speed, once the machine is idle or i turn it off and comeback to it another day, it would jog slowly or too fast. I ended up using an xcontroller, no problem ever. I connected the blackbox to the xcarve, same issue. I changed wiring, grounded the machine even though it never was before, changed the stepper motor, wiring and to date it has not worked properly. I checked everything I could possibly check. It's highly impossible that it's the same issue on both machines that has to do with wiring or anything mechanical. Even if I switch the wiring on the axis it's the same thing. This turned out to be a waste of money x by 7 plus shipping because it's Trinidad it came to. I'm at my end with this worthless blackbox.
it is time to contact the store Support Remember these forums are for casual member to member community help. if you have an actual product problem, then talk to the store
