I’m not sure if its the ground control software or the arduino, but when I’m in the calibration phase and trying to extend the chains from the left and right sides (after doing all the initial measurements), the left motor is rotating the chain the wrong direction (pulling the chain rather than feeding it out). The right motor is moving in the correct direction. For now, I’ll probably use an older version just to keep cutting, but wanted to see if anyone else has this problem?
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Did going back a build resolve this? If not can you swap motor cables and tell me what happens please?
Thank you
The first part of chain calibration is to put the machine into the state where both motors have 1650mm of chain paid out. Depending on which steps have been run in the current calibration session, the Arduino might think your left chain is fully extended (as from measuring between the motors) or it might think it’s at the first link of the chain (as when it has been zeroed after setting a sprocket tooth straight up). It sounds like the first case is what you’re seeing, and if that is so and you haven’t lifted the chain from the left motor sprocket since making the motor-to-motor measurement, the firmware would run the chain “backward” to reach the point where there is 1650mm of chain extending from the top tooth of the motor.
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I agree with @blurfl diagnosis. I think that the left motor is trying to retract the chain after extending it to measure the distance between the motors.
I’m going to be cleaning up this part of the code today so I will re-work the buttons in that step to be more clear.
Maybe instead of saying “extend left chain” it should say “adjust left chain” and have clarifying text in the instructions? Any other suggestions for wording?
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@blurfl wow that makes a lot of sense. I’ll give that a try today. @bar The confusion for me was mainly because I’m used to the old calibration steps and seeing the extend, made me think I should leave the chain at the height at the top of the plywood, and then click the extend chain button. Just a simple clarification of what to do with the chain in the steps would probably clear it up for a lot of people. Thanks for all the help!
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@bar ok I might have spoke too soon lol. So after letting the left chain retract and the right chain extend, I attached the sled and hit next in the software, which should move the sled to the middle of the plywood. However, mine kept retracting the chains to the point where the sled was above the plywood and the chains were pulled to their maximum. Unfortunately I think this actually slightly damaged my left motor because it makes a weird noise when it moves now. There wasn’t a stop button available to stop this from happening and I had to click back in the software to stop it. I need to get a project done this week so I decided to go back to v1.04 of ground control and firmware and the same thing happened again. Any help?
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Woah, that is really strange.
Do you by any chance have the log file from when that happened? Can you recreate it without the chains attached?
This is a new issue, right? You haven’t seen this behavior before?
If you open your settings do all of the values look normal? The first thing I would do would be to delete (or rename) the GroundControl.ini file to reset any settings which could be off. Actually, would you be willing to attach it here? Maybe I can learn something from it.
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we’ve seen this before when calibration or machine dimensions are wrong enough
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It could also happen if the top-/bottom-feed sense is reversed.
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Are the logs automatically generated ? If not I can try again and save them. I’ll send the gc when I get home though
I have it set as a top feed and I’m pretty sure that should be correct. I’ll revisit machine dimensions to make sure
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Let us know how it goes! Are you running on Windows or Mac? It will change where the log file is stored
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I’m on a mac, can you let me know where to find the files to provide you? I’m thinking that my arms were cut too long from the temporary frame which could be causing this, so I’m going to replace them tomorrow with two pieces of 2x4 that extend closer to 20" away from the plywood and try this all again.
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On the Mac, the log.txt file will be in:
/Applications/groundcontrol.app/Contents/Resources/yourapp/log.txt
from the Terminal you could use this to copy it into your home directory:
cp /Applications/groundcontrol.app/Contents/Resources/yourapp/log.txt ~/log.txt
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You may have created a secondary fault
as the the chains where pulled to their maximum,
that is the magic smoke from the maslow motor shield may have escaped,
can you do a motor test, and see if the left motor fails,
if it does
swap round the motor cables at the shield
then run motor test for a second time
if the right fail then suspect the Maslow Shield is damaged,
if the left motor fails again then its the left motor is suspect,
swap back the motor cables at the maslow shield
then swap round the cables to the motors and checking that the pins at the connectors are sitting in ok
run the motor test to see if the left motor fails,
then its the left motor is faulty and the cables and connectors are fine
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Sure you can
add to it if you wish
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thanks log file is here:
log.txt (972.7 KB)
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Ok, so I just tried tightening up all of the measurements on my maslow - my arms were a bit over extended. However, i just tried calibrating everything again and the same thing was happening again. this time i stopped the motors before it became damaging, but i took a picture to show you where it was trying to center the sled. Is this happening because I’m still using the original design?
No, that shouldn’t be the issue. I’m going through the log file right now to see if I can figure out what is going on. The issue is that for some reason the machine thinks it is a different size than it is. For example if it thinks the motors are only 3 feet apart it will try to take up more chain than it should to move to the center