So from day one I’ve never been able to put my gshield into my the gshield box. I have it laying on top with the fans and everything blowing air on it. Ive been carving like this for about 3 months now. Well I decided to put the thing back into the box. Of course it did not work at all so I pulled it back out. Now when I turn it on, the green indicator lights light up and stay lit, I can hear a slight hum coming from the steppers, but only the ones corresponding with the light that is on. Now I have went into easel setup and reset everything up, and it moves but the lights go on and off like normal as it moves, but sometimes it just stays on with the motor humming away. I have taken the wires off and reattached them all…xyz axis and the now the gshield itself is starting to get hot like a ground is bad or something. I could never get the arduino and shield to pair inside the shield case that’s why I have it outside. Im thinking maybe the shield is shorting out or something… Help at wits end
Sounds like they are not properly plugged in.
that’s what it feels like. If I just power the shield minus the usb cable it powers up and lights on like normal…but as soon as I plug in the usb, The carve motors engage and the lights stay on and the shield starts getting warm.
just at a loss because I have taking dang thing apart like 20 times, to seat and reseat, maybe its still wrong
Without power to the Arduino the gShield doesn’t have logic power either. The 24 volt power supply is mainly there for the stepper motor voltage, but without the Arduino running the motors don’t turn on.
You may have your current limits for the stepper motors set too high. This would cause the stepper drivers to overheat and go into thermal shutdown (the driver chips get too hot so they turn off). Once they cool down a little they come back on and if the current limit is set too high they go right back into thermal shutdown.
I turned the stepper voltage down to zero. then a notch forward. As soon as a did this the xyz axis lights lit up and the motors started humming. and the shield started getting hot again. This thing was just working 8 hrs ago on a hour carve. only thing I have done is try to put it back in its gshield house. I don’t think its the stepper motors. Now I have completely disassembled and reassembled the gshield xyz and fan wires and reinstalled…as soon as I plug in the usb it lights and hums and gets hot.
So heres my update. Ive reinstalled the uno and it communicates fine with the gshield. Went into easel to test carve and see what it does, and same old thing. It lets me carve and jog and set up the machine homing switches, sometimes when it moves it turns the led lights off, but when the lights don’t go off, I still hear a humm from the steppers corresponding to the light. So I hit carve 2 see what it does anyways, because it still seems to work. Then I hear it sound like its bogging down the stepper motors, and the carve slows on the xaxis jogs and when it goes to make a circle it makes this god aweful robot sound…i guess you would call it that. So at that point I just ended the carve, as the gsheild was getting very hot by then. I am seriously at a loss by this, I think my gshield is cooked or a broken piece somewhere. plz help ive already sent emails to help@inventables, any advise would be used
Hard to say without seeing the machine, but my guess is that the gShield is bad.
One other thing you could check is to measure the voltage from the 24 volt supply to see if it is putting out just 24 volts.
Douglas,
I feel your pain
I thought I cooked my G-Shield but it was not so.
This is how I got mine back into action.
- Turn the voltage back to zero again.
- while increasing the voltage very gentle and in very small movements, jog the axis you are adjusting at a low speed.
- Be sure, you are on the correct axis, because its very easy to get confused, especially when you are frustrated.
- Using pressure from only my hand, I was able to jog the axis and feel when I could stop the movement.
Once both the x and y axis was able to push well, and it felt adequate, without putting to much voltage to the motors I stopped.
I am only using nema 17 motors and the machine works just fine.
I think the motor drivers will go off then on when it gets to hot, so be sure the led flickering is not the motor power going of and on. I believe the pots on mine are adjusted to around 25 to 35% but they are touchy, if I move them just a bit, its like they want to go to full power. The motors will whine and make noise, but after some time I was able to correct the voltage, remove the motor hum, and run with the gshield cool.
Be sure you are not binding any axis that can cause overheating
Last but not least, smell it.
Burnt electronics has a very distinct smell and while not full proof, it is usually a good indication.
Good Luck.
Bill