Router/Controller Pausing Intermittently During Zeroing

[Aiph5u (Aiph5u (not affiliated with Onefinity))]

Hey Gerald,

@GeraldPerry

I have noticed during the manual zeroing process, that there is an intermittent and random lagging/pausing of the x y z inputs.

With manual zeroing, what do you mean exactly?

Usually manually zeroing means

• jogging axes with the Jog Pane,
• jogging axes with the gamepad,
• entering axes motion commands into the command entry field of MDI tab,

and then clicking once one of the zeroing icons.

• Homing ≠ Zeroing

After 3 monthes of use, it could be that the machine with stock cabling…

@Aiph5u

…can show problems with the connectors, especially because of the lack of strain relief on this machine .

@Aiph5u

the Cable Connectors used on Onefinity are the weak spot on the Onefinity (not the controller), especially in combination with the lack of strain relief on this machine. As someone who has assembled and troubleshot many computers, I can’t have a good opinion of such tin-plated connector contacts. The Onefinity CNC manufacturer addresses possible connector problems in this FAQ document .

@Aiph5u

If one day you find that your Z-axis moves up and down as it pleases and ruins your workpiece and your wasteboard, you might find that it’s because the connectors can make problems (see also here), which may be caused by the fact that you did not yet retrofit strain relief to your machine , which the machine unfortunately lacks. In this case you may want to procure what is needed to make new cables yourself. The same applies if you want custom length cables which would be the case if you want to mount the controller further away.

So what I would try before risking to loose another piece of wood, is check the cables and especially its connectors, and where they are crimped (if you can look a little into them, do they come out when you move the connector on the cable) or do you measure discontinuity in resistance between both ends with a multimeter? You can use the search function to search for cable multimeter to find how others solved their issue. Unfortunately if you search for plunges workpiece you can find many other who observed their machine ruining a workpiece.

Should this be the cause of your issue, the best thing to avoid that in the future is to retrofit a serious cable management system to the machine, especially where the cables hang freely without strain relief on moving parts, as is the case for the X and Z stepper cables where they enter the left end of X axis, and the curly Z cable often fails after a longer time too.

@Aiph5u

I would check all the points in the help document “Troubleshooting: Rail is getting hung, stuck, or out of alignment” one by one.

Also note that cables not only fail on their connectors. A multimeter can help. Also be aware that neither Onefinity cable is made for permanent motion in a CNC. Sometimes replacing the curly Z cable, that can break internally, or retrofitting strain relief on the machine can help (or better retrofitting a drag chain system that runs cables specifically made for permanent motion).

It was already the choice of these Molex connectors on the Buildbotics controller that was a mistake that Onefinity inherited on their hardware fork, but it’s quite obvious that the machine/controller was also about a low price threshold. With gold-plated circular connectors as used in the industry and a proper cable management (drag chain) this happens less of course.

You say

@GeraldPerry

there is an intermittent and random lagging/pausing of the x y z inputs

How do you know it’s the inputs? Which inputs?

How exactly does that manifest itself? All at once?

Further reading

• Troubleshooting: Rail is getting hung, stuck, or out of alignment (x35/x50 machines)

• Z Axis Moving Unexpectedly (Cutting too shallow or too deep)