Upgraded Z-axis, 9 mm Belt & Wiring Issues

Greetings. I am hoping one of you X-Carve pros out there can assist me with a few hiccups I am running into with my upgrades. I installed 9 mm belts, belt clips (thanks Phil) a new z-axis slider with 6" travel, 2" riser plates with support brackets and 4 new 269 oz stepper motors.

Here are my issues.

  1. The 3GT timing pulleys (20 Tooth - .250" Bore - for 9mm belt) don’t actually fit my 9 mm belts. The factory pulley on the original stepper motors fit it just fine. The belt seems to rest on top of the sides without the teeth touching. Did I order the wrong belt or could this be a mistake from where I bought them from?

  2. The new slider wires are different colors from the factory ones. I know the color code is different in Canada where it was manufactured, but not certain if I just match red, to red, black to black, green to green and blue to white. I scoured the forum posts and from what I can tell the red and blue can be swapped but don’t need to since you can change the direction when you set up the machine in Easel.

  3. When setting up the machine, how do I let Easel know my new z-axis is much longer?

  4. Because the new motors arrived weeks after I got the 9 mm belts, I used the machine with factory stepper motors (and pulleys) after I adjusted the stepper motors using Phil’s tips and spreadsheet. The machine worked like a champ the first few carves but gradually got off course about an 1/8" in 3 days, ruining 2 jobs after running the detail passes. When I went to inspect, I noticed the brand new belts on the x-axis are getting tears on the edges. If this is due to the factory pulleys, then I am not concerned once I get the larger pulleys and motors working. I just figured the belt fits perfectly into the pulley so what could possibly be the harm.

I tried to do my due-diligence and track down these answers before creating a new post but didn’t feel confident moving forward with what I was able to find. I have attached pictures for reference as well as the links of all of my upgrades to provide additional details. I appreciate any info anyone can provide to help get me back up and running.

P.S.
My experience and interactions with all of the places I got my upgrades from have been excellent. This post is in no way meant to imply anything negative about the products or entities that made/sold them. I just need help and am including as much info as I can to better explain my particular setup. Thanks!!!

Pulleys 3GT (GT2-3M) Timing Pulley - 20 Tooth - .250" Bore - 9mm Belt - OpenBuilds Part Store
Belts 1536-3MGT-06 - Gates Belts by Belt.Center
Riser Xcarve SLIDER
Motors Nema 23 motor 19.4kg-cm 269oz-in
Belt clips http://www.designsbyphil.com/steel-9mm-end-clips.html![Z-axis slider|243x500]
(upload://ycOpqbOJms2sFXR7TilqS8tAtRk.jpg)

Just a quick answer:

#2 - just isolate which two wires that form a pair, use a voltmeter set to diode/continuity check and measure. It is fast and easy to verify the pairs. Swapping one pair (A+/A- to A-/A+) change motor direction, you can reverse through software aswell

#3 - Edit $132 to your new travel (Z Soft limit range)
You may also calibrate step/mm again and you should expect greatly increased rapids vs stock Xcarve.

1 Like

I’m trying to figure this one out… Have you actually measured the width of your belt? I’m running the same pulley (as what you linked) on my Z-axis with a 9 mm belt, and they fit perfectly…

The belt that you posted a link for is only 6 mm wide, so it should fit with plenty of room.

I must have copied the wrong link. The belts I have are definitely 9 mm. I’m thinking the company sent me the wrong size pulley by mistake. I’ll reach out to them Mon. Thanks for replying.

Thank you for the good information. Ill give those a shot and hopefully be back in action soon as I get some new pulleys.