How to spend months in calibration, or “how stupid am I”

Troubleshooting
1

I have probably committed some of the more stupid mistakes that cause calibration issues. I will list two, since I have not seen these mentioned.

  1. make sure that the unit is right side up. I got all twisted during the build and ended up with the power cord coming out of the top, rather than over the vacuum hose. That meant that the motors that were supposed to be at the top on the vertical frame were at the bottom and vice versa. Believe it or not, the unit moved around and tried to calibrate. Needless to say, the math never converged.

  2. Make sure the belt ends move freely at the frame anchor points. I had printed the anchors and mounted them on the frame. The belt ends fit very tightly in 3d printed anchors. That meant that in normal movement the belt ends would not move as the angles changed. When the unit tightened the belts, it would move the belt ends to the new angle. Needless to say, the math does not work when the vertex keeps changing, dependent on the force. I used a file to get enough clearance for the belt ends to move freely in the anchor points.

1 Like
2

Thanks for sharing your experiences. It is sure to help someone else.

Dano

3

These weren’t the only stupid things, but they were unique