Sporadic drops in X

[johnwillyn (JohnL)]

I have had my 1F Woodworker Pro for a few months now, and I have completed a number of successful carves. Specifically, I have created about a dozen drawers using the VCarve Pro box gadget.

I have been trying to set up my spoil board with a row of dog holes along the X and Y axis, about an inch in from the origin. These are 20mm holes spaced at 96mm (like the Festool MFT).

My first attempt showed me that my machine was not square, which led me to a number of threads here to help adjust it.

What I encountered along the way to testing my adjustments appears to be sporadic “drops” in the X axis. In one test run, the second hole turned into this odd egg-shaped hole, and I let it run to cut two others, and they were the same. I killed the rest of the run.

On another test run, the Y-axis holes cut OK, but then it moved and started the X-axis holes and there was a definite shift and the hole wound up less than 80mm from the Y-axis. I tried to re-run the gcode on the same origin, but the holes were further messed up.

I visited a number of threads that described something similar, and I previously thought this was a case of EMI, but I have eliminated most things that would cause this. I even turned off the overhead LED lights as those seem to interfere with our garage door opener.

I am hoping someone can provide some input to help me troubleshoot this. I think it might point to a wire issue (since it appears to be consistent in the X-axis only), but I don’t want to chase a bunch of dead ends or order parts that won’t address this.

I have unplugged and plugged back in all of the motor connectors, and I managed to get one good test run, but I am not sure how to test the wires and connectors for continuity or other issues.

Thanks in advance.

JohnL

[cruser56 (Kenneth Baker)]

I had a similar issue with the y-axis it would be like one side would stall just enough to cause machine to go sporadic. After doing a thorough run through of the sticking rail worksheet I found that a connector that is located inside the tube of the y axis was loose. There is an extension cable from the motor to the connector on the end of the rail. when i went to remove motor the connector just came out. I reconnected it all tight been good since. Hope this helps.

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

Hey John, hey Kenneth @cruser56,

have you grounded your chassis and all moving parts of the machine?

@Aiph5u

just as an example, a problem like shown on the picture below, which shows a short between stepper cable and CNC chassis due to an assembly fault, did only produce the correct Motor Error on Controller Display when chassis was grounded. Or when magnet of touchprobe was brought into contact with the rail. Without this, it remained undiscovered.

@TheyCallMeJohn

@Aiph5u

E.g. this issue was only discovered after properly grounding the frame. Without that, it remained undiscovered, but led to axis positioning errors (as you can imagine).

@Aiph5u

…on a machine that is assembled by the operator and that is a class I device, it’s the operator’s duty to comply to IEC 60204-1 and to ground and bond all moving parts individually to comply to safety regulations.

@Aiph5u

• Proper Grounding; How have you grounded your frame?
• Tools and materials needed to ground your Onefinity Machine

[TheyCallMeJohn (John (Huntington Builds))]

The frame is grounded and the dust hose are grounded. I didn’t run a separate line to the z-axis or anything but what I did has solved my issue.

[johnwillyn (JohnL)]

Thanks for the feedback.

I will definitely try grounding the frame as these posts suggest. I have run into similar issues with electrical and electronics work in the past.

I am also re-routing the power cord of the router since so many threads point to the router as a source of EMI. I have completed a couple of carves without drops since doing this.

These types of sporadic issues can be so frustrating!