I’ve been trying to create my first cut after calibration and i am having some issues. Specifically before cutting, you need to fully retract, and then extend the belts to know where the Maslow is in place.
Is there a way to tell the maslow sled to go home (aka middle of the 4x8), and not have to take the maslow off the frame, fully retract the belts, then extend to where it was previously? I cannot seem to get this to work. When i try cutting a basic 150x150mm square to measure accuracy, the z-axis dives 3mm into to the workpiece, then it states the job is complete. The XY motors are not able to activate. Please help.
Basic g-code:
(150x150mm Square - RELATIVE, starts from current position)
(Use when you haven’t set work zero. Make sure there is room!)
G21 ; Use metric units (millimeters)
G91 ; Enable RELATIVE positioning (all moves are from the current location)
G17 ; Select XY plane for motion
G94 ; Feedrate mode in units per minute
G0 Z5 ; Rapid move Z up 5 mm to clear the work surface
F300 ; Set feedrate for the next controlled moves to 300 mm/min
G1 Z-3 ; Plunge down 3 mm into the material at 300 mm/min
F800 ; Set faster feedrate (800 mm/min) for XY cutting moves
G1 X150 ; Cut a straight line 150 mm in +X direction
G1 Y150 ; Then 150 mm in +Y direction (now diagonal corner)
G1 X-150 ; Cut back 150 mm in -X direction
G1 Y-150 ; Cut back 150 mm in -Y direction to return to start point
G0 Z10 ; Rapid retract Z up 10 mm to clear material
G90 ; Return to ABSOLUTE positioning mode (recommended safety reset)
M2 ; Program end and rewind
Create a test file in free Easel and download the g code file
Power up the machine
Connect the machine to the UI
Select the alarm button to unlock to motors
Retract - gotta know where to start (some people keep hitting the button until they see all zeros but I think as long as it’s close to zero it’s good) - don’t remember what the UI messages for this but should say succeeded
Set the extend distance - measure one of your diagonals from bolt to bolt and half that distance - that is your extend distance - enter that value - remember you have to keep pulling on the belt until the motor stops - on each one - UI should say something like moving from retracting to extending I think. Should say succeeded when extended
Hook up the machine to the anchors
With the bit in the machine lower the z down until it touches the workpiece - select define z home button then raise it 5 mm
Select the apply tension button - if vertical orientation the bottom belts will tighten - top belts should already be tight ish
You should see a message in the UI saying something like moving from taking slack to ready to cut then succeeded message
Select the upload gcode button on the UI and click on the file wherever you have it stored on your computer - then you will need to select the file from a drop down list next to the upload button
Jog the machine to where you want to start the file and hit and hold the define X/y home button - you’ll see it count from 4 to 1 then it will say redefined I think
Turn on the router and dust collection and select the green play arrow to start the run
If you click and hold Define XY Home (it counts down for 5 seconds) it will set the current position as the home position, home will be remembered across restarts. Can you move the Maslow with the arrow keys?
Don’t forget also if this thing stops working for whatever reason at the bottom right of the UI it has a button that says save serial. Hit that button and that’s the file you’ll send with these posts. Video good too although most are too large to send normally. I save the videos as iCloud links. Works for me. The logs and the videos help these guys make sense of what you are seeing and trying to tell them. I have been through most of what you are going through so I’ll try and help you as best I can. Once it hits the programming problems though I’m out. The retract and extend thing is gonna get old but there is a fix for that already. Let’s get you cutting first.
When you say not very smooth, is it relaxing the belts a little after each movement?, That is normal, gets worse the higher the retract and config forces are set to. Try (without lowering the bit), putting 4 movements in sequence, something like up, right, down, left and see if the belts stay tight for the duration of the sequence. Relaxing the belts shouldn’t happen when you are running a program.
@ian_ab I will have to double check. I was calibrating it and the bottom was tilting off the work piece. Then i had the chance to jog the device afterwards it seems like the motors weren’t moving as smoothly like the autoplay video on the Maslow website. Maybe i wasnt jogging far enough to see smoothness?
@Bryan1 I appreciate it. I will start taking videos of the issues. How long did it take to get everything working for you? My main goal is to cut a couple opencnc studio desks and some french cleat garage organizers from Etsy.
@teddy.westside Took me a few weeks I guess. Cutting well ish now. Numerous disassemble and reassemble rounds to get it right. Forgetting things, second guessing myself, etc. The timesaver I can say would be to reach out sooner than later when you have a problem. A lot of my headaches were due to me trying to figure it out until I was completely frustrated instead of reaching out in the forums. Without a doubt you won’t be going through something new. It’s happened before and to multiple people.
Good to know! I have been trying to figure it out myself as well and it has become very frustrating at times. Are there any guides or documentation that I am missing besides these forums? As you stated, I feel like we are all trying to do the same thing and running into the same problems.
Also, should the sled be in the direct middle of the board or can it be slightly lower? I am very familiar with 3D printing and trying to use that knowledge to understand the connection between the two. Since my main goal is turning a full sheet into a desk, I am trying to figure out how the Maslow and Easel know how to use the whole board and its position on it…
Really spotty on the documentation and instructions for this which has been a topic of conversation. Some things have changed since the originals. The forums are the go to.
Where you put the machine on the board and do the select and hold on the define X/y home is where the machine starts. Home can be anywhere on the sheet. Where I set the home for the design in easel after you make the pattern you select the pattern and it will bring up a pop up for cut instructions (inside,outside or on path,etc) and object location. I set the object location on the center dot of the five dots displayed and then set that position to 0,0. That puts the pattern on the screen centered on the lower left corner but when you set your machine home on the board it will actually be center of the pattern. Just make sure you have enough room for it from your starting point. My laptop is in my shop or I’d take a few screenshots of what I’m doing.
Also I’m not sure what firmware you’re running but 1.12 is the latest although I think there’s a 1.13 coming. 1.12 has a lot of the past bugs worked out already so you can fight the new ish issues.
I guessing you are running a vertical orientation, some people have lowered the waste board a little to reduce the strain when cutting near the top. I had a vertical setup, but have gone to a horizontal now. You can extend the cutting area by having a support for the sled off the edges at the same height as your workpiece.
Are you entering commands directly under the menu on the left hand side. It is not recommended as you are bypassing some of the safety constraints. You can hand code a file in a text editor, give it an extension of .nc and load it into the Maslow. Another good program for learning is KrabzCAM, it is freeware.
as of v1.12, every time you lose power you have to retract/extend/apply tension
when you power on (the machine doesn’t know where the belts are until after you
retract)
in v1.13 we are adding the ability to remember where it is when the belts are
tight and the machine is idle. So after you retract and restart you would just
need to extend/apply tension (the initial retract was fast, but you had to
remember to do it). but also, if the machine is idle in the Ready To Cut state,
you will be able to power down and then power on again and it will remember the
belt lengths and you will be able to start cutting.
The machine home (how it thinks about things) is the center between the anchors.
you can mount your workpiece so that it’s not centered on this, but when you do
the calibration, the calibration work will be centered on this point (at least
for now )
As others have said, you can put the home that will be used for your cut
anywhere you want, and it will position your cutting file from that point (there
is even the ability to have mutliple homes and switch between them running the
same file to cut in different places, search for G54 and similar in a gcode
manual)
you do need to recognize that as you move further from the center of the
machine, you are more likely to run into errors. With a vertical frame, the
tension in the belts gets higher near the top center, as you move down in the
frame, the chances that the arms will hit the uprights on the sled goes up, at
that point the belts are not in-line with the arms, and that has the effect of
making it so that the belt pulls the sled closer to the anchor than the system
intended.
These errors may or may not matter for your project, it depends on how sensitive
it is.
@Bryan1 I believe I am running 1.12. I’ll watch out for 1.13.
@ian_ab Any reason why you changed from horizontal to vertical? I will check out your suggestions!
@dlang Would it be possible to add the ability to define your frame/anchor points and middle (aka home) so that it knows “these are what the belt lengths are”? Then whenever you restart or lose power all you have to do is (extend if needed, and) apply tension to go to the home position? Is there a way to send console commands? I have tried doing the but no luck.
I have the space to run it in either vertical or horizontal orientation, and am open to changing the orientation for ease of use and reliability. I’ve seen Bar use his more in the horizontal currently but wanted to make it as easy and accurate as possible to put a board on and cut. Anyone have any opinions? I am already getting tired of climbing a ladder and moving it to retract and extend the belts.
@teddy.westside just my two cents on the orientation. I use a vertical setup, 20ish degrees. Space was the deciding factor. Other than the initial setup of it all and some hair pulling troubleshooting it’s been pretty good. The up and down does get old but @dlang has a rider on the 1.12 firmware that takes the need to do the retract extend dance after shutdown and startup out of the equation. I currently use that version and it works great. As for extremes in the vertical orientation it’s not as extreme as most state. On the current UI there is a selection for debug (shows individual motor currents as you move the machine around) and I have yet to see the motors struggling in the extreme corners or the extreme top center. Nor am I constrained by the uprights. And I’m in all greenish on the cut space according to the UI. I’ve cut all over the 4x8 without an issue other maybe speed or cut depth. I’m still dialing that all in. You will need boards on the outskirts of the 4x8 if you plan on cutting to the edge. My error in the corners is around 2mm. Not a game changer for me right now. As the firmware and calibration evolve that will get better. My retract is a consistent 800 and calibration at 900. How easy the spools turn I would think definitely influence the struggle the motors have when in those extreme areas. Paste wax on the sled helps. Yes the climbing gets old fast. I installed steps on the frame sides to make that easier. I was using a bucket instead of a ladder. lol. I do want to try a small horizontal setup at some point though.
@dlang Would it be possible to add the ability to define your frame/anchor
points and middle (aka home) so that it knows “these are what the belt lengths
are”? Then whenever you restart or lose power all you have to do is (extend if
needed, and) apply tension to go to the home position? Is there a way to send
console commands? I have tried doing the but no luck.
as you move out of the green, you loose accuracy (each band out of the green is
another degree of error and the chart just above the graph gives you an
indication of how the error changes, not bad at first, but quickly getting
worse)
right now, there is just a single number for how far to extend the belts, we
could change this, but since you can define home to be anywhere, a full set of
extensions would only make sense if the center of the frame is not on your
workpiece
I had a few of reasons,
I couldn’t get the height I needed to give the cutting area I wanted.
I was paranoid a belt would break and send the Maslow to the floor
I wanted to try adding fixed length extensions to the belts, bolted to the walls, to give the max frame size.
)