Movement just stops mid execution
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scubanimal
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:05 pm
Re: Movement just stops mid execution
Conclusion...sort of. I did contact the next wave support, and was told to reseat / replace the memory card. Looking at that I'm not sure how I'm going to get it out, so I've not tried yet. Mostly because it has not stopped since. I do now, on very long jobs, blow some compressed air in the vents of the controller, not hard but enough to exchange the air in it for a minute or so. I'll do that maybe twice during the day. I have noticed that if I've not done that for a while (like after a bunch of short jobs) there is a fair bit of dust. And I'm sure that dust will heat things up even more.
Re: Movement just stops mid execution
I had this same problem very recently.
My X axis quit working in the middle of a job. Fortunately that operation was at the end of the job and it did not produce a crash, etc. It was a very short job, about 2 minutes long. I'd run a few of those jobs but had not been using the machine hard. It was not especially warm in the shop , though warmer than winter. They were light cuts in plastic.
When I tried to jog the machine after the incomplete job, I found the X would not move. The control box was surprisingly warm. I don't normally touch it, but I think it was much warmer than normal. Also odd, the Y stepper (not the X!) was much warmer than the rest and warmer than expected.
I power cycled the control box, and put a fan on it to let it cool. When I tried it again, it seemed to work fine. I haven't run many jobs since then. I'm thinking of adding some supplemental cooling, but I feel that I am chasing symptoms of something, rather than the root cause.. I have used the machine in much warmer conditions without issue. One thing that comes to mind is I think I had to do an emergency stop with the controller button earlier in my session (an unusual event for me). Perhaps that left the controller in an unusual state.
It is worth noting that (I think) heat sinks bolt to the aluminum case. If those were to come loose than heat might not propely transfer out of the driver boards. Though in my situation, the case temps suggest the heat was being transferred.
Support suggested I monitor the temps of the steppers and control box with an IR pyrometer, which I have. They also asked if a cable issue might have caused a power interruption to the controller box (unlikely) - that can cause the driver circuits to fail.
I need to do more running before I consider this resolved. It would be a good idea to mount some temp sensors on the controller box and steppers, and log the temps at the PC.
My X axis quit working in the middle of a job. Fortunately that operation was at the end of the job and it did not produce a crash, etc. It was a very short job, about 2 minutes long. I'd run a few of those jobs but had not been using the machine hard. It was not especially warm in the shop , though warmer than winter. They were light cuts in plastic.
When I tried to jog the machine after the incomplete job, I found the X would not move. The control box was surprisingly warm. I don't normally touch it, but I think it was much warmer than normal. Also odd, the Y stepper (not the X!) was much warmer than the rest and warmer than expected.
I power cycled the control box, and put a fan on it to let it cool. When I tried it again, it seemed to work fine. I haven't run many jobs since then. I'm thinking of adding some supplemental cooling, but I feel that I am chasing symptoms of something, rather than the root cause.. I have used the machine in much warmer conditions without issue. One thing that comes to mind is I think I had to do an emergency stop with the controller button earlier in my session (an unusual event for me). Perhaps that left the controller in an unusual state.
It is worth noting that (I think) heat sinks bolt to the aluminum case. If those were to come loose than heat might not propely transfer out of the driver boards. Though in my situation, the case temps suggest the heat was being transferred.
Support suggested I monitor the temps of the steppers and control box with an IR pyrometer, which I have. They also asked if a cable issue might have caused a power interruption to the controller box (unlikely) - that can cause the driver circuits to fail.
I need to do more running before I consider this resolved. It would be a good idea to mount some temp sensors on the controller box and steppers, and log the temps at the PC.