I successfully ran my Maslow up until v1.17, using it for several projects. When I previously tried updating to v1.18 and v1.19, I experienced extremely high belt tension and the sled lifting during and after calibration.
Last week I sanded the inside of the spools to help them run more freely. In v1.17, this allowed me to reduce the retraction/calibration force from 1200 to 700, which was a welcome improvement.
Encouraged by this, I decided to try v1.21, hoping the sanded spools would resolve the tension issue. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Belt tension remained extremely high, even with a smaller workspace configured in the Maslow interface. Motor current readings near the corners exceeded 2000 mA. The sled lifts when approaching the corners, and also slightly towards the centre of the workspace.
The machine completed calibration despite the issues (audible clicking from plastic components and a lifting sled throughout). After calibration I jogged around briefly, at which point a spool was destroyed by the motor cog, presumably due to the excessive tension.
Here’s a photo of the broken spool and a video demonstrating the belt tension and mechanical stress are available here:
A replacement spool is cheap, but shipping to the EU, tarifs and fees easily comes down to 60-70$.
I’m not sure what to do now, quite disencouraged by the prospect of having to potentially break more spools or other components if I want run a new stable software release.
Whereabouts in the EU are you? I’ll have a look at postage costs (I’m UK so sadly no longer EU, but might not be too bad), I’m sure I have a spare spool kicking around.
How long was it running with bad noises before it broke? It sounds like it was noisy for some jogging, than you re-ran calibration, then jogged it around and it was that point it broke? How did the frame size the calibration came up with compare to the measured size of the frame?
Hey @RandomDave! Thanks for reaching out, much appreciated. I’m based in the Netherlands, so shipping + tariffs from the UK are quite doable.
I’ve run the calibration several times across different firmware versions (v1.18, v1.19, and v1.21), all resulting in what seemed like very high belt tension. On v1.18 and v1.19 I abandoned the calibration mid-way because I didn’t trust the machine would make it through in one piece. For v1.21 I had sanded the spools, hoping that would help. The belts didn’t seem noticeably less tense, but I went ahead and let it finish. After completing calibration I jogged around for about 5 minutes before a spool broke. The unusual noises and mechanical stress were present both during and after calibration.
As for frame size: I measured mine at 1760 x 2055 mm. The maslow.yaml from v1.17 puts it at 1758 x 2049 mm, and the v1.21 calibration serial log gives 1785 x 2026 mm. The v1.17 result was noticeably closer to my actual measurements.
For a deep dive I’ve attached a the calibration serial log from v.1.21
Hay @bar. If you ship as a private person marking the parcel as a gift there shouldn’t be any tariffs applied in theory. It’s maybe a bit more hassle and I absolutely want to pay. It’s just ridiculous to pay that amount of for a 5$ component
@RandomDave let me know if you have a spool stash and can spare one. I’ll be happy to buy it off you.
I’m having the same problem with the calibration; it lifts up almost to the corners. I thought it was a problem with the reel heights being different relative to the anchor points, but I think it’s the new version because I heard a clicking noise. I think it’s tension in the strings!
Hi!! I’m using the 1.19 and 1.21 diagrams and an 11 x 8 foot frame… I haven’t been able to get started since March of this year, and the instructions are sometimes confusing; there’s no clear directional order to follow. So I’m still struggling. There are some really good people who help, and I’m very grateful. How do you know about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs?
I believe the anchor points should be parallel to the height of each motor so that the sled doesn’t lift up when it reaches that corner. I don’t know if the first versions of the system had that problem.
Yep, looks like I pre-sanded them all too so that’ll save you a job! If you DM me your address I’ll pop it in the post. Don’t worry about buying it, looks like its small enough to go as a ‘large letter’ which is only a few pounds postage.
@bar Dave was so kind to help me out, sending over spare spool. No need for you to take any further action on this part. I do however find it really strange and sad that I won’t be able to use any later version of the firmware than 1.17 without wrecking the machine
That is so strange. I can’t think of a change which happened after 1.17 which would have that impact. I will do more testing and see what I can do to make that work more smoothly on future firmware versions.
