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The video and written Instructions are great for the most part. But as you get into the Drag Chain Brackets, Drag Chain itself, frame and workspace it gets pretty confusing. Its when it jumps back and forth from 500 to 1000 in the written and then there are parts of the 1000 assembly not in video. So you have to watch the 500 video and guess which applies to the 1000 and in what order. I think there should be a video for any 1000 assembly that differs from the 500.
Also - The fine tuning and squaring video hinted about earlier in the forums, I could sure use that now.
Also the v-wheel adjustment after assembly? what is the proper glide/tightness of these wheels against the makerslide.
Soldering - Is there solder provided? I dont see it, This is a difficult step and needs to be real specific, or a better solution. I struggled with the limit switch solder getting it to stick was a pain, and not sure it will hold up over time.
With all this said I am sure me being brand new to it is likely the real problem.
I saw the video that was posted about the limit switches and immediately ordered a soldering iron and some solder because I didn’t own one yet, I hope that some of the confusion gets cleared up and I will be watching this post as mine arrives in the coming days. Good luck with the rest of the build!
Bart, the creator of Makerslide, gave the following advice on tightening the v-wheels: loosen the eccentric spacer until the v-wheel does not rotate when the carriage is moving and then tighten just (and no more!) until the v-wheel rotates when moving the carriage. Overtightening will lead to the v-wheel wearing out.
You are right, the drag chain assembly for 1000mm is still a little unclear. We are working on it, and should have some updates up soon. You are right that you need to follow some of the instructions for the 500mm in terms of routing the cables through the x-axis chain and then through the y. A picture of the orientation of the y-axis chain would help a lot. Here’s a pic from my setup:
We do not currently provide a soldering iron or solder in the toolkit. We recently updated the configurator page so that this is more clear when purchasing an X-Carve. I was new to soldering and also had some of the same concerns about my soldering job on the limit switches and the gshield.
On the soldering front, it sounds like you didn’t get a great solder joint. A common mistake made when first learning to solder is people tend to try to melt the solder onto the joint and the joint itself isn’t usually heated up enough to make a solid joint. What you want to see is the solder basically get “sucked” into the joint. See this video.
Good luck! I’m pretty jealous you got yours already, I haven’t even received my shipping notice yet!
Or I’ve used connectors like thisthis for micro switches. You don’t get as solid of a connection as soldering, but as long as the wire is crimped in securely and the connecting end is tight, you shouldn’t have any problems (and it will probably look nicer).
I’ve acutally even soldered my wire into these connectors to ensure my wire stays put. You would have to remove the plastic coating and then add a piece of shrink tube after, but it’s a pretty good solution. I might actually do this when mine gets here.
The picture is exact;y what I needed to see and it helps so very much, thanks! I have enjoyed this build very much and the videos and instructions are some of the best I have seen on anything.
