Awesome, I may have to try that as well. Still haven’t been able to resolve the issue where the project gets compressed.
yeah, that seems to be todays gremlin for me as well. I’m thinking about trying UGS just to see if I have the same problems or not. I really like the gsender interface as it just seems intuitive, but the bugs are numerous whether its the software or hardware. I got the squalling to stop and decided to try a basic 2D sign and it was working great for about 80%…then the dang thing acted up. Every time it jogged -X it would reach the stopping point and then the sound changed and it jogged another 30-40% further. I stoppped the program, closed and reopened gsender but every time I jogged -X it would do it. So, I deleted gsender and reinstalled it and it stopped doing it. So far, every problem I’ve had has been software related, period.
Yo KaneAtious,
Phiew man, that was beyond frustrating to even read. Fantastic that you “found” the solution. Me having no slb and no limit switches can only think of why the problem arose from the limit switches being turned on while having none. It might leave the inputs kinda floating and maybe extra sensitive to pick up random static as inputs. This is only pure speculation, though.
I hope you are now finaly on your voyage towards a more problem-free experience, like I fortunately had with my machine. It went perfect from the start (only minor hickeries along the way that I had to work around until finally fixed). and I don’t think I would have had the patience and endurance you described in your posts here.
I take my hat off for you, sir. Welcome.
2 Likes
I’m still working on a cpl gremlins. However, I did find one thing that was messing a whole lot of things up. My router was bottoming out. I built my table without raising the height of the mill to the same as the wasteboard then added the Vortex and there was the suggestion of raising the mill to the height of the wasteboard or lose 1 1/2" of possible diameter on the rotary. So I cut some strips of MDF and raised the mill. But, I forgot about checking the bits ability to meet cut depth. Took forever doing web searches scrolling through all the tweak-freak posts telling you that you have to read every line of the 43,000 line-long code looking for where the conjunction of Jupiter meets the atomic weight of a butterfly’s fart before being able to access the fusion core of the blahblahblah before I finally found a guy who simply asked…have you checked to see if your router/spindle is bottoming out? Imagine that, someone actually suggesting that if the tool doesnt work, maybe look to see if you forgot to turn it on. The old KISS approach seems to work more often than not. Seems every time the router bottomed out it would cause the loss of steps and that threw everything sideways. So, I’ve now been able to make a simple sign using my name on some 3/4 X 3 X 15 walnut, cherry, maple and oak pulled from my scrap/burn pile and all four came out perfect…using UGS. Now to reinstall gsender and see what happens. I really like the look and feel of gsender, its simply hobby-fun friendly where UGS should be renamed UGH since its ugly boring and a pain to use
1 Like
Glad to hear you got it going. I’m still in limb going back and forth with Sience trying to resolve my issue of the gantry binding. I pulled the anti-backlash from the gantry to see if that was causing it to bind and moved the lead screw by hand, checked the gantry as well no issues found lubed the screw with a light coat of WD-40 reassembled the gantry and jogged the gantry using precise option with no issue, but when I switched to normal speed it would bind from time to time and was worse in rapid speed. I ran it in from side to side for 30 minutes in normal speed. Came back and ran it for an hour starting with precise then normal and rapid it was which would bind several times. I then ran my test project using the outline and it completely failed binding.
I’m empathetic bud. I have heard the squall a couple of times in UGS but I saw that the feed was ridiculously high and lowered it and the problem went away. I switched over to a fresh install of gsender and made my first successful print. I downloaded the g-code from the youtube vid Scienci posted for the Joy ornament. Carved WAY too fast, I mean 2mins and 23secs,so fast it left chatter lines in the wood and even broke off some of the waste and tossed it across the room (little 1/8" pieces) but it didnt squall or lose steps or anything machine or software related that could be called an issue. I’m getting my interest back into doing something substantial now that I’m seeing these decent baby steps.
I’ve been frequently lurking the hotsheets still trying to find why the squalling happens though. I cant say what in particular stopped mine and I wont be comfortable until I do. If I come up with something not already posted here I’ll share it with you.
1 Like
Finally got Sienci to point me exactly where you ended up making changes to the speed from 5000 to 750 talk about slow. It moved without any issues at those settings. Of course, I caused an error on my machine now after trying to use the surfacing on gsender and inadvertently set the depth to 1 when I should have used 0.004. Routed bogged down and stopped tripping my surge protector. Now it immediately disconnecting when I power the router back one and giving me an “error opening port Com 3”. I tried clearing the error with no luck using the console.
Just a suggestion, when you crash pretty much anything except a vacuum cleaner, shut it down and unplug the power for a few minutes. Then boot back up and see where you are. I will say, many of my connection and weird interuption issues disappeared with a new USB A-C cable.
1 Like
Just a thought, but, is there any way you could maybe post a video of the carriage going from full -X to +X with the lead screw being the main focus? Just wondering since if I place my finger on the lead screw preventing it from wobbling up and down (hmmmm, should it be doing that??) I can get ALL the squalling to stop and I dont lose steps.
Interesting. I did notice I had a decent amount of slop in the fit of the right side x axis screw bearing/plate interface. If my binding issues resume, I’ll look more into that. (A few holes were not tapped for my stepper motors too on these plates so may be some QC issues with that supplier).
I don’t know how much play there is supposed be in that interaction.
It does seem like this binding mess is a mix of the SLB increased acceleration plus the new backlash nuts. Add a mix of misalignment from assembly error or whatever and that cannot help.
the right side bearing of the X gantry on mine has .017 play as measured with an indicator. If I dont have the nut tight on the end of the lead screw the whole lead screw jumps all over the place from full -X to about center when jogging to the right, and of course squalls. I found the section in the latest newsletter talking about how the anti-backlash nut is a KNOWN ISSUE that they have “corrected” by doing a new style being released now. This thread has been open for a solid 13 days and not a peep. I’m guessing I’ll have to buy the new nut and just make something to secure the bearing in place. Not impressed.
@KaneAtious Have you opened a support ticket with Sienci tech support? Please keep in mind that this is a user forum. It does not and cannot replace Sienci tech support.
When you say that there has not been a “peep” for 13 days, I assume you mean by Sienci, since clearly, there has been input from forum members. So, I would strongly advise that you open a ticket.
2 Likes
Open a ticket with them. You’ll get a better direct response that way. They usually respond in 24 hours.
This is more of a community help and discussion thing. This should not be the primary source of support from Sienci.
Thanks for the tip on the new T12s. (I found the newsletter) I am going to ask for the new ones once they’re finalized.
2 Likes
This post speaks to me in ways you cannot imagine. EVERYTHING you posted I am currently going through. My first attempt at the LongMill began in April. It was very hit and miss with a new user learning curve that was compounded with squalling, grinding, and binding. After a couple months I bought the springloaded backlash nuts and that seemed to solve the issues for a while, and then about a month ago everything locked up and came to a grinding halt. Just like you, I rebuilt my table thinking it was the problem and got it fully supported and dead flat. Everything works fine now except for my X-axis and it’s every problem you have encountered. I have tinkered with it for at least 6-7 hours now, making every combination of adjustments you could imagine between the coupler, acme nut, backlash nut, v wheels, running speed, and acceleration speed. I’ve come close to having it dialed in, but the TINIEST change to one thing throws the whole thing off. I am so completely and utterly exhausted at this point I want to fly a Sienci labs employee out to look at it A) To see if I’m actually losing my mind B) It would probably be cheaper than a new CNC. Even if this post doesn’t help me fix my machine in any capacity, there’s comfort in knowing I’m not the only one.
1 Like
@Tpoole1988 What did Sienci tell you in response to your support ticket/request? Knowing that, members here may be able to add to it.
I was instructed to check if the backlash nut interferes with the gantry as it slides “freely” and if they bump one another to sand the face down. Also to check and verify the stepper motors are adjusted correctly.
I just got in my garage and I’m about to get started on making the adjustments to see what happens.
1 Like
One problem solved just leads to another issue altogether. Any ideas on what could be causing my machine to stall or bind when operating X and Y axes concurrently? I reverted back from the Springloaded backlash nuts to the old Delrin nuts on the X Axis and now both the X and Y run great independent of each other. Although independent rapid movement on X and Y axes is smooth, simultaneous axis movement fails. There is a repeated pattern where I have initial success for 1-2 minutes, then degradation after homing. Can anyone offer advice or solutions to address this recurring issue, where brief periods of optimal performance are consistently followed by breakdown? Appreciate any feedback.
The hyperlink below will take you to 2 videos I shot while working in my machine. The first one is where I get it running smoothly at Rapid, but I knew what was coming so I kept filming. Less than 2 minutes of run time later (the second video) it starts binding and squalling. This all happened with ZERO adjustments made between the two videos, all I did was jog the machine around and home it, then it just broke down on me.
@Tpoole1988 Now that you seem to have the problem limited to the simultaneous X and Y movement, if I were you, I would open another support ticket. I completely understand that is likely not what you want to hear, but I believe that is the route to getting you running.
I sent a follow-up to the ticket I had already opened with them. I am so frustrated and exhausted with this machine at this point I told them I want an actual, tangible fix or some sort of refund and this point. I feel like I’ve been sold a lemon and I’m losing my mind just trying to fix a machine that I don’t even get to use.
My machine worked great for the first three months, but then I started having all sorts of issues. At first, I was struggling with the new spring-loaded backlash nuts, which made me dial back all the speeds. It felt like buying a car only to be told, “Of course, you can’t drive it above 30 mph!” I was so frustrated that I switched back to the old backlash nut on the X-Axis, and things were finally moving smoothly. But after just 10-15 minutes of peak performance, the machine started to bog down whenever I ran the X and Y axes at the same time.
I spent days trying to calibrate everything. After I sent some videos to the Sienci support team, they suggested it seemed electrical since there wasn’t any actual binding, just slow and erratic motor movements. So, I reset the machine for what felt like the 20th time and was waiting for a new LongBoard to arrive, even though they weren’t sure if it was truly an electrical issue. While resetting, I went ahead and set all my firmware settings to Default, and, like magic, the machine started working perfectly again.
I then went through my settings one by one, enabling and disabling them, and when I got to “Firmware Settings #20 Soft Limits Enable” and clicked Disable, everything changed. Suddenly, my machine runs flawlessly! I was convinced there was something wrong with my table build (which I did rebuild with more support) or the backlash nuts causing issues during simultaneous X/Y movements. Honestly, I’m embarrassed to admit how many hours I spent in the garage working on that machine, only for it to turn out to be a software issue that required disabling Soft Limits. It’s like going to a mechanic with a transmission problem and being told, “Oh, the real issue was that your radio volume was too high.” I’m still half-expecting something else to go wrong, but I’m relieved I finally found the fix, even if it is a bit ridiculous!
6 Likes