No. I missed that this was a zenxy. You can try, but it should be fine.
Pretty tight, but the idler screws need to be a little loose, or the idlers won’t spin.
Looks like it.
Wiring can be weird, especially if just one coil is out.
Swap the X and Y at the control panel and test. If the X then becomes jerky, then you’ve eliminated the drivers as the source of the problem. 0.75A should be just fine.
Thanks for the tips / ideas everyone!
I checked the idlers on the center carriage and they spin freely. Also, I swapped the x and y at the control board and still got the same symptoms (moves in x, jerks in y).
Tomorrow I’m going to first check all the idlers in the corners and check if I’m square again.
Anyone have a good “squaring procedure”?
If that doesn’t fix it, I have a couple more steppers so I’ll try swapping those in next I guess.
Thanks again everyone! I’ll keep poking and let you know when I figure it out…
Steppers are very rarely the issue.
The squareness is determined a bit by the different tension in the two ends. Try replacing the zip tie that holds the belt in the middle, while holding it square. That should make the tension in the two ends even, which should hold it square.
Which way is Y? The little gantry in between the tubes or the big tubes that move on the other tubes?
The y axis I’m referring to is the little gantry between the tubes.
Okay I squared it up and still have the same problem.
I took a quick video:
If I put VERY light pressure on the gantry it will move smoothly. As soon I let off its jerky again. If I move in the opposite direction and press lightly on the other side of the gantry it does the same thing (moves if pressing, jerky if not)
Any ideas?
Ok… Got frustrated and made a new frame. Re squared everything again and setup the motors and belts this morning.
Now it will move in the x positive (away from the end stops) and y positive (away from the end stops) but not in the x negative or y negative directions. The end stops are in the top left corner by the blue y I drew.
FYI I don’t have the end stops currently wired just to not add in any other variables.
Any ideas on what could be wrong?
It needs to home (touch the endstops) or it will not move negative. That is normal.
I turned the “soft end stops” off in the move menu so it allows me to go negative (will show a negative position on the lcd) but the gears make a grinding sound and it won’t move.
You’re saying it needs to home (touch the end stops) before it will move properly in the negative direction?
Your X and Y are switched. If you leave it like that, the patterns will be reversed.
You also have to be careful to get the homing order right and the right endstop with the right axis.
Positive direction is away from the end stops, right?
Yes, but if the endstops are in the lower left, X goes to the right and Y goes away from you. From your picture, it looks like that is switched.
To be clear, that is not going to cause anything to be jerky. IDK what is causing that. Something is either binding, or it is just going to fast or something. The ZenXY is not the most common machine, so we are still learning it’s capabilities (slowly learning 
).
Thanks Jeff! End stops are in the top left so I think I have it wired correctly.
Can the end stops be turned off or do I need to wire them up to see if it will move without grinding?
Edit: just saw your second post. I’ll look for any tight spots or areas that might be catching. I feel like I’m close 
If the endstops are in the top left, then +X should go down and +Y should go to the right. If you don’t do that, patterns will be flipped.
Imagine you were standing on the left side of the machine, then look at my previous post.
However you do it, you need to be able to rotate the machine so this is the case, otherwise, everything will get flipped.
Got it moving as you described.
+X goes down and +Y goes to the right.
Still getting some skipping. I’m going to make sure the belt is adjusted / redo the zip ties again and see if that helps. I’m gonna also check my carriage and make sure those bars are even.
Once I figure it out Ryan will probably release the new version 
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IT WORKED!
I think the route of my issues were: x and y swapped and not completely squared up.
I redid the zip ties this morning and it moved a bit in the adjustment. Now no skipping and it hums along great!
Thanks for the help guys. Now to create some cool patterns in sandify to test. I’ll upload my build once it’s complete.
Guess this means Ryan releases the new version this week? 
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Thanks for getting that done and working now I can finally release the new one. 
Don’t worry it will still take a while even if this alpha build works perfectly the first time (yeah right). If you find a reason to change, just know there is a new toy to build waiting.
If it ain’t broke, fix it 'till it is.
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