K40 upgraded and occasionally just goes accross the X axis

[blithespirit]

I did my upgrade to X7 a while ago and for most of the time all goes well however it has started to act strangely, I will be cutting an acrylic sheet and all of a sudden it will stop moving on the Y axis and only go across the X axis, this leaves me with a very pretty line across my sheet but nothing else. the controller carries on and thinks the cut is correct so I the steppers unload at the end, I can move the head around in all directions with ease but no response from the Y axis using move buttons.

Leave the head where it is and power cycle and all works again.

Have anyone else seen this and how can I stop it, when I reset the machine it is all ok again, checked wiring to the stepper (just in case) an all good and solid connections, its not at the same place twice either, could be 10mm down or 100mm down.

Its frustrating that maybe I can cut 3 sheets good but then one will fail.

Anyone an answer that could help me or get me on the path to finding out why?

The machine is not hard worked by the way, it could happen on the 1st cut sheet or the 10th.

[Techgraphix]

You can swap the x and y stepperdriver... if the malfunction goes to the Y-axis it is in the stepperdriver..
It can be that the logic level is to low for that stepperdriver to detect PUL for instance..
If it is still in the X, you can also swap the X and Y on the controller. Configurate your machine that the X-size is the old Y-size etc..
Your workpieces will be rotated 90 degrees.. If its still in X direction.. it must be your stepper or wiring..

Kees

[blithespirit]

Thanks I will give it a try, its not the wiring I already changed that to no avail, plus without any movement and on and off it comes back to life.

Could be stepper driver but what bothers me it is alright for 3 runs and then goes on 1, then ok for 5 and then fails on number 6. its not consistent which I would expect from a failing stepper driver.

No harm in testing though as you never know.

[Tech_Marco]

You may want to inspect the plug behind the LCD unit. The heat-shrink wrap sometimes is blocking the plug from being fully engaged. Just push it in harder to make sure that 80% of the plug inserted. If you have 50% or less inserted, chance was that the contact were not well engaged. It happened to a customer who keep complaining that Y wasn't move or intermitted movement happened. It all ended up that it was a lose connection. That cost us $48 for the shipping back and fro!

Marco

[blithespirit]

Easy to check and first thing to check, thanks Marco