Hi,
I have got my Maslow4 up and running. Now I started hopefully my first cuts and had the following problem. I hope, some of you got an idea what happend!
I made a cut which should take about 25 minutes
in the beginning, the cut was super accurate (s. “A” in the picture)
at the second part, there was a little wobble (B)
at the third part, the wobbling became quite terrible (C) and then
the machine crushed (D), with no movement an no chance to connect over the webinterface
after a reboot the “retract all” function worked only an one arm
I tried again a day later, the “retract all” worked without problems
Firmware: 0.87 (I know, but after getting it work, I do not want to touch it again)
Orientation: vertical
Serial Log File: no chance after crashing
I read about the electrostatic problem - does this look like sort of it?
Could it be a heat problem (the fan is working)?
I’ve had this problem and I think it’s because the reels tighten as you work. At first, my solution was to cut one piece at a time and after each cut, extend all the straps until the reel was bare and then “retract all”. This way, I released tension and did the same with each cut. At that point, I decided to reduce friction on the reels that were tightening the most and, with sandpaper, softened the rotation, lubricant on the idler shaft, and a lot of retraction force to unlock it. Now with the 4.1 update, I don’t use grease because the gears run freely. I also removed friction with sandpaper from the new reels and it works very well. However, I’ve discovered that the more retraction force, the tighter the reels become, and it becomes more difficult for the machine to follow where it’s directed. So now I keep the reels very smooth and the retraction force very low. My firmware is .88, and I calibrated it with 750 force and 850 retraction.
At one point, this problem also occurred because I didn’t apply enough force to the screws that secure the motors, and they would move out of position, blocking the retraction system, and the cuts would wrinkle after a while of work.
I apologize for my English; Google is helping me translate.
Hi,
thank you very much for your answer! I would have never think about solving this problem in this direction!
I disassembled my Maslow and the first reel was quite rough to turn, so I sanded and lubed everything, which made a big difference. When I have the other three done I will make an update and calibrate with lower retraction force (mine is really high).
Do you work in vertical, too?
Thank you very much, I give an update when I tested everything!
(Please do not apologize, I am not a native speaker neither, only trying )
Hello, yes, my frame is vertical.
I only sand the part of the arm that doesn’t have a belt, the part opposite the one that carries the motor. After several work cycles, the toothed reel that holds the belt tightens a little due to the tension the belt accumulates, so I don’t want to sand this part to avoid weakening it.
First, I made them spin freely, assembled the entire machine, prepared a cut file for several pieces but in a single pass, used a pencil instead of a drill bit, and compared the result by seeing how the arms performed during the drawing (eliminating the variable of the wood’s resistance).
I clearly saw that my BR and TL were very tight, and when they commanded, the work wrinkled, and this happened in the same part (as if it were an error in the G-code).
Release tension and lower the retraction force a little and “retract all.” Then gradually increase the retraction force and mark each arm to smooth it out again so that in the end (hopefully) they all retract with the same force.
To me it looks a bit like the tension in that top left corner could be too high. That’s the spot where the belt is the most angled so the machine has to work extra hard there in vertical orientation.
Yes, that’s true. The machine was running clockwise, and when it reached critical points, the lower right motor “BR” would lag and lose belt tension, but the motor would quickly recover and continue with the program.
I repeated the file three times, always changing the retraction force, and it always drew the same anomaly at the same point. There was no warning on the main screen. I disassembled all the arms, and indeed, the upper left TL and lower right BR were very tight, especially BR, which couldn’t rotate.
I enjoyed investigating the drawing before cutting. I like to work with low retraction forces. 1/8 Maslow bits move very smoothly at high speeds, don’t require much effort, at 3.2 mm depth per pass in plywood.
This is now my wonderful celebratory cut after further loosening the tense arms. Greetings from the mountains of Colombia.
It’s been raining a lot these days and Maslow doesn’t like the cold very much, so I haven’t been able to cut. I thought I was at a disadvantage and that I was missing walls. Thank you very much for reminding me how lucky I am. I’ll think of something that won’t take me away from that view.
)
