Ok, thank goodness there’s a “No Judgement” category because there probably isn’t a bigger “noob” here than me. This is my first CNC, and though I’ve done a bit of reading through the forums and other things posted to the site, I am still clueless-ish.
I was using the temporary set up to cut the final parts and everything was going well until it came to the Arms. I rotated the Arms in MakerCam to fit my configuration (should have just used the one on the site. I cut two horizontally and one vertically. All three came out different sizes. I actually held the router handles so it stayed level since it was the temporary sled.
I can only assume that I need to re-configure the whole thing, right? I’ve learned a lot today, but this is got me.
there are probably errors in the machine dimensions that Ground Control
detected, and these translated into your problems.
The good news is that you can just use the 2x4 arms, you don’t need to do the
pretty arms. This will get you to a final frame faster, and then you can cut the
pretty arms on it.
on your temp setup, run through the calibration step again.
One problem you could be having, is that the machine assumes that the router
will tip as it moves from side to side, and it accounts for that. So when using
the temporary setup and holding the router manually, it is going to have some
errors.
Thank you, David. I don’t know why I thought that I knew better than the machine did because it did cut out the pretty sled quite well without me intervening. I am going to re-calibrate when I get home today, but I i did have one more question.
I noticed in the calibration instructions, where you set the 12 o’clock positions for the sprockets, that the photo shows the motors in the horizontal position (original configuration) and not the 45 degree positions. Do you still use the same position on the motor, or does the 12 o’clock refer to the position that is up regardless of motor position. Hopefully I explained that well enough.
All went well today. I used the permanent sled with two 3.2 lb bricks (I think they’re still a bit small), re calibrated and the “pretty arms” and frame supports are awesome.
Is anyone else having issues with the chain continually “kinking” during the final frame build? I’m not too sure why this is happening yet, but it’s causing for a lot of my cuts to be way off. I’m pretty tempted to just build the final frame pieces with hand tools
What do you mean by “during the final frame build”? Do you mean the chain is kinking when you’re trying to cut the final frame parts using the temporary frame? Or that you’ve installed the final frame build and are having kinking issues?
Regardless, I think one thing to look at is if the chain is rolling onto the sprocket at the correct angle. I’ve noticed that when the sprocket takes up the chain and the chain isn’t angled properly as it gets fed in, it “chomps” on the chain, causing it to jump and potentially kink. You want to make sure the chain feeds into the sprocket smoothly, making sure the chain lies in the same “virtual plane” as the sprocket teeth.
If that’s the issue, maybe you can put something behind the plywood work to lift it off from the back a bit. Alternatively, maybe you can jimmy a sort of ‘guide’ for the chain as it feeds into the sprocket.
Sorry about that - meant cutting the final frame parts. Thanks for the tips! I’ll give that a shot tomorrow and see if it fixes, but that definitely makes sense about the angle of the chain coming onto the sprocket.