Hi,
the Z axis is unresponsive. X + Y jog just fine via Easel. Z doesn’t do anything.
i can move the Z manually by turning the handle on top of the motor - so it’s not locked up.
i’ve checked the wiring from the board and i have checked the wiring from the terminals to the Z stepper. some of the wires seemed a bit loose - so it tightened them up and did a bit of maintenance - but everything seems ok at this time.
scratching my head a bit on this. it was milling A oK this morning - and then all of a sudden the Z becomes unresponsive - and hasn’t played nice since.
i wonder if a stepper driver has blown, or the motor is bad - but i don’t know what to do to test for these things.
thank you!
Have you tried hooking up the wires from one of the other (X or Y) motors and seeing if it will jog with that?
not yet.
so disconnect the Y carriage, disconnect the wires from the gshield to the Z. pop the Y wires in the Z terminal and see if jogging the Y will move the Z? - ok that makes sense. i had to type it out to think it thru.
if nothing moves then it’s the motor. if things do move then it’s the wires. maybe. i’ll try it and see what happens.
X axis stepper wires on same terminal just back side of X carriage down below, much easier to swap for testing.
What controller you have? X-Box or old version controller.
i have a shapeoko 2. feels really old school now, but i guess it’s only 2-3 years old.
Z axis jogs when signal is from X driver. so i suppose it is the Z axis wire or it is the grbl board.
when i manually jog the Z axis turning the screw by hand the green light comes on on the board. when i jog the X and Y using easel they work and the green lights on the board come on. when i try to jog z axis using easel no lights and no movement.
assuming it is the board anyone have any thoughts on the cheaper boards on amzn right now?
If Z jog when hooked up to X then the Z motor/wire is okay and your issue lies in the controller side.
Could be bad GRBL-board / bad driver module / improper connection between shield/driver module.
What happens if you swap out the GRBL-shield driver module for X to Z?
Current Z-config does not work but if swapping out individual driver with a known good one will tell if it is a shield or driver (current limiter) issue.
1 Like
thanks - i’ll give these a go!
