like some others here, I am facing problems regarding my x-axes. Troubleshooting during my first weeks of using the LR4 worked very well until here, but now I am a bit overwhelmed. Since the only answer Gemini gives me is that my x stepper driver might be broken, I would be happy to hear your opinion about this. But first to start with:
Jackpot Board 3; FluidNC probably v3.9.9 (not entirely sure, need to check tomorrow)
Dust collection is a Parkside workshop Vacuum with antistatic dust tube.
I was running a milling project, at some point the router cable unfortunately was stuck which prevented the core from moving for some seconds. Although the cable was not extremely tight stuck, x-stepper cables were not affected and the stepper cables are well plugged together. Unfortunately I am not sure anymore if it was the same cutting process or afterwards: several helical holes, the first one went great but for the next holes the machine only did the movement in y and z direction. Travelling in x direction still worked. Then I experienced a phase of “It finally works again!” and “How many more problems can come along with the x axis..”. I will try to summarize it:
On/Off: Homing all axes separately works, all together causes troubles with the x-axis. The x-axis is rattling and stops at some point, the stepper motors suddenly are not locked anymore and can be moved by hand although machine is on.
On/Off: Starting a new milling process without router running works perfectly, whenever I get everything ready to finally start milling again in a second attempt, not even travelling in x-direction works after the first hole
-On/Off, swapping the x-stepper cables and y-stepper cables and homing, I am quite sure that the Rattling is now at the y-axis (meaning that the cables for the x-axis stepper are fine?)
The AC wire of my power supply was damaged some days ago, I saw that there was a bulb and cut it open to see that there was a small burned black spot). I replaced the cable, afterwards that day the CNC worked perfectly.
Although I really hope it is not that bad, it kind of sounds like my JP Board has got some serious damage. But maybe anyone has a better clue, I am really happy for any help!
Sorry for this to sound very chaotic, but I have to admit that todays troubleshooting process felt like a bad dream. If anyone needs more information to tackle the issues, I will happily give them.
Thanks in advance!
P.S.: My build is coming soon, I didn’t want my first post to be asking for troubleshooting, but I am still too slow with taking pictures.
Yes, the screws are tight. I double-checked that after reading it in another post. Also the belt seems to be working completely normal, no damage.
Thing is, for some attempts everything seemed to work just fine. And just a new attempt to start a job, something new came up.
Another thing I forgot to mention: I realized that the fan was not working in the beginning (I made a mistake in EstlCAM) causing the board to become warm. Hopefully not too warm.
Ok, let’s back up. You found that your power supply cable had a burn spot and replaced the bad cord. Be sure to check the the output voltage. Check when all the stoppers are off, then when the stepper are moving. The voltage should not vary more than .7 Vdc.
Reason I say this is if each axis works ,but if one axis fails if you run all three,good chance you are under powered.
Last thought, is your control board using the same power supply and what voltage are the stepper’s?
Alright, I will check the power supply output as soon as I get access to a Multimeter. I will also try using a different power supply, maybe that might be it. I just don‘t get why the undervoltage might then affect the x-axis only?
I use this one power supply only, connecting it to the JP Board 3. The steppers I am using are Nema 17, 12-24V, 2.0A 84oz.in.
What does your config.yaml have for run and hold current for your X axis?
That 2A stepper may be causing thermal issues for you. Stepper drivers could be going into thermal shutdown. The Y and Z axis share the motion between pairs of steppers, so X is the one where you will see issues first.
No, not significantly warm. I will do some tests with the new settings and also try out the other suggestions after returning from holidays. Will give an update then, thanks for your help so far!
Quick little update: I replaced my old power supply with a new one and set the higher values for the stepper motors. So far, everything is working fine again. Unfortunately I still don’t have a Multimeter to be 100% sure but it seems that the old power supply was broken, just as @larryk assumed.
Very happy for the helpful community and this amazing machine
