I posted a few weeks ago about some calibration issues. Got it working, but after my first few cuts, I’ve run into an issue with one of the Z-Axis motors. One motor functions as expected, raising the bit when commanded. The other does not move up or down, BUT, it does make a small grinding sound. Tried changing which port it plugs into on the board, same issue, ruling that out as the issue.
I’m afraid the motor somehow died or the plastic gear somehow stripped out. Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips? Am I able to purchase a replacement piece?
You can buy a spare on our website, but we’ll send you one for free if that’s for sure the issue. Can you try raising the z-axis all the way up so that it’s not engaging with the motors anymore and see if they will both spin there? It could be that something is jamming the motor and preventing it from spinning.
Thanks again for the quick response, bar. I can’t raise the Z-Axis any more as the screw(is that the right name?) from the stepper motor is not spinning. If I raise it, only the working side raises and the whole assembly gets torqued/angled because the non-working side is stuck at the lower point.
hi , Ive just assembled the 4.1 kit and in the process of Calibrating, well, initiating the Z axis , unfortunately one side isnt working , ive mannually rotated the Z-screws so that the router is all the way up and off the screws , when i press Zup or Zdown only one side is working, i then loosedned off the screws for the mother board so i could swap the zaxis connectors and the motor that wasn’t responding started to work so thinking the board isn’t working on that side , can someone please advise ? kind regards, G
Seems like this is a small trend for this batch of boards. Just curious if you have determined which component or components are the source of the failure?
It’s not just this batch, it’s been an ongoing issue for a while although this batch seems worse than normal. The trinamic driver chips seem to be really hard to get fully soldered. Those are the two chips with heatsinks closest to where the stepper motors plug in. I worked with the factory to tweak the reflow settings such that they would solder reliably, but I think that they may have gone off from the correct oven settings. I’m working on making sure that they follow protocol more strictly gong forward.
@bar I know this has to be frustrating when there is so much to be done on the software side and having to worry about/deal with the supplier on quality control.
I’m curious from the business side of the house and dealing with an overseas manufacturer if they reimburse you when they provide a subpar product. (Don’t have to answer, I’m just in some Business classes right now so it just got me curious)
It’s just part of the nature of manufacturing something. Like they say, hardware is hard.
I’m not getting reimbursed for the faulty boards, I could make a stink with the factory and probably get refunded for them, but I’d rather make a stink make it clear that I’m not asking for a refund, but I am asking for really good quality control going forwards. I think that building relationships with a manufacture are worth more over time. At the end of the day what I want is a reliable source for good boards and these guys are owning up to the issue and keeping me in the loop while they are trying to figure out what went wrong and how they can make sure it doesn’t happen again and that is valuable.
We’re pretty low volume and these chips are pretty tricky to get soldered right so finding someone who can do it well and is willing to take our business at this scale is a little tricky.
As much as we’re taking a risk on the factory, they’re also taking a risk on us. We’re making a bet on them that they will be able to make our product, and they’re making a bet on us that we’ll grow and order more from them in the future. We sort of sink or swim together so it’s not worth pointing fingers over every issue as long as everyone comes to the table with the attitude of “lets figure out what is going on and how to fix it”.