After not using my DIY cnc for a while, I tried using it and Arduino was not recognized by my computer. Only when I disconnect it from the gshield v5 does it light up and my computer finds it. The gshield blue led comes on when I plug in the power source but that’s all it does. Also, when I connect my stepper motors to it I can’t turn the shafts by hand where I could before. Is this a programming issue or did my gshield go bad. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.
This is almost always a mis-alignment when the gShield is plugged into the Arduino.
If you have the Invenables case it is easy to plug the gShield in without the pins matching up right.
The pins line up and I didn’t disconnect it before it stopped responding, could one of the pins be loose? Some say it could be a short. How can I be sure?
Take the gShield off the Arduino. See if you can flash grbl into the Arduino. If that works then put things back together and try it again.
I reflashed grbl into the Arduino and when I connect the gshield to Arduino the Arduino disconnects and all Leds go out as if power was disconnected. Could the Arduino be bad?
I have two different cables and they both work only when the gshield is not connected.
As I look at the Boards the pins are going into the slots. Do you think I need to use a Breadboard to make sure that all the pins are making contact? they were working just fine and connected when the problem started. Also I noticed that when I try to turn the steppor motors it’s very hard. Before when I turned the stepper motor the respective axis led would illuminated and not I can barely turn the axis and no leds come on. Did you experience that as well?
Yes, but are they going into the correct slots. They could be offset side to side which is what usually causes the problem of connecting without the gShield, but not connecting with it.
The fly in the ointment is that you said your machine was working when the problem started.
Also, is the issue of locked motors. Have you tried to move the spindle by hand with power off? 24 volt power and USB disconnected.
All LEDs off when you mount the gShield back? No blue light on the gShield with the 24 volt power supply on.
When I supply power to the gshield the blue led light is on. I used to be able to turn motors by hand with the power supply off. As soon as I connect the motors to the gshield I can no longer turn the motors by hand with power supply on or off.
First, write down, or make sure that you know which wire is hooked into which terminal slot — then ---- at the gShield, remove the stepper motor wires for the X axis from the gShield. Make sure that none of the wires touch each other. Can you now move the X axis by hand?
I have all wires in the X axis I can’t turn the motor Black and Green are paired and Red and Blue are paired. When I remove the black the motor will turn but still very hard. When I have both Red and Black removed motor turns easy. Same thing happens when I remove Green with Black connected and Blue when Red is connected. When I connect one pair, i.e. Black and Green only motor moves but still very hard. Same when I do it with Red and Blue Pair
My guess at this point is that the gShield is bad.
One final test you could do is to disconnect the gShield from the Arduino and run a test “air” cut to make sure that the Arduino is ok.
If your “air” cut runs successfully that would indicate that the Arduino is most likely ok.
If it were my machine, at this point I would replace the gShield.
That is probably what I have to do. I appreciate your input. I did the sample test and everything working well without the gshield. I am trying to find out how to send the gshield back for repair or replacement but the address seems harder to find.