The Shapeoko Forum

hi

im havimg the followimg issue:

i was making some circle test cuts. i had a stepdown rate of 0.5 and was just trying to get through the material. after a few step down cycles the machine just went nuts and went right through the.middle or went oitside the circle... seems to happen competely random. as the z-axis was at -5 or something the material started to smoke

i will upload some pictures soon

edit: pics







kiark

Your machine lost some steps.

This can happen if the current through the X and Y motors is too low, or if it's too high and caused the drivers to overheat and enter thermal shutdown.

It can also happen if your Z axis isn't perpendicular to the bed. If it's not square, the lower you dig into the material, the more the side of the tool digs into the stock; eventually, the force will be too much for the motors, and they'll lose steps.

Hi,

besides lost steps: if the material starts smoking you either use far too high spindle rpm or a dull or generally unsuitable tool.

Christian

I would add idler tightness to the above ideas. I've had issues where the idler wheel worked loose and I didn't notice since it is held tight by the belt. But suddenly the idler would move a bit and the machine would wander off similarly to yours.

hi

thanks for the answer!

fortunately the problem was way more basic... the belt pulleys were not attached strong enough to the motor... they got lose pretty often and the screw popped out... now i glued them down

kiark