Z axis calibration problem

Change Advanced Settings -> Position Error Limit to 2000 and see if you can move the sled (that eliminates the error checking) Let’s see if that’s a source of the problem.

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hit stop if nothing wants to move.

  1. I set it to 2000
  2. I had to hit stop
  3. it moved successfully

progress!

However, it didn’t retract the router bit so it faintly scratched the test board (it stayed at zero).

You can move x,y without error message, correct? Can you raise and lower z axis?

correct.

yes.

Go back and change the positional error to 4 and see what happens… if 4 works, go to 3. if 4 doesn’t work, try 8… see if you can find where it does and doesn’t work. That might help us figure out what’s causing the error.

Also, make sure the power supply cord is plugged ALL the way in to the controller… maybe the controller is getting starved for power.

Okay - I’ll do that.

I told it to go to home, since it appeared to be working ,… the right chain is now 6" off from where it was before and the left chain is 11" off from where it was before. That is, when it went to home, it strayed far to the right.

4 allowed it to move, still

3 worked.

The power supply is all good.

a second “home” test produced the same, inaccurate home position so at least it’s consistent.

home is where you define it, its not necessary the center of the board.

I understand. However, when you calibrate it, it says “move to center” and that made center a different place than it is now. Is it going back to an old home position? The place where I marked “home” before is not this same place - I’m just trying to understand if this is a new problem or not…

After you calibrate, your move to center should result in the sled being exactly center on the computer screen and pretty close to center on the actual board (the difference is basically your calibration error). Home is just a position you can use to offset your gcode. Let’s say you have generated gcode that produces a 12-inch circle around 0,0 coordinates (center of the board). If you set home to 12, 0 (12 inches right of center) and run the gcode, it will translate the coordinates and do the circle around the 12, 0 point rather than 0,0.

Go to Advanced Settings and see what is reported for ‘home position X coordinate’ and ‘home position Y coordinate’.

Okay - I just reset both to zero - I’d just redefined home to experiment while I was waiting so it was 2" off X axis and 3" off the Y axis

IS THIS position where I should have marked with the fingernail polish or is the other chain length correct? meaning the chain length after calibration when it set the chain lengths and I attached the chains to the sled…

No. When you extended the chains to attach the sled, you extended 1651 mm of chain. You marked the link that’s at the top tooth of the sprockets. This position where 1651 mm of chain is extended doesn’t really have a name. But, next time you have to reset the chains, all you need to do is to get both sprockets so one tooth is vertical, replace the chains so that the marked link is back on the top sprocket (therefore, 1651 mm of chain is extended), connect the sled, and then go to Actions->Advanced->Set Chain Lengths - Manual and you’re back in business.

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So basically, changing the positional error value to 3 seemed to work? Does going to 2 still cause a failure?

Ugh

Well, I thought it sounded like we were fixed so I tried to open a tiny file I’ve opened many times to test this. When I did, it froze Ground Control and no buttons work, including Settings > Advanced Settings > error limit, etc. I’ll have to close it out to try.

Opened it back up.

Changed error to 2.

Moved the sled up, down, left, right, raised and lowered the Z-Axis.

Told it to make a cut. The motors buzzed, but never moved for several seconds. I told it to stop.

Post the tiny test file.

FWW-LOGO-TEST_0001.ngc (15.9 KB)