First cuts with M2 system

jdr2710 · December 20, 2020, 10:50pm

First project on my M2 build, a sign for a buddy who had to get back surgery (his second) after 4 hours fighting a marlin last year.

I had all the various lumber & microlam bits leftover from other projects. I did a 12’ wide top beam 30" above the workspace. I did the custom weights from some random leftover steel to get my sled weight around 30 pounds. And did a counterweight system rather than the spring. Working well so far.

I’ve surfed a fair bit on this forum so didn’t have too much trouble getting it running. Built in about a week and got it calibrated yesterday & cutting today.

Metalmaslow · December 25, 2020, 3:11am

looks nice 30lbs is a little on the heavy side, but if you dont’ cut at the very top center very much will be fine. If you cut at the very top center all the time your motor gear boxes.

jdr2710 · December 26, 2020, 12:14am

Thanks for the advice. I removed some of the weight and dropped it down to 26 pounds.

Unfortunately I’m having a problem. It was cutting along happily, then makerverse lost the com port. I quit makerverse and unplug-replug the USB then it came back. It did remember the position it was at, so when I re-ran the same g-code file it lined up correctly and I re-cut it. The second time was a different spot than the first time, it managed to go past where it lost com the first time, but at a new spot it lost com again, then I gave up for the day.

Thanks,
Jeff

Arnd · December 26, 2020, 6:19am

I suggest you double check it had been really an USB con loss. I am not using M2 but get USB con loss regulary. Checking the system logs i see that no USB con loss had been reported on system level but i can see that the arduino did reboot. This message is misleading

jdr2710 · December 26, 2020, 11:40pm

Thank, I’ll check that.

jdr2710 · December 28, 2020, 11:49pm

I’m somewhat encouraged today. I tried adding some ferrite beads to the motor control cables and moved the dust collector hose away from the Z axis cable and I got through 3 hours of cutting without issue. I’ll fiddle some more tomorrow and see how it goes.

jdr2710 · December 31, 2020, 9:20pm

And then no love, the next day I had a loss of the com port, so the guys at makermade are sending me a new DUE. I’ll report back after I test that out.

jdr2710 · January 9, 2021, 11:50pm

Makermade sent me a new DUE, so far so good, 2 hours of cut without an issue. I’ll run it some more tomorrow and see how it goes.

jdr2710 · January 10, 2021, 11:29pm

I did another 4 hours today, so hopefully all is well!