Running a series of 3/8" pockets, suddenly the dreaded noise!
Stopped it. Didn’t go through the spoilboard because the collet bottomed out on the part.
The picture tells the story:
That was assembled when I unpackaged it right? How do I get the red plastic back up where it belongs and then make sure that doesn’t happen again?
Also, according to the model, it should look like this, eh?
THanks!
Looks like either the motor moved up, the ballscrew moved down or, more than likely, the set screws on the shaft clamp loosened and half of the coupling slid down. You can see one of the shaft clamping screws in the picture.
I would eliminate either shaft moving down or motor moving up first because that is less likely and then re-set both sides of the coupler and tighten the clamps.
Obviously any lose screw/bolt will be the telltale sign of what moved.
Jens, thanks, yeah, since the motor is screwed to the top, the ball screw has slipped down. But, I’ve not been ‘behind’ that black box with the … dunni what to call it, but it has a hex head allen screw in it, so maybe I just loosen that, wind the ball screw back up, and tighten it. But everything was tight when I checked it. Also, I don’t have enough shaft left to go any higher with the red plastic. Once upon a time I disassembled a fine German made camera… and the lens shutter flew apart, never to be fixed. I’m not too proud to get help these days.
Well, you didn’t complain about any magic smoke leaking out so we can be reasonably certain that it can be fixed. I don’t know what the overall assembly is from (what machine) but on my Altmill there is no ‘slipping’ of ball screws. What is just below the coupler should be a bearing block that does not move with the ball screw. It retains the ball screw in a fixed position relative to the motor above it. Maybe it has some clips that hold it in position and one broke?
If the machine is one from Sienci, there will be assembly drawings on the Sienci site so that would be the next thing to look at. This is the CAD drawing for the Altmill:
From what I can see on the assembly drawing, there are 4 bolts that hold the lower section of the bearing block to the upper section - maybe they came loose? (seems very unlikely)
If you can wait for a couple of days for an answer it might be worthwhile contacting Sienci customer support.
Been there, done that. I gleefully anticipate a good response in quick time, but tragically, it broke on a Sunday, when only you and I were around at the forum. Notice my second image was taken from the onshape model, which I downloaded. My next step, and it can’t happen until Friday because I work for a living, is to pull that panel off to see what lurks behind it. (sound of a dozen bearing balls bouncing off the concrete floor) Hopefully the Scienci gods will bestow favor upon me sooner… Way back when, I asked on the forum if it were possible to drive the Z axis down until it fell on the floor. Everyone must have thought I was kidding, because nobody answered. To prevent that, I installed a spoilboard, and never go outside the lines. But sometimes, late at night, I wonder.
SCIENCI LABS for the win! I got an email today, so that’s prompt, Jason Kent was most polite, that’s courteous, and he identified the problem and a simple solution, so that’s efficient.
He suggests that the bottom of the connector didn’t drop. The top of the connector slid up. Comparing my photo to the model, I think he nailed it. Cool, thanks.
