Has anyone experienced issues with their Z axis not being able to home using inductive sensors?
I am running a long mill MK2 with an SLB, spindle, inductive sensors, and laser all from Scienci Labs. Generating GRBL code, CAD, and CAM with Fusion 360.
After running an engraving job, suddenly I started having issues with my Z-axes. There have been several different scenarios that I have worked through all concerning my Z axis and I have managed to work through a few of them through the firmware settings however currently I hit the down arrow in G sender the Z axis moves up I can jog down but if I hold the down arrow key in G sender the z axes moves up. When I hit home (and have the Z axis turned on in my firmware settings to home1st) it goes to the inductive sensor and then moves back downwards by a few inches, and it makes a horrible sound when it does it almost as if the motor is fighting against itself can’t figure that out either. Would anybody have any ideas if this is a firmware settings issue, if this is something on my SLB or is it mechanical having to do with the motor?
I have done several resets I have reloaded the spindle settings that is available to load through G sender I have checked wires and cables and have gone through the firmware settings several times. I am running the latest version of G sender which I believe is 1.14.11?
Unfortunately, I am fairly new at all of this and have only had my Longmill MK2 for just over a year, love it when it’s running but the learning curve for understanding the G code is just outside my learning curve for now so any information that someone might be familiar with would be greatly appreciated.
My next attempt at fixing it would be to reinstall G sender on my laptop and reset all the settings in the firmware per the original setup parameters for the equipment I’m running. The only other thing I can think of that may or may not be necessary is to flash the firmware or is that the SLB? If anyone has done this procedure, I have avoided it per warnings I have read from Scienci Labs. I’m assuming that flashing the firmware has to do with the SLB. If anyone can clarify this for me, I would appreciate it as I would like to resolve this issue to get my unit working again.
Thank You
Though I have no direct pointer about what could cause this weird behaviour, it does sound like something might be wobbely. Since You checked the wiring, You maybe missed out on checking the SLB itself.
Specificly the Z-motor section.
The components that include the Z-stepper are found in this drawing.
The designations of these components can be found on the board in white lettering, near the components.
IC1-z connects to U17, the brain of the SLB. This Ic too can have bad solder connections, but they might not be seen easely.
The connector of the Z-motor can be badly soldered too, but that requires to look at he bottom side of the board. However, if the problem is indeed a soldering fault at the connector, moving about the z-axis while lightly flexing the connector in different directions, will prolly bring that problem directly to the surface.
Thank you for sharing the info I will check these connections in my next repair session this afternoon. When I built my system, I purposely made sure that all accessory equipment was mounted on a different plane than the table as I know that heat, dust, and vibration can create issues, so I purposely isolated them off the cutting table. Again, Thank you for taking the time to consider and the info!
Was everything working correctly and this suddenly happened or was either the SLB or sensors added recently?
It might be worth checking your firmware settings against the default settings for the SLB. The defaults won’t have the settings for the sensors turned turned on so keep that in mind. Also make sure that gSender is connecting with grbl-HAL and not regular grbl.
Thank you, Michael, yes everything was working correctly, and I had run an engraving job and the issue started after that the only thing that I have done recently was to do a thorough cleaning and lubrication of drive screws. I have run several jobs since then and have had no issues. I’ve been going through the firmware settings and trying to check to make sure that all the settings are correct however I am beginning to sense that I am missing something as when I add the Z axis in the loop for homing it hits the sensor and then drops a couple of inches before it has finished the homing cycle and then locks. I have found that if i have taken it out of the homing cycle loop it will home for X&Y and then I can at least have control of X&Y, Z is sporadic I can jog down; I can jog up; but when I long press to go down it goes up and when I hit home the Z axis bottoms out and then moves to try to get the X&Y axis home. I am running in GRBL-HAL. I spent another hour or so on yet today uninstalling and reinstalling Gsender but to no avail. I believe my next step will be to contact Scienci Labs and see if I can get someone there that can help me figure it out as well as walk me through flashing the firmware as I am suspicious that it is a code issue.
