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Arghh finally found some time to spend with my X-Carve for the first time in about two weeks,and it screws up like crazy
It started yesterday with a lot of run outs and what sounded like high frequencies from two of the motors,z and x.
After some time messing around with reinstalling the local software package and some minor adjustments on the pots,it seemed to get better (the pots on z and x have since day one been on default),but today they are totally dead
The pots where not adjusted by more then two lines on the meter,and when i first received and installed the x carve,i only had to adjust the y axis and it all work fine until yesterday.
Can the motors be damaged of to low current ? ? Strange
So this i do not understand,is there a lot of bad motors out there ? Any body else experienced this ?
Best way to understand your machine problems starts from beginning. You can not adjust pods by guessing. There are two ways to do this. First one is checking current from the pod output with voltmeter.
Second and easier one is; you must take your belts off and start tuning your V-wheels without any load on steppers.
V-Wheels are almost most important factor running this machine smooth and accurate. Take it slow and careful, V-Wheels must be turn almost very difficult with your two finger, and they all must be same tensions. When you find good adjustment, roll your X and Z axis by hand to see and tumbling feeling or similar hardness to slide them. When you’re satisfied, put your belts on, make them guitar bass string tight. You must draw big enough square and run it without spindle turned on. Listen Steppers and start playing with pods. Raise current by turning clockwise first. If you hear humming, start going counter clockwise very little at a time. until humming goes away. That’s your sweet spot. Do something for other axis. If you raise power too much, Thermal shutdown might occur. Turn it back and start over.
If you have smooth running both X and Y axis, you’re done. Z axis don’t give much problems. If you can adjust pot to just say 12 o’clock position, that’s enough. I hope this helps.
But this is not a bad installation/setup from my part,this has got to be faulty parts as far as I can understand.
It seem the Gshield is also dead now ,no lights no nothing .
Could it be a faulty Gshield from start ? And this has been the main faulty component,sending out to high current,ending up with burnt stepper motors ?
I’m just guessing but this seem the most logical to me…
Yes could be wire or most common problem, Gshield pops up after while. If it’s not making good contact with Arduino, similar symptoms are very common. I used two bushing like plastic pieces over Gshield which Fan assembly pushing down when it’s closed.
Thank you both for tips,but have been struggling for hours now,do not seem to be any loose wires and both cards are snugly fit. I am afraid it is a dead Gshield and most likely two dead motors since these went down before the Gshield,but no way of testing these now
I will send inventables a mail tomorrow they might have some solution to this,I hope
If I manually move my carriage with all the power off, the movement of the stepper motors generates sufficient current/voltage (I never know which term to use) that the LEDs on the controller will light up.
I’d have thought this would be a quick & dirty way to check that everything is still connected between the controller and each motor…
No LEDs on the gShield? Check your power supply. The blue LED is hooked to the 24 volt power supply and through a resistor to ground. If you don’t have the blue LED, then you either don’t have 24 volts or your blue LED is burned out, or the resister is burned out.
Or your wiring from the 24 volt power supply to the gShield has a problem.
Well a little update is needed on this.
First of all,i am AMAZED by the service and people at inventables yes i am sending a kiss to them all
I sent them a email explaining my problems and without any sort of questions they sent me by EXPRESS to Norway,hold on ,not only two stepper motors and the Gshield but also a spindle
They sent the spindle because they belived the spindle might have been the cause for this,and wanted me to change it.
And yes the spindle has become more noisy after some use but it is still working.
To be honest i do not think i need the spindle since i am about to install a makita instead of the stock spindle,but hey it might find its use .
But what this boils down to is how amazing their service are,and i KNOW i will buy more from inventables knowing this.
Just wanted to let you know this,Inventables,gotta love em
,no lights no nothing .
yes i am sending a kiss to them all 
