I have recently moved from a "Crashing" and "Problematic" Windows PC to a MacBook Air for running the control software. The MacBook is dedicated to running Control, and does not need to do any other task. I have the latest OS and the latest Control software. On some random jobs it will simply stop at some point. the monitor show that gcode has stopped. if I click on the pause button and then click on continue > it will go one step forward, if I pause again and press continue it will go one more step forward, about 3 times then it will not respond. Also when I do this I don't see any gcode changes. I then have to reboot Control and reset 0 and start the job from the top. I have tried to do some troubleshooting but I am coming up short.. When I first started using the MacBook everything worked perfectly. For some reason I now have problems, I can't remember what happened before the problem started ie, updates etc.. Has anyone here had similar problems??
Sounds like EMI, checkout docs:blackbox-x32:faq-emi [OpenBuilds Documentation] - any 3rd party components like a VFD spindle in use? Dust extraction?
many many people have had similar problems it is one of 2 things 1 - the mac is power saving the usb port, windows does it too, and the power saving settings have to be changed docs:blackbox-x32:install-windows-selective-suspend [OpenBuilds Documentation] (Windows I know, gives you the ideas so you can google it for your mac) 2 - EMI - electrical noise is interfering with the limit switches or USB communications. docs:blackbox-x32:faq-emi [OpenBuilds Documentation]
Also make sure you have the actual FTDI driver, some included CDC drivers in Mac can be flaky too docs:blackbox-x32:install-drivers [OpenBuilds Documentation]
Hi Peter, thanks for the reply.. I suspected there might be interference.. so I moved the USB cable away and use a ferrite on the cable.. it does happen mostly when the Router is closest to the controller.. would a shorter USB cable be better?
is there recommended distance for the laptop and blackbox to be from the CNC machine.. my laptop and blackbox are about 2 feet away from the Cnc...