Ghost in the machine

Community Support ❓ Something's Up
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When finished a successful carve, the machine after about a minute or two will jog itself forward or backward a few inches then stop. Today it went back about two feet and then reversed and came almost all the way to the front. This happens periodically but not always.
Altmill with the latest version of Gsender.

Anyone?

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I don’t have an honest answer, but will say this. Your AltMill maybe possessed! Find someone to sprinkle holy water (be alert to the electronics) on it. :grin::joy::clown_face:

Sorry, just felt compelled to say that. I sincerely hope I don’t upset anyone, it was indeed meant as a funny and nothing to insult or upset anyone.

But if I take off my smart 🫏 hat and put on my detective hat, I do have a couple of legitimate troubleshooting questions for you.

  1. Is the extra movement the same if you run the same file? Meaning if you carve a name in a piece, then remove the bit and run the file again, does the rogue movement repeat itself?
  2. Does the rogue movement get longer with a larger carve? Is there a common thread here?
  3. Machine needs instruction in order to move. Have you changed macros in GSender for something?
  4. Could it be secondary to outside forces? (Not being a smart 🫏 again). Meaning is your dust collection hose too close or maybe a bad cable somewhere?

I don’t have an AltMill yet, but my LongMill has never moved without instruction from a file or me commanding it to move.

Try a couple of things, but not all of them at once. That will be the key to successful troubleshooting. By the way, please post what finally gets rid of the “ghost in the machine”. Good luck!

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Ohmy, that doesn’t sound good. I have seen a movie where apliances started killing people. I would sell that scary hounted thing as fast as I could, nono I would give it away, for free!

You know what, I will take it of your hands if you pay for my trip over.

Pleaseplease, no need for applause. I’m merely taking one.

For the team!

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I will one up you @Spamming_Eddie. I’d pay my own way over to “take one for the team” :clown_face::clown_face::clown_face::clown_face::clown_face::crazy_face::sunglasses:

Seriously, you made it through the entire movie where appliances were killing people? Now that is taking one for the team. Did they unplug the demon appliances to save humanity?

Really, I hope we can fix @Strst Stan’s problem. If nothing else, a call to our trusty “customer support team” maybe in order here too! They have always done me well.

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Yeah it was a bad movie, but it somehow stuck with me and Stans story pulled it all out again. I have no idea how it is triggered but…

If my machine would do that… randomly, it would scare the bejebus out of me and I would prolly try to enduce a Programm stop (M9) event in program events to trigger a stop/resume button in the hopes that will mitigate the ghostly inputs untill support is back at their posts.

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Dunno if it will do enything though, need to try this out for myself when I get back to my killer machine. I implemented this on my programm start to prevent me from starting the machine by accident while leaning on my mouse or some other stupid move that I am famous for. The M9 will create a popup asking if I want to stop or resume, creating a potential life saving buffer between my killermech and me, myself and I.

Can’t have a cnc pulling off in random directions.

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Thanks guys for your input, as well as the comic relief! :grin:
Tried to duplicate the file and this time the machine didn’t move after the carve was complete.
Changed over the communication cable and I’m going to keep a close eye on my vacume hose just in case of static.

I’ll keep you posted if this happens again and will contact customer support as well.

Thanks again. Appreciate your help.

And no, you can’t come pick up my machine. I waited too long to get it and I’m having too much fun while it chases me around the shop! :blush:

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That’s because you didn’t see the baddest movie ever! I looked it up and the backstory is even worse than I thought. I wonder if King wakes up at night, curled up from mental agony, crying in shame…

Anyhoo, thanks for considering my offer. I’ll be here if you ever change your mind.

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Thought I would update the situation with the machine moving without instructions.
Tried all the suggestions but think that my son may have cracked it. (maybe) :thinking:

Even though I try my best to keep my cnc area dust free the laptop still gets a light dusting. Ever since I turned off the touch pad on the laptop the issues I had earlier have stopped, even after long carves.

Hope this helps someone else in the future. Thanks again for everyone’s support.

Stan…

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@Strst That is great news! Yea, dust in the machine is almost worse than a ghost. What a crazy solution though. Would have thought the touch pad would have been sealed better than that, but I guess not. I am glad you (or your son) got it solved!
Jake

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