Hi! I put together my metal maslow kit, everything is working except the z-axis. when i am calibrating it the whole thing moves (not just the z-axis, that moves too) and I get an error in ground control. not sure what the extra wires do that are coming out of the connection cord and maybe those need to go somewhere? I cant find a diagram for how to hook all the electronics up. It seems the z-axis gets plugged into port 2, but there are extra wires. maybe this board needs to be set up differently? its different looking than the board in the maslow directions
i have one similar to yours. you have the higher speed z axis? are you using makerverse or webcontrol?
Im using makerverse and Krabzcam to make my g-code. yeah I think the z-axis is faster and I need to calibrate that. maybe someone knows how to do that in ground control?
I only know how to do it in makerverse. I’ll send you the settings if you want.
sure! sounds like I could figure it out from that
Also do you know that weight of the metal maslow sled? if I should put that in somewhere in calibration
Sled weight: I just left mine as the default and it works.
Metal Maslow high speed z axis motor settings for MEGA:
Metal Maslow high speed z axis motor settings for DUE / M2 style controller:
Z axis 100 rpm motor tuning parameters
How the heck did you figure out what everything was and where it goes? i’ve scoured all the forums and their “assembly instructions” (in quotes because it is severely lacking) and still am not sure the best practices on how to get this set up. Even the vaccum port doesn’t seem to have the holes bored in the right places to fit on with the z-axis.
Any direction for electronics would be helpful!
If you are a don’t read instructions figure it out kind of person, the metal maslow is an awesome puzzle, but there are some breadcrumbs to follow. I made a video on assembling the sled. It’s production ranks below my son’s quad copter videos, but may be useful to you.
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What electrical pieces don’t make sense? Can you post pictures?
My sled setup looks different than yours, but i was able assemble that fairly easily. The only snag is what I believe is supposed to be the vacuum adapter (large metal rectangle with 2 large cutouts) which is different than yours. When I try to add that to the sled the 4 small screw holes don’t line up with the four holes at the bottom of the z-axis.
I have what appears to be an already assembled motor control board combined with the arduino and fitted with (3) heat sinks and rubber bands. I also have three more heat sinks and a hand full of other rubber bands. Is there supposed to be anywhere else these should attach to or are they just spares?
I found how to connect the motor cables, but where am I grounding all three motor cables? Is a screw on the wood frame sufficient?
Is there a wiring diagram to understand which Aux ports are to which components? I can’t imagine they all universal…
Where does the power cord with two exposed wires connect?
Lastly, is there any best practice for how to connect all the pulleys? I’ve seen a couple of photos that show them all placed above the workpiece with the counterweights coming down the middle, but most of the photos that i find are of other revisions of Maslow and not of the current Metal Maslow with six white pulleys. I’m not even sure the best way to connect the end of the chain to the counterweights…
Thanks in advance for any direction or input!
I’m guessing the vacuum adapter you have is to run the vacuum suction path over rather than under the sled. One hole is for the spindle and the other is for the vacuum hose? A picture would help. @metalmaslow?
The power cord with the extra wire is for spindle control. Plug your router into it, connect it to aux 1 on the shield ( top controller board) and connect to the wall for power. M3 gcode command turns it on and M5 turns it off.
3 heat sinks are spares.
Pulleys can be used with over or under sprocket thread. There is no wrong answer for configuration as long as it doesn’t hang up, catch, or rub to mess up the machine movement. I don’t think the manual in the wiki has much on pulleys or springs or bungees. But you might check there. It could use an update on that for clarification. Search the forum for weights or bungee and there is a ton of pictures you can find to see. There was a “show us your weights” post a while back that had a ton of pictures.
You can ground the z axis wire to the sled. Grounding to wood does nothing electrically, but is ok to keep them out of the way.
The wiring pin assignment of aux pins is controlled by firmware and from board version to board version the actual pin used for aux 1 has moved, but the aux 1 function has not changed. It is spindle power control. Can be activated in webcontrol in the settings. I don’t know if it is active high or low, but you have a 50/50 shot and you can change it if your first pick is wrong. It will turn off instead of on… Try it, but make sure the control wire goes to the board pin and the ground pin goes to ground.
I’m in the middle of a big project right now , but will reply latter this evening
Metal Maslow Frame Setup - Hardware - Maslow CNC Forums
shows photo of using the pulleys with coutner weights
If you cut foam or other plastics that cause static electricity then you should ground the system using the power cord with one exposed wire to a metal rod in the ground or grounded outlet.
dust channel should line up, email us a photo for further help on that. thanks.