Z axis doesn't hold when power is off
Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2019 12:43 pm
Hi all,
New to CNC here. Purchased the Shark HD4 unit with the water-cooled spindle. I have discovered that when the power is cut to the machine, the z-axis drops.
I contacted Nextwave support back when I first set up the machine and noticed this and they said that was because with the loss of power, the braking of the z-axis motor is also lost. According to them, it is normal. I mentioned that the exact same setup at my local Woodcraft doesn't do it and they didn't really have an answer for that beyond what felt like a shrug.
This is bad enough when one is done with the cut and shutting down for the day or when one needs to change a bit (have to have power to the system to hold the spindle high enough to do the bit change), but it's even worse when the spindle is running and one hits the emergency stop because something is wrong with the cut. While my X/Y moment stopped, the spindle was still running and the motor drilled right into my spoil board. Thankfully, I was able to grab it and keep it from going down into the aluminum bed.
I wanted to ask others if they also have this issue and, if so, how do they deal with it. If it is rare, does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix it? I may try contacting Nextwave again, but since they seemed to imply it was not a malfunction to begin with, I am guessing they won't be much support on the issue.
New to CNC here. Purchased the Shark HD4 unit with the water-cooled spindle. I have discovered that when the power is cut to the machine, the z-axis drops.
I contacted Nextwave support back when I first set up the machine and noticed this and they said that was because with the loss of power, the braking of the z-axis motor is also lost. According to them, it is normal. I mentioned that the exact same setup at my local Woodcraft doesn't do it and they didn't really have an answer for that beyond what felt like a shrug.
This is bad enough when one is done with the cut and shutting down for the day or when one needs to change a bit (have to have power to the system to hold the spindle high enough to do the bit change), but it's even worse when the spindle is running and one hits the emergency stop because something is wrong with the cut. While my X/Y moment stopped, the spindle was still running and the motor drilled right into my spoil board. Thankfully, I was able to grab it and keep it from going down into the aluminum bed.
I wanted to ask others if they also have this issue and, if so, how do they deal with it. If it is rare, does anyone have any suggestions about how to fix it? I may try contacting Nextwave again, but since they seemed to imply it was not a malfunction to begin with, I am guessing they won't be much support on the issue.