Kinda new here, just getting into CNC and I built my first machine using 4’ conduit on X axis and 8’ on the Y axis. The movement on the X axis is perfect. The movement on the Y-Axis is jerky. One side will move then the other. Almost like it is getting caught then springs loose to where it should be then this happens again. its not large movements and I’m not using ESLCAM or anything else yet, still learning those. I’m using the move axis under the prepare menu off of the controller. It does this at 0.1mm, 1mm and 10mm settings. I’m thinking it is probably the belts, does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this or even if this is a ig enough problem that while moving automatically it will matter. The jumps are pretty small. Any help you can provide is much appreciated.
Matt
How did you wire the steppers, They should not be able to move independently?
I wired them with the wires supplied with the kit and are wired together.
Take the belts off and make sure they are both spinning the correct way.
Ok, will do once I get home, but wouldn’t the movement go in the opposite direction if they were spinning in different directions vice acting almost like it is snagging then jumping into the correct position after a enough tension builds up?
Depends, if one belt is loose the tight one would drive and the loose one would skip.
steppers are moving the correct direction. I will upload a video of what its doing, maybe that will help clarify. I will also re-check belt tension. Thanks for all of the help.
you could have the driver voltage not set correctly, it happen to me, i had mine at .75 mv with 2amp motors which was fine but i turned them down to .55 because i dont need so much amperage, but when you get down to .4 or even high .3’s i noticed the stepper would skip
I had this problem when my steppers were not wired properly.
Check carefully that you connected the steppers as they should be connected, and that you have continuity in all your cables.
Actually, I bet only one of your steppers actually produces motion, the other one is either very low powered or completely off.
Could also be a pulley not being well tightened.
Wires are the same as the other axis, and I have no idea how to adjust amperage. I’ll check the pulley again. I think the video was too large but here goes…
Best to stick videos on youtube, vimeo, or a link to some sort of drop box thing…videos kill the servers hosted on the site.
Check that you have the same torque on both motors for this axis:
-make the axis move: prepare–> move axis–>move axis 10mm–> Y–> turn the knob in random directions back and forth a few times.
-while it is moving, use your fingers to apply brake the pulleys of each motor once at a time, until they lose steps. If you feel that one motor is much weaker than the other, it is likely to be a bad wiring, or a lose pulley.
Given the symptoms you described I’m almost 100% sure that your problem lies in one of those two causes. Most likely a wrong wiring. This happened to me a lot of times when I was testing the machine at first and my cables were a bit messy/unreliable.
An other way to check is to switch the wires of the X axis with the Y axis.
After switching, if you have the problem with your X axis, it may be a problem with your motor driver (unlikely in my opinion, a fried driver generally won’t work at all, but still possible)
If the problem remains in the Y axis, then it is definitely one of the causes mentionned hereabove (or a defective motor, but this is, in my opinion, quite unlikely).
Well apparently under the sheathing I put over the wires one of the connectors came undone. Thanks for all the help. Now the task of learning ELSCAM or SOLIDWORKS.
Just had the problem where Y1 would move 7 times at 1mm interval before Y2 would start to move. Going in the opposite direction Y1 would move again 7mm before Y2 would start to move. Rewired Y2 and all good. Strange why 7mm each time.
This thread is 5 years old. Probably better to start a new one and post details about your build.
Hi Jeff,
Didn’t want to double up threads for the same problem but I think your correct. Turned out to be a loose y belt also. I’ll put my build up soon, just finishing off.
The machine has changed a lot in 5 years. Pretty much so the parts have.
Often two problems with the same symptoms are completely different issues. And it gets confusing when we ask for details and have two different users with solutions.
I don’t want to beat you up over it. It is just usually better to make the extra threads.