Had my eye on this machine for a few years and finally picked up a used 4.1 kit last week. I have a fair bit of experience with gantry machines but this is my first belt/chain driven CNC.
Setup went great with the exception that I am experiencing what I would describe as intermittent behavior from some of the motors, particularly one of the Z-motors but also extending to the BR and TL motors. The motor will cease operation for some indeterminate period and then start working again, seemingly unrelated to any of my actions. It happens during retraction, apply tension, cutting, and jogging.
I see the posts about the defective Z axis that match my experience but wondering if the community has seen these board issues extending to other motors as well or if something else is going on here? I’m guessing that I need a new board. I have not checked the solder joints yet but I have swapped the z motor wires and confirmed the issue in that case appears to be with the board. Not sure if a similar test is possible / practical with the other stepper motors?
It sounds like it might be a faulty board, Are you getting any error messages when The Arm motors stop?
This may also be related to WiFi issues, (not the Z axis problem).
Only by changing the position of the arms on the router, which is a pain. They are not stepper motors but DC Motors.
The fact that it is more than one motor seems strange to me, that points to something other than the motor driver chip which is usually the first place to look.
Could it be a power issue?
Could the connectors where the motors plug in not be fully seated? Especially when they are brand new (the first time they are plugged in) it can take quite a bit of force to get them to go all the way in.
When the motors are acting up if you do Setup → Test does it report any issues?
Thanks for the responses! Sorry I have been traveling out of the country and just got back to the machine.
All motors appear to be behaving except the Z-axis now. I have flipped the A/B motor connectors and confirmed the issue is on the board side. The connectors are fully seated and the machine has been used enough by prior owner to deal with any new-connector stickiness.
I believe all tests are passing, I have not seen a failed test yet, this is the output I get:
Index.html Version: v1.24.0
[MSG:INFO: Firmware Version: v1.24.0-dirty]
[MSG:INFO: I2C Timeout: ]
[MSG:INFO: 10]
[MSG:INFO: All tests passed on Top Left]
[MSG:INFO: All tests passed on Top Right]
[MSG:INFO: All tests passed on Bottom Left]
[MSG:INFO: All tests passed on Bottom Right]
[MSG:INFO: Zm=51.300mm, Z home=50.300mm, Z position=1.000mm]
When motors were failing I was not seeing error messages, except when cutting it was detecting a failed position check and stopping the cut. I was also seeing passed tests while the motor was unresponsive. I think this may have been wifi related from what I have read.
Unfortunately I do not have an extender that will get my t10 bit to the recessed screws that allow me to access the board, I will need to buy a longer t10 bit, so I cant report the board version or confirm if it was a kickstarter board, or check the solder joints. Will report back in a day or two.
At the moment the z-axis is working and I have babysit it through a testcut that went well.