http://diylilcnc.org/forum/tags/troubleshooting Free, open-source plans for a low-cost 3-axis CNC mill by Taylor Hokanson and Chris Reilly. Sponsored by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. en-US Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:56:22 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q http://diylilcnc.org/forum/search.php http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/emc2#post-503 Thu, 20 May 2010 19:22:50 +0000 Chris 503@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Also, check the <a href="http://diylilcnc.org/downloads">downloads</a> section for an EMC2 configuration made for the DIYLILCNC. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/emc2#post-502 Thu, 20 May 2010 16:31:32 +0000 Chris 502@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>@jaunders, that's really exciting! Please send us some pictures if you get the chance.</p> <p>This problem you're describing could be caused by either bad wiring or incorrect software settings. </p> <p>When troubleshooting, I've found it easier to focus on one motor out of the three, usually the X or Y axis motor. </p> <p>Double check that your wiring matches what is described in the HobbyCNC documentation; make sure that the correct color wires are leading to the proper pins on the board.</p> <p>If everything looks like it's connected correctly, try testing the connectivity (with a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multimeter">multimeter</a>) of each wire on the motor to make sure it is actually connecting to the board.</p> <p>If the physical connections look OK, then focus on the software settings you're using in EMC. </p> <p>Have you gone through the steps of doing the <a href="http://wiki.linuxcnc.org/cgi-bin/emcinfo.pl?TweakingSoftwareStepGeneration#Run_a_Latency_Test">latency test</a>? This will help you figure out the settings to use as you work through the <a href="http://linuxcnc.org/docs/2.3/html/config_stepconf.html">EMC Stepconf Wizard</a>. There's a more detailed version of this process outlined on page 63 of the PDF in the <a href="http://diylilcnc.org/downloads">downloads</a> section.</p> <p>Try those troubleshooting steps and let us know what happens. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/emc2#post-501 Thu, 20 May 2010 12:00:26 +0000 jaunders 501@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>we have an almost complete build in New Zeland , however are haivng issues with emc2 and the steppers only making small jittery movements without full rotations does anyone have any ideas or there mill configure file in which we could try ? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-339 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 15:44:18 +0000 Chris 339@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>@DIYengineer, that's great news! Keep us posted as you make more progress.</p> <p>BTW, I cleaned up those code dumps from the img/youtube embeds, hope you don't mind. I'll try to set up the forum so we can accept video embeds at some point. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-338 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:29:20 +0000 DIYengineer 338@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I guess the youtube embed code does not work in the forums. opps! check the link instead. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-337 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:27:49 +0000 DIYengineer 337@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Link:<br /> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w5pCUCzs3U" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w5pCUCzs3U</a></p> <p>RE-soldered all joints. Now all 4 axis's work like butter. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-336 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:40:26 +0000 DIYengineer 336@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Ok sorry for the post before the picture, i wasn't quite sure which format would work.<br /> I re-soldered the Z axis section. Now it works fine only at full speed, but is jittery on the initial startup and slowdown which is still a big problem. Most likely going to have to re-flow the Z axis AGAIN, i cant believe its giving me this much trouble.</p> <p>As for the picture above, those are basically the main settings i need. I guess the steps per inch should all rely on the ACME rod i purchased correct? Currently Using half steps as well (J1 Jumper installed, and disabled voltage reduction J4 on all axis) </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-335 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:33:20 +0000 DIYengineer 335@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p><a title='ImageShack - Image And Video Hosting' href='http://img38.imageshack.us/i/axismovement.jpg/'><img src='http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/1565/axismovement.jpg' /></a></p> <p>Test 2 </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-333 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 03:14:53 +0000 DIYengineer 333@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>going to re-flow the Z channel solder and see if the problem goes away like X channel did. Swapping steppers, and re attaching wires didn't do anything. Its most likely a weak solder point.</p> <p>Hopefully will have this figured out tonight so i can put up a new video of all 4 of them moving simultaneously while doing a gcode test run in mach 3. =P </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-332 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:43:10 +0000 DIYengineer 332@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I'm thinking the wires entering the clamping post are to blame... I will re-clamp and see what happens. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-331 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:42:00 +0000 DIYengineer 331@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>The settings are the same for all 4 axis's, but can be adjusted individually. This is a 1.8 degree motor correct? So 200 Steps per 1 full revolution. The motors are not connected to the gantry or drive system yet so i have no clue what that number should be. 200x_____=steps per inch. Velocity and acceleration also no clue, is there a spec sheet for these steppers? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-330 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:08:47 +0000 Taylor 330@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I'm sure you know this already, but I'd approach things one by one. First, drop some setting like steps/inch to 25% and see what effect it has. Bump it gradually back towards the default and note any changes. Is the problem identical? Or does the problem get better or worse? You can play with the jog speed in the same way.</p> <p>Numbers will differ depending on your setup, so we don't have a magic setting to give you. Your motor motion looks just like problems we had along the way - I'd be surprised if a faulty motor is to blame.</p> <p>Are the settings applied identically to all three axes? Or can you change each axis individually? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-329 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 01:03:28 +0000 DIYengineer 329@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I reassembled the board and driver box, including the forth axis. The X axis problem vanished. A,X,Y axis are as SUPER SMOOTH. Z axis now has the case of the jitters, just not as bad as the original! I'm starting too think its just the little clamping mechanism doesn't like 2 wires going into one port. Its a 8 wire stepper====&gt;6 wire port. The communication wires are just twisted together in pairs and shoved in. When the machine is fully assembled as per the directions you solder the wire that was given to you with the kit and only 1 wire enters the clamping post.</p> <p>also Inserted jumper J4 to override the voltage reduction in each axis, as well as running 1/2 step (Jumper J1 in each axis). Heat sinks get HOT HOT HOT without the current reduction on, but i wanted to take that out of the equation. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-328 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:38:25 +0000 DIYengineer 328@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Well the main settings are:</p> <p>Steps per INCH: 2000 (default)</p> <p>Velocity inches: 120</p> <p>Acceleration: 4inches</p> <p>G's: .010360</p> <p>Step pulse:0</p> <p>Dir Pulse:0</p> <p>Those are basically the current settings by default, see anything that i should change? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-327 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:34:33 +0000 DIYengineer 327@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>REflowed all the solder joints on the board, 99% of them were already perfect although i did find a few here and there that took a bit more solder. Going to set the VREF on the 4th axis and setup 4th stepper just to make sure all is well with that axis since i'm checking the entire board, and mach 3 easily allows you to jog a 4th axis why not? haha.. </p> <p>On a better not I Picked up a Gateway 500SE tower from a friend (FREE) :), Made in 2002 1.8ghz Pentium 4, 512mb ddr ram, 64mb on board Intel video, 40gig ide HD, on board lan, and on board parallel. Runs windows XP pro 32 bit like a charm and passed the Mach 3 parallel port checker with very low latency! SO I have that tethered to my hobby CNC controller box. I think i'm going to gut my controller box and mount everything in the Gateway tower to save space and so all my wires are basically going to the same place.</p> <p>Time to hook the board back up and see if the stepper issue went away (*Crosses fingers*). </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-326 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 23:29:39 +0000 Taylor 326@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>My money is on the software settings. Been a while since I worked with Mach3, so these are all guesses. Look at scaling, look at jog speed and acceleration. Pull everything back to see if you can't find a ballpark where things smooth out. Also, does the spindle on the wonky axis turn back and forth, like it can't decide which direction it wants to go? Can you easily cause it to stop moving all together by gripping it with your fingers? These tests should help narrow things down.</p> <p>Also, try changing jumper settings on the axis in question. Does the motor behave differently? If so, how? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-325 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:29:46 +0000 DIYengineer 325@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I swapped 2 other steppers in and they all did the same thing which takes the steppers out of the equation. I was using 1/4 stepping (Jumpers J2 and J3 installed on X,Y,Z axis). J4 Un-installed on all (X,Y,Z). Triple checked wiring, triple checked the pin out software inputs for mach 3 to make sure that they were correct. All the settings were correct. Ripping the board out and going through the X axis section and re-flow all the joints just in case one is barely connected. I posted on the hobbycnc help forum as well with no reply yet.</p> <p>I will reflow and get back to everyone. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-323 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 15:34:03 +0000 Chris 323@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>@DIYengineer -- first off, congrats! Looks like you're making some great progress.</p> <p>It might be a little hasty to assume the motor's broken without troubleshooting a bit first. The easiest thing to do would be to switch the motors, for example swap the Z motor with the X motor. If you still get the same behavior, you'll know it's something in the driver board/software.</p> <p>I remember seeing some behavior like that when our scaling settings were off in our control software (in our case EMC2). </p> <p>I would double-check all the wiring with a multi-meter for connectivity and also to make sure the correct wires go to the correct pins on the board. </p> <p>Also double-check your jumpers for X; if they're set differently than what your telling the software, that will affect the scaling and cause a problem like that seen in the video. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-322 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:30:11 +0000 Schweppes 322@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>I would guess that it's faulty straight out of the box...generally when a motor bounces around like that, it's because something isn't balanced right.</p> <p>I'm not sure if I read right, but does this happen solely if something is on the x axis? or is it just that single motor doing it regardless of what axis it's hooked up to? if it's the former, it something you've got coded up right, latter..definitely broke out of the box.</p> <p>Or I'm completely wrong, who knows. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/x-axis-stepper-loud-rough-and-noisy#post-321 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:57:39 +0000 DIYengineer 321@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Take a peek:</p> <p><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCJ8pBcreAk" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCJ8pBcreAk</a></p> <p>The other run smooth, not choppy and don't bounce all over.</p> <p>Any clues?</p> <p>Connections are fine, swapped another stepper and same results.</p> <p>I was using Mach 3 to Jog them.</p> <p>305oz steppers connected to 4 axis hobby cnc pro board. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-35 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:25:57 +0000 Chris 35@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>&gt;Do you know of a decent open source cad software for working with 2d/dxf files? </p> <p>nazerine, great question!</p> <p>I know that both <a href="http://www.blender.org/">Blender</a> and <a href="http://www.inkscape.org/">Inkscape</a> are free and can work with 2D vectors. </p> <p>Recommendations, anyone? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-31 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:49:44 +0000 nazerine 31@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Interesting, VCarve imports the layer names, but only layer 1 has data. Sketchup imports all the layers properly, and can be viewed. Thanks for the tip :)</p> <p>Do you know of a decent open source cad software for working with 2d/dxf files? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-29 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:53:19 +0000 Chris 29@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>nazerine, the DXF is set up in layers; one for each cut sheet, just like in the instructions. I don't know sketchup or vcarve, so I can't troubleshoot specifics of those programs, but if there's a layer function in either, try that. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-26 Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:18:28 +0000 nazerine 26@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>It would seem some of the issues are corrected with the DXF; but alas there are new ones.</p> <p>Circles are now almost vector lines, they are now 4-piece open vector circles. I have to manually join/close them to apply a cutting tool path. All other vectors are joined and closed properly.</p> <p>Perhaps I'm just a DXF newb, but I can only get the 'first page' when loading it. Both in google sketchup, and vectric vcarve. I would imagine there should be one dxf file, for each 16x32" sheet to be cut. </p> <p>Otherwise it loads to scale correctly and ready for me to design some tool paths to cut this on a cnc router :) </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-20 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:03:17 +0000 Chris 20@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Also, please see the <a href="http://diylilcnc.org/downloads">downloads</a> section for a new .zip with a DXF included. Hope that helps! </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-18 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:24:42 +0000 Chris 18@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p><img src="http://diylilcnc.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/bb_press_logo.png" /></p> <p>nazerine, you can now post images with the img tag!</p> <p>Sorry, it is not a default option in bbPress... had to install a plugin. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-17 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:04:50 +0000 nazerine 17@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Good morning Taylor,</p> <p>Yes they are imported as 16 four-sided rectangles. Shapes instead of lines. I believe it is a drawing issue, as importing is very straight forward. Like I said, not all are being created this way.</p> <p>I was going to post a screen cap, but I could not see how to attach files, inline images, or any rules in regards to posting offsite links. Wasn't sure so didn't do it.</p> <p>Please advise. </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-15 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:11:23 +0000 Taylor 15@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Nazerine,</p> <p>When you say that a circle imports as a set of rectangles, do you mean that it actually displays 16 four-sided rectangles? Or perhaps you're getting a 16-sided polygon. Can you post a screencap so we can help you troubleshoot? </p> http://diylilcnc.org/forum/topic/vector-shapes-and-tool-pathing#post-14 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:41:07 +0000 nazerine 14@http://diylilcnc.org/forum/ <p>Hi guys,</p> <p>I'm trying to import the pdf vectors into Vectric VCarve 5 to design tool pathing to cut the design on a cnc router table. </p> <p>First try to import, vcarve stacks all pages/vectors into one area. Used acrobat to split each page into a file. Import pdf, set work area to 16x23", everything is to scale now.</p> <p>Now the real problem: some circles are not actual vector circles, but 16 small rectangles arranged in the shape of a circle. Also the mortise holes are 4 rectangles, not a 4 sided vector line.</p> <p>My plan was to try cutting out a few pieces using a 1/16" end mill and dogbone/fillet the mortise and tenon joints and see how well it first together.</p> <p>PS: Found the link to here from hackaday.com </p>