Maslow 4 Works Somewhat Apparently Due to Loose Ethernet Cable

Troubleshooting
1

My Maslow has been working well on firmware v 0.77, so I have been sticking to that while I get a few projects done. Today I pulled it out and got some unusual behavior, so I thought I would report it.

  1. Plugged in the Maslow
  2. Connected to maslow.local - The usual console came up
  3. Clicked Alarm - It changed to Idle
  4. Jogged z-axis until it bottomed out
  5. Clicked Zero Z-Axis
  6. Attempted to jog z-axis - Got message 8 - Command requires idle state despite idle state already showing

I played with it a little and tried a few reboots and different command sequences. For example, if I started with Retract all, it would report that retract all was pressed, but did not report retract residuals. If I then pressed Extend all it would tell me I need to retract all first.

Eventually I took a closer look and realized the red LED on the controller was flashing. I also noticed one arm’s Ethernet connection showed no lights so I unplugged and re-plugged it. It then lit up. I rebooted and everything seems to be normal again.

Hope this helps someone

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2

I also just ran into this and I found that computer duster works great for helping with it

3

How about using heat shrink once they are connected to help hold it in place and keep dust out?

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4

It’s an intriguing idea. I’m trying to imagine how that would work. I would think that heat shrink would tend to squeeze the tab that releases the connector, so one would have to prevent that.

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5

I do think we to mechanically lock down and secure the Ethernet cables to avoid connection issues. Ethernet is not designed for heavy high freq vibrations.

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6

Good point. How about hot glue? Isopropyl alcohol acts as a release agent for it and at 90% concentration it is safe on electronics.

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7

We would still want something that is relatively easy to remove and reapply. The machine has many reasons it could need disassembled and those cables are not, in any regard, in a place where they wouldn’t be some of the first things to be removed during a disassembly.

A velcro collar around the strain relief accordion and a bit on the side of the ports on the encoders and on the pcb cover would allow us to put a strip of velcro between them, in slight tension. Definitely open to better ideas, but this at least achieves the base needs of securing the cables from vibrations while also being easily reversed and reapplied and only needing adhesives for the initial install.

8

I like the hot glue idea. I might give that a go. It keeps the dust out and it’s easy enough to take off if needed

9

Surely someone can design a 3d print for a dust shield that clips onto the wire and can over hang the port like a ‘boot’ of some sort

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10

I had problems years ago with cards and cables getting disconnected in a set of
servers, I used a lot of hot glue to anchor things together. as long as you keep
it on the cables and jacks, it will hold and seal, but can be peeled off if
needed.

David Lang

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11

Maybe apply a base layer of liquid electrical tape then hot glue? The liquid electrical tape comes off so easily, will seal, then the hot glue for mechanical stability

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