Z axis is sticking

I suspect the pulley is still slipping on the acme screw.

The belts are not slipping. I think it is the same issue and I can not get those screws any tighter. It is doing a lot better, but something needs to be adjusted. Iā€™m just not sure what.

I feel like the acme is just WAY too tightly seated in that black plastic piece and there is no way to fix that. It should not take the stepper all its power and for me to fiddle tightening screws for it to move.

What you can do is:

  1. disassemble the Z axis
  2. chuck the acme rod into a cordless drill
  3. hold the Delrin nut and use the drill to spin the ACME rod.
  4. move the Deleon nut up and down the rod a few times to break it in (change drill spin directions)

Or, I believe, the new Xcarves come with some graphite lubeā€¦put that on the acme rod and jog it up and down.

If the screws fastening the delrin block to the spindle mount are too tight it can distort the delrin resulting acme binding.
My kit did include a small package of clear grease for lubrication.

My acme rod was also wayyy too tight on the black plastic thing. I did 2 things.

  1. lube the rod with the lubricant that came with the x carve, its in a small packet and is the consistency of gel.
  2. I ran the rod up and down with my drill before installing to break it in. I couldnt turn it by hand when I first assembled it.

Its still very tight and sometimes requires unsticking by giving it a few turns with a wrench.

As @AngusMcleod said, grab some m3 socket screws for the set screws. You can get a good bit more torque on them. And absolutely use loctite, they will come loose fairly quickly even if they are super tight.

Iā€™d work the delrin nut slowly until itā€™s smooth. You donā€™t want it too loose but you also want it to spin without much force.

Pointing out the set screws again, replace with socket cap screws and loctite.

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Iā€™m going to disassemble and run it with my drillā€¦ what a headache. The thing is covered in lube. Iā€™d rather not loctite anything in case I have to dissemble again

They will work themselves loose with the vibrations. Once you get the delrin nut worked out (do it slow, you donā€™t want it loose) you should go back with loctite on the set screws. When I was testing mine, I had maybe 2 carves before they would work themselves loose even though I had them tightttttt. Quickly replaced with socket cap screws (much more torque) and loctite. Havenā€™t had to worry since. The loctite breaks when you need it to, itā€™s not permanent.

Blue Loctite is removeable.
Also put the pulley back on the acme with propper Allen socket screws. Some have even recommended longer socket head screws so a larger allen wrench can be used.

The 2 small screws at the top?

I am telling you they are not Allenā€™s! I have a whole set of Allenā€™s. The ONLY thing that works is a eyeglass flathead. I will see about taking them out to get longer ones

A whole set of Allenā€™s. This includes 1.5mm. I thought it was strange tooā€¦ I will definitely be replacing them.

I have a few things I want to add to the setup anyways. Like a auto on/off for the router. Iā€™m never going to stop tinkering with it. Lol

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Donā€™t the pots adjust the voltage???

No, they adjust the current limit.

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So how can I scientifically check the output as I adjust the pots?

Is the Amp limit a suggestion like a speed limit sign? Or law? Like the cop with a radar gun?

The pots are used to adjust the current limit for the motors.

They do that by adjusting a reference voltage on one of the TB-6600 pins. If you want to get precise current limits you would hook up a quality voltmeter to the reference pin and adjust the reference voltage to get the desired current limit.

There is a formula silk screened on the main board that gives the relationship between reference voltage and current limit.

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Thatā€™s what I wanted to know. Thanks.

No. It is the value of current that the manufacturer of the motor states will operate the motor to its rated specifications and length of service.

If you violate that number then you exceed the safe usage of the motor as specified by the manufacturer.