Bad wire or software update needed?

I was getting ready to start a project when the Z-axis went haywire on me. I had homed my Journeyman then I set up the probe and was bringing the Z-axis down, it faulted and as I pressed down it went up. Then I pressed up, it moved, stopped then started going down. I unplugged then plugged everything back but it happened again. I thought maybe I needed an update my controller and loaded the 1.1.1 with my wifi. I went haywire again. So, I went to the forum and found out to go to 1.0.9 instead. Still had the same issue. Are there any suggestions you crafty makers can give me before I purchase a new wire harness?

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Erratic movement of a stepper motor is normally an indication that there is a broken wire to that motor. Suggest doing continuity test of the cable to the Z-Axis stepper motor, from the controller.

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Hey Mike,


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Thanks for the help. It was the Z-axis wire harness. Got a new one from Route1wood designs and I’m back up and running. It was a great learning exercise to completely dismantle and assemble all the axis drives and run continuity checks.

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The plug ends of the cables are a considerable weak point in connection even though 1F bonds the plug and cable together. At least on my machine, the glue dab was barely making contact with the plug on two of them. I’ve indicated in other posts that I used a hot glue gun to supplement, if you will, the bond on each where the cable enters the plug. Since I’ve never had another connection issue on any axis. It is a simple fix that I didn’t even have to remove the cables to apply.

Note that I applied hot glue at both the controller and motor ends for the sake of making them as near bullet proof as possible.

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