I am running a Onefinity with the SLB and gSender 1.4.11. I am having significant issues today with losing steps at least in the Z axis. It is not obvious that I’m losing steps in X and Y (although I wouldn’t be surprised) as this is a 3D carve with very small stepovers so these changes aren’t as immediately apparent. Went through a maintenance cycle - even though I didn’t think this would be the problem) and it is still happening. I’m assuming this is an EMI issue but its a bit perplexing as I have never had these issues before. The only obvious potential variable at play here is that I live in a mountain community and we are having wildfires in the vicinity and have a pretty heavy smoke layer impacting our community. I’m wondering if it is possible that the ash particulates could be playing havoc with my electronics? Anyone have any insights in this regard?
Well, I’m trying to carve a 3D terrain piece that is about a 3 hour carve. I’ve cut these or similar items dozens of times with no issues. Starting a couple days back, I ran the roughing pass with a 1/2” end mill at 1/4” depth of cut that ran about 20 minutes with no issue. The 3D carve with a 1/8” tapered ball nose will run perfectly for varying periods of time and then the Z gets off (generally deeper) by anywhere from .1 to 1" or so mm. It seems to me that I am losing steps but I can find no obvious indication of why. I assume it is likely EMI which is why I was wondering if the heavy smoke particulates could be causing some static or electrical interference issues. In messing with it more today I did recognize that I seem to be losing the connection between my SLB and my gPanel computer on occasion. It seems to last momentarily and generally reconncets but I’m thinking maybe even a short connection interruption could affect the steps. Making me a bit crazy right at the moment as I have some orders to fill. Even wondering of the particulates in the air could be affecting the computer? After this crappy day it is definitely Miller time now. Will run through everything tomorrow and see if I can make any headway with it.
@martindg FWIW, I seriously doubt that the smoke has anything to do with this.
How are you connecting from the SLB to the machine, usb or ethernet?
If USB, have you checked that all your power saving settings for USB are still turned off in Windows. Some time ago, a Windows update changed those to a default setting on some PCs.
Thanks for the help Grant. To answer your question I have been connecting via USB. I did go through a Windows update recently so need to look at the USB settings. However, I had a Cat5 cable sitting in a drawer so I thought I’d try an Ethernet connection and see how that works. Got it configured this morning and so far so good. The connection wasn’t the problem though. I did a careful walkthrough of everything this morning and found a wire on Z motor connector that was working its way loose. Got it tightened up and completed a short 3D carve that worked great.
I was hoping the smoke wasn’t the issue and apparently it isn’t. That being said it still bothers me that I’m clearing a light dusting of ash off of everything to start the day. I guess, maybe I should be more concerned about what I’m breathing in! Anyway, I seem to back up and running successfully.
@martindg I’m glad that you got it fixed, Doug. Even though the connection was not the issue, I believe that your switch to ethernet was a good decision.
