Hey All, I work at a company, where a guy built this table, it is a C-beam. Anyways it landed in my lap, and i am trying to work the kinks out of and get it working. I am using Fusion 360 for design process, and pronterface as the driver for the machine. (If you have other suggestions im open) anyway I start the cutting process, and every so often the machine will just stop. X,Y, and Z, axis. all stop like i hit the pause button (I didnt push it) it just stops moving. on a 30 min cut file it will stop between 5-10 times. I then have to go back into the g-code and go to the closest z-movement and erase everything above that, and start it again. Sometimes it stops after ~1000 lines of code, sometimes ~10000 lines. Usually it stops around 2000-3000 lines. Its really weird and im pulling my hair out. Other than that the machine works awesome. any help is appreciated. thank you
Without a lot more information, I would say at a guess it was down to heat. However, we could do with more information, and maybe some pictures or grabs of your program screen when it happens.
I thought Pronterface was 3D printer specific? Anyway, why don't you download Universal g-code sender and use that?
There is a known issue with the CH340 serial interface chip that is used on cheaper Arduino Uno clones that causes exactly this sort of thing since the serial communications breaks down randomly. If your machine has one of those you will have to replace the Uno with a genuine one that uses the atmega16u4 interface chip. Other things to check: - other software on the PC that might try to access the usb/serial port at intervals - the USB cable. use a short, good quality cable. Long cables will nearly always give you problems. Cheap cables of any length will give problems. - heat in the power supply, it might be shutting itself off. - pronterface! this is not built for driving a router so I suggest using the Openbuilds driver, bCNC, or GRBL Panel (yes UGS will work but I just don't like it
Thanks to all of you. I know that pronterface is for 3d printers but it was what the previous kid was using. so i will try a different program. also is there any way to check if i have the correct chip. what would i look for? i have tried mulitple cables and it does the same thing. As far as pics i will have to get some next time im on it. as far as the heat thing... i dont believe it is getting hot. nothing seems out of the ordinary hot. the power supply doesnt seem to be warm to the touch. I dont know how long of programs everyone is running, i hear about people leaving them over night, my programs are 30 min to an hour. i could see a motor overheating, but that would just stop one wouldnt it. the other axis woudl still try to be doing something. It just stops, doing anything. its weird. Anyway more info on it, (excuse the noob references, trying to dig a little deeper) When the event occurs, All three axis just stop. I then have to hit the pause button on the software. if I hit resume, it takes off on one of the axis until it hits the maximum travel. So i have to hit the pause button, raise the z-axis up (to clear the part) and then hit the home button. If i push too many buttons the program freezes. so i have to hit the z up and home (so i dont have to try to zero in the x and y again. So its not like the supply is shut down or anything like that. Once back in home x and y, i disconnect the router table, taking note of the line of g-code it currently sits on. then i have to close the program, open up the g-code editor and find the closest "Z" movement, and then erase everything above that line (to the initial setup lines) save the file. Re-open pronterface, connect, set z to zero point, and then g92 x0 y0 z0, g90. when that is done, i disconnect, close the program. re-open the program, load file, connect to table, turn on router, turn on vacuum and then hit the go button. ( and wait for it to stop again) i have to do this every time, otherwise weird things happen. ie; the home position wont set, or whatever. anyway i will try to get pics next time im on it thanks again i will look into all of your ideas.
I think pronterface is not showing you any useful error message that GRBL might be outputting. please use either bCNC or the openbuilds driver to run one of your jobs. You can load the openbuilds driver by opening the cam system on the machine https://cam.openbuilds.com Also, if you can attach one of you job files here we can run it on one of our machines as a test. To identify the chip you have is easy. The genuine Uno has a small square chip near the USB port. That is the atmega16u2 usb chip The CH340 chip is a 10mm long rectangle near the usb port.
I had this same problem and found that USB times out to save power Prevent Windows from Turning Off USB Devices
