I am unable to attatch a video as I am a new user. Here is a photo of my frame for some context.
I recently got my Maslow up and running, and was attempting to cut a sign out of some sintra scrap as a quick test. Before beginning the cut, I went to do a dry run at a Z height above my material with the router off, and immediately noticed that the Maslow was making a loud clicking noise / the sled was rocking when moving in circles or curved shapes to trace lettering. There is no clicking noise when moving in straight lines. I checked the motors to see if they were overheating at all and they were not. The belts seem to be pulling too hard against one another
I initially ran calibration with a vertical frame, which I have since disassembled. I built a new frame that could be bolted to / taken off of a 4’x8’ table and recalibrated again with the new horizontal setup. The rectangle made by my anchor points measures 72.25” 122”, about 140” corner to corner. They are all mounted at the same height, about 3/4” below the spoil board.
My first thoughts are that this may be an issue with anchor heights, or I may need to delete the .yaml file and recalibrate the machine. There may also be issues with the frame I am attempting to use. I need to get the machine up and running soon! I would really appreciate any advice or troubleshooting help.
I would maybe try running the locate anchor process again without deleting the .yaml file. Running it multiple times in a row can improve the results each time.
I agree that this sounds like it doesn’t have a good fix on the anchor points.
If the frame has too much flex in it this can result in the machine having a hard time finding the anchor points (because they are moving). Are you seeing the arms attached to the table flexing at all?
I am also new to running the maslow so I am not sure about the clicking and rocking. Having just looked at a lot of frames though, yours looks really good for being stiff and solid (nice design) Do the arms of the frame lift up and down at all when the machine is moving? Are the belt anchors free to rotate or are they tightened down? They need to be able to swing around in the XY direction. It looks like yours might be under a tight wingnut and that would cause you problems. You don’t want them to pull off the top but they need to be loose on the bolt. I can’t tell by zooming in. Maybe two counter tightened nuts on the top to leave the plastic part loose? You could make things more accurate by lifting them even with the height that they come out of the machine but to get started they should work fine like this. Within reason, bigger frames are better as long as the whole thing is under 5 meters in each direction and that the distance from the belt anchor to the farthest end of where the machine will travel is less that 13 or 14 feet. The belts will snap if they unspool all the way and don’t have any belt wrapped around the spool for traction. If you get it working may I add your frame to the frame library? it looks like a good option for people with floor space.
I will find anchor points again and report back. The arms are pretty rigid, I don’t think that they are flexing significantly but maybe they are flexing just enough to throw values off.
The belt anchors are free to rotate, although I did mistakenly lock them down the first time I ran calibration, so definitely good to check on that. I need to confirm that the arms are rigid enough, but if I am able to get this frame working I can provide CAD files for the frame library.
Last night, I reran the find anchor point command 3-4 times, and unfortunately the problem persisted. I did not see any wiggle in the frame or arms during these movements, but did notice that the Maslow moved in jerking motions while finding anchor points.
My belt tension is set to 900 at the moment, so going to try lowering this value to 700 and see if the “Find Anchor Points” command runs any smoother. In the meantime, check out this video, it may help to diagnose the issue.
Yes, running the find anchor point command with Z-axis at lowest point and no router bit. I ran the command twice more today with the following values and belts are still fighting eachother:
3x3 grid at 500mm
Retraction force - 700 (down from 900)
Calibration force - 700 (down from 900)
I noticed the following comment when calculating fitness, is this typical or does it mean my frame has issues?
Initial fitness >= 0.1 and frame is not square, skipping rectangular optimization and using initial guess directly.
Yes, running the find anchor point command with Z-axis at lowest point and no router bit. I ran the command twice more today with the following values and belts are still fighting eachother:
3x3 grid at 500mm
Retraction force - 700 (down from 900)
Calibration force - 700 (down from 900)
I noticed the following comment when calculating fitness, is this typical or does it mean my frame has issues?
Initial fitness >= 0.1 and frame is not square, skipping rectangular optimization and using initial guess directly.
This is actually a good thing, it’s saying that the existing frame coordinates
are probably close to sane, so it’s starting from those rather than going from
scratch.
Just tried calibrating at 0mm x 0mm. Still seeing fitness values at or above 3.0 even into the 4’s with 700 tension to 900tension. Any ideas what might be going wrong?
The top of my table and anchor points are rigid, but the base is on legs with small casters that wobble very subtly during calibration movements. Could this be enough to throw values off or am I looking in the wrong direction?
Just tried calibrating at 0mm x 0mm. Still seeing fitness values at or above
3.0 even into the 4¢s with 700 tension to 900tension. Any ideas what might be
going wrong?
scores that good are fantastic. Early on it was considered really good to get a
fitness score >1
The top of my table and anchor points are rigid, but the base is on legs with
small casters that wobble very subtly during calibration movements. Could this
be enough to throw values off or am I looking in the wrong direction?
Wow, okay I thought that values below 1.0 were ideal. Thanks for clearing this up. I am still experiencing the belt tug of war that was happening before even after recalibrating. I think my tool path may be too tight for the small lettering I am trying to cut.
