Random position shifts

Thanks, it’s comforting to know that it’s not all HTML. There is hope for change in the future then. But too late for me. All the parts and electronics are in and we are only weeks away from a whole new control side driven by Mach 3. But too late for the current situation.

Still looking for a solution to post up the movie, but the final move sounds and looks like a hard stop crash. Right now the file is on my Android phone. Boy someone needs to build a good reliable file browser with network support for Android.

I have checked the electrical connections and have confirmed a good ground with my multimeter. The electrical load to the house is minimal. Since losing my wife to an 11-year battle with dementia, I now live alone. Right now the shop lights and OneFinity are the only significant electrical loads. The exception of course are a few night lights and the 101 miscellaneous chargers plugged in throughout the house

John,
Just to be sure, you checked to make sure there wasn’t continuity where there shouldn’t be. Before I fixed the wiring, I accidentally touched the z probe to my machine and freaked.

My condolences regarding your wife.

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Thank you John for your condolences. The experience as a caregiver has left me very sensitive to those caring for loved ones, especially those with dementia. I’ve come to know it as a terrible disease of loss.

And yes, I am quite confident that the machine is wired correctly. But, at your suggestion, I plugged in my electrical socket tester and it shows it as properly wired and grounded.

Have you checked the amount of nodes in the ‘curves’ that are giving you issues? Ensure there’s not a million nodes in the curves, and there’s something more reasonable.

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There isn’t any particular location or curve exhibiting the problem. But the occurrence seems random over the full range of X.

New observations:

Today I spent some time searching “jitter in stepper motors”. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of information returned on the web. One thing seemed to solve one such incident, raising the signal voltage. Looking thru the controller documentation I found that there isn’t any place in the motor setup to do this. Not being too discouraged by this I decided to raise the Amperage value slightly, from a value of 2.8 to 2.9 amps. This value is .1 amp above the NEMA Specification for our stepper motors, but I proceeded with caution. Throwing multiple 5 inch jogs at the machine it did eventually have a jitter failure, but it seemed to be less frequent. This though is only my feeling not a reproducable fact.

My second observation is that at either amperage value when I incur a jitter that axis loses its zero value. When I incurred a jitter I would next zero the machine with the control button. The Y axis would return to it’s correct position, but the X would always be off.

Is there any way of increasing the signal voltage, say in a control file as opposed to the GUI screen inputs?

Finally, I want to express my gratitude to those who have responded to this thread. Your suggestions are all appreciated and seriously considered.

The voltage is controlled by the internal power supply and should be fairly close to 36v DC which is then utilized by the DRV8711 stepper motor drivers to provide the outputs to the stepper motors themselves (via FETs). There is no way to alter the voltage output of the power supply.

Have you made any additional changes from the default configuration regarding the stepper motors?

Nothing other than the Amperage setting I’ve already documented. Tomorrow unless someone comes up with something new, I will try bumping the amperage by another .1 amp and then again dry run it. There doesn’t seem to be too many Motor adjustments. Beside the jitter problem the movements are accurate.

I know from my experience with the controller program Mach 3 that there are all kinds of motor parameters.

This morning I looked through the Debugging Log and find multiple occurrences of this event:

I: Pwr:Pwr communication failed at reg 0: I2C read word failed [Errno5] Input/ output error

Searching this error line returns a whole lot of very technical stuff which from the Texas Instruments site indicates a communication error to one of their device products. The error occurred on the I2C communication line.

It this point there is no way for me to tie this in with the problem I’m still having with my Woodworker.

Also can anyone tell me if OneFinity has or offers telephone support, how to access it or it’s cost? I have had my machine for better than a year so it’s not a warrantee issue. The bottom line is that this forum approach is informative and appreciated, but it is also as slow as h*ll! Ive contacted my customer and all he wants to know is when I will deliver, and I can’t give him an answer.

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I just wanted to let you know that I have been in contact with the OneFinity support team via email for most of the morning. They have determined that the problem I’ve shared with you is within the controller. My machine is a little more than a year old, so out of warranty. But I have just received a tracking number for the controller they are shipping to me under warranty.

Be assured that your purchase of a OneFinity is not only a “Best in Class” machine, but is also wonderfully supported as well.

Thank you to everyone who shared their knowledge and experience with their machines.

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Good deal, thanks for sharing the follow up resolution.

The whole thing was done with the log files documentation of the I2C error which from what I read Texas Instruments site. The error is generated by their chip’s communications channel.

How did you go about figuring this out. I’ve had this problem multiple times. Yesterday being the latest one. They have assisted me many times. However this keeps happening.

John mentioned the debugging log which is on the admin page of the controller, I’d suspect the error was in there.

I’ll have to check that out

Hey John after you’ve setup again with replacement controller, could you check back again on this thread to confirm that it resolved the problem?

It could give some help in the future should the same kind of thing pop up for others.

I’m with you on the 1F support team.

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The log files as noted above. As soon as I referenced the error the only remaining issue was if the would cover the faulty part under waranty, which was about 45 days over the year of ownership. So if you guys check your Error log and contact customer service. It looks like a known issue.
I will be glad to follow up. The package is scheduled for delivery tomorrow. I was hoping for a day early but it looks like tomorrow.

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The new controller arrived today. Within the first few movements, after connecting the new controller, my X Axis jumped and lost its home setting.

I have retraced all the wiring on my X axis and the cable plugging into the back of the controller to where it plugs into the tube, I read 0 ohms except one leg of this cable is reading 69 ohms. Don’t know if this is significant but I thought it was worth sharing.

Please let me know your thoughts, I will check in the morning.

By the way, thank you for picking up the return shipping, That was an unexpected surprise.

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