Y Axis Stalling

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  • December 23, 2012 at 2:13 pm #3665
    liz
    Member

    I’m using GrblShield with a Shapeoko, and I’m having a weird issue that I haven’t seen in the forums yet. When I first put together the kit, I ran the Hello World project with a marker and everything went fine. Then I tried running the coaster example with a rotary tool. The rotary tool wasn’t cutting the wood fast enough to keep up with the Shapeoko, so I cancelled that and put the marker back in. I might have put a strain on the motors or something, because I ran the first Hello world example again with a marker, and halfway through the project this issue happened.

    The motor on the Y Axis is vibrating a lot, but it doesn’t turn. Or sometimes it will start turning, and then stop again. What’s weird is that if I send a command to the X axis, say X10, the X Axis will move just fine, but the Y Axis will also start vibrating like it’s trying to move. The X and Z axises work just fine.

    I disconnected both belts so the motors can spin freely, so I don’t think it’s a mechanical problem.

    I also tried hooking up my Y Axis motor to the Z Axis block on the Grblshield and vice versa. When I do that, the Y Axis works fine and the Z Axis starts behaving erratically, so I don’t think the motor is the problem. Based on that, I’m guessing the problem is with the Grblshield, right? Did I fry a driver when I ran my test?

    Another thing to note is that I unhooked all the wires from the shield and then put them back to make sure there are no loose connections. Afterwards, everything worked just fine so I hooked up the belts and attempted to run the hello world, this time without a marker or anything. Partway through that job again, the Y Axis stalled and I am right back where I was. Unplugging it to let it cool off doesn’t help.

    Do you have any idea what could be causing this, or how I can fix it? If pictures or a video would help, let me know.

    Thanks for your help.

    December 23, 2012 at 2:22 pm #3666
    Riley
    Keymaster

    Hmm.  There are a few things that could be causing this.  I would turn up the current pot on the Y axis a bit.  Also your settings to be wrong.  Its happening in the same place each time?  If its happening in the same place each time I really don’t think its an issue with the grblShield.

    I would post on the shapeoko forums and see what they think.  Perhaps someone else has seen this before?
    I also would not rule out mechanical completely.

    Riley

    December 26, 2012 at 1:31 pm #3668
    liz
    Member

    Hi Riley, thanks for your suggestions. I tried turning up the current pot, which only makes it vibrate more. It’s not happening in the same place every time. It happens if I manually enter X10 or Y10 as well.

    I am using the default settings, so I’m not sure which setting to adjust. Which setting might be causing this behavior?

    I uploaded a video of the problem here: http://youtu.be/_vAJk0Z_f_E This is what happens when I enter “Y100” into Universal GcodeSender. You can see that the motor isn’t connected to anything, but still doesn’t spin freely. Here is a photo of my GrblShield as well: link

    I’ve checked all the connections and reinstalled the software, so I’m at a loss for what to do now. Do you have any idea how to troubleshoot this? I did post on the Shapeoko forums as well, but no one is responding to me. Thanks for your help.

    December 26, 2012 at 2:23 pm #3669
    liz
    Member

    Okay, I think I made some progress. I disconnected the Y Axis from the shield, then reconnected it. Everything started working just fine. I connected the X axis belt but not the Y Axis belt, and ran the Hello World project with no marker. It ran fine. Then I connected the Y axis belt and ran the job again. It ran fine for a little bit, then started doing the vibrating thing again.

    I thought it might have overheated so I turned it off for a little while. When I came back it was still broken. I disconnected and reconnected the Y Axis again, but that didn’t help this time.

    I’m thinking it’s either a loose connection on the board that keeps getting jostled, or a problem with overheating.

    January 10, 2013 at 2:49 pm #3688
    liz
    Member

    Hi Riley, I thought the problem might be due to overheating so I bought some copper heatsinks and put them over the drivers. That didn’t solve the problem. One thing I did notice was that the machine would be making the weird stalling noise, I would jostle the wires attached to the screw terminals of the Grblshield, and everything would start working perfectly for a little bit. Then it would stop again. I have checked and double checked all of my connections, so I’m wondering if there is a loose connection on the board.

    Would it be possible to exchange my Grblshield for a new one and see if that solves the problem? It’s disapointing to still not have a working machine after all this time and effort.

    January 11, 2013 at 5:43 pm #3695
    Riley
    Keymaster

    Liz,

    How does the shields bottom solder joints look?  I would take the screws out completely check to see if there is any wire bits in there?

    January 17, 2013 at 4:55 pm #3706
    Aaron
    Member

    I’ve been running my ShapeOko with a grblShield for about a month now, and today I did my first sustained cut in wood. Up until now I’d had great performance all around, but today I had the same problem as Liz, also on the Y axis.

    At first, it was just stuttering a little bit, screwing up the cut. I cut power and tested heatsink temperatures to find that the Y axis was very hot, so I turned down all the current pots and restarted the job without the tool in (dry run). The problem got worse quickly and soon, the Y axis quit moving completely.

    I remade all my connections and swapped motors, but I get no reaction in Y anymore. I think our boards are defective 🙁

     

    January 17, 2013 at 7:10 pm #3707
    liz
    Member

    Hi Aaron,

    I actually figured out the problem, and it sounds like it might be the solution to your problem as well. I swapped out the Y Axis motor with a new one, and after that everything worked fine. I’m guessing I burned out the motor.

    If yours died during a cutting job, you may have burned out your motor too. Hope that helps.

    January 17, 2013 at 9:32 pm #3708
    Aaron
    Member

    I wish it was that, because a new motor would be relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it’s the Y axis driver that isn’t working. I can drive the Y motor if I hook it up to the grblShield’s X axis output, and I can’t drive the X motor with the grblShield’s Y axis output. Also, moving a motor attached to the X output makes the activity LED light up, but moving a motor attached to the Y axis does nothing.

    EDIT: Riley, I also looked at the top and bottom and all of the solder joints look good. Another thing of note is that when Y (and only Y) movements are sent to the controller, the X axis LED lights up as if I was running the X axis. At the same time, the X motor emits a barely-audible, high-pitched whine. The X motor operates normally when X moves are sent.

     

    January 18, 2013 at 10:05 am #3709
    liz
    Member

    I tried the exact same thing and got the same result by swapping the motors. I also concluded that it wasn’t the motor for that reason. But somehow miraculously putting in a new motor fixed everything. It’s worth a try at least.

    January 18, 2013 at 12:47 pm #3711
    Aaron
    Member

    I gave it another try, connecting other motors one at a time to just the Y axis output, and didn’t get any results. I also tried flashing a different arduino to see if something had gone wrong there, but no luck. My Y axis output is kaput.

    January 22, 2013 at 11:27 pm #3714
    Aaron
    Member

    Riley,

    I’ve double-checked everything. The thermal paste is non-conductive, the heatsinks are non-conductive, I haven’t cut anything conductive to cause stray chip problems and the machine’s frame is grounded to prevent ESD problems. I don’t know what exactly went wrong with my board, but it was parts issue: how can I go about getting an RMA?

    Aaron

    January 23, 2013 at 10:39 am #3716
    alden
    Member

    Aaron. Please contact us at the synthetos gmail address. Sorry about your Y axis. Let’s get it replaced.

    Alden

     

    January 24, 2013 at 10:35 am #3719
    Aaron
    Member

    Got an RMA. Thanks for the customer service, Synthetos!

    September 29, 2015 at 12:16 pm #8792
    mtschaef
    Member

    grblshield v3 (green board)

    I’ve had my ShapeOko for years now and have ran lots of jobs successfully.
    Last night I tried to run another job and my X-axis started doing this shuttering back and forth like it was trying to move but couldn’t.

    I did as others have said and switched the X/Y axis and tested direct movement.
    The shuttering happens to whatever motor is attached to the GShield X-axis.
    I tried adjusting the pot to see if that would help and no matter which way I turned it I would get the same shuttering.

    I’m guessing that after years of use that it has finally bit the bullet.

    Am I correct in my thinking or is there something else that I can test before having to order a new one?

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