If for any reason i lose connection, power while my project is being cut, can i go back to project and continue where iteft off? Thanks in advance
Yes. The machine will lose track of it’s position so you will need to retract the belts fully and extend them again so that the machine can learn where it is again, but then you will be able to keep cutting in the same spot.
So the machine loses its position (measured as belt length) when power is lost, is that true?
1 Like
Yes, any time that the machine is powered off and back on again it has no way of knowing if it’s been turned off for one second or six weeks so it requires that the belts be reset so that we know where it is.
In the case that the power goes off for one second in the middle of a cut its probably true that the belts won’t have moved so much during the time that it was off that it couldn’t recover, but there is no guarantee so we default to the safe option of starting fresh.
Ah that’s the key - that it might move while powered off. Even non-volatile ram wouldn’t fix that - you would need battery backup on the PCBA so it could monitor the encoders.
1 Like
Exactly. The gear ratio on the motors is so high that they are very difficult to back drive and the encoders are absolute so the belt would need to move at least 22mm for it to be an issue so potentially if there is demand we could add something down the road to offer resuming, but I’d like to get the safest most basic version dialed in before we do anything fancy
G54 WCS offset is saved in the event of a power loss correct?
If so then yes you should be able to just re-run the file after checking the Z offset. You will have to rerun the whole file as knowing exactly what line of gcode was last executed isn’t known.
1 Like
Yes, that is correct.
I would highly suggest putting your M4 on a UPS - this way if you lose power for a second or a couple of minutes, your machine won’t even realize it and keep going. If the power outage looks like its going to be a while, you have time to pause the run and shut down the unit and save your work. Here in Florida we have alot of glitches in the grid, which is why I run my computer and M2 on a UPS. I will run my M4 the same way when I get it.
2 Likes
Do you have the router plugged into the UPS as well?
Ok I’m not that bright, what’s a UPS??
Uninterruptable Power Supply, a battery and some other stuff to keep your
equipment powered when the lights go out.
cool…Thanks!!
Yes I do
What is the proper workflow for resuming a job after a lose of power? Is the same workflow applicable in the case of a wifi dropout (loss of connection)?
2 Likes
If you lose wifi the machine should just keep on trucking and reconnect to the wifi when it comes back. If you are currently cutting something the machine won’t let you reload the UI while cutting, but the file will keep running normally.
If you lose power you will need to do Retract All → Extend All → Apply Tension, but the machine will remember it’s home position so you should then be able to run the same file and have it cut in the same place.
On this particular cut the machine just stopped and I got the connection lost notification. I let it sit for a minute but it did not reconnect. I couldn’t figure out any way to reconnect.
1 Like
Hmmm, there weren’t any error messages? Did you have the red blinking light?
Unfortunately I didn’t save the logs. I will do so next time this happens and update on this thread. I don’t recall a red light.
1 Like