strange z axis issue

[valesco]

Finally getting my stock Shapeoko 2 with Mach3 tuned. Ran a few test runs with g code, worked perfectly. Make a simple cut with the same g code file, worked perfectly. Turn off the power to the driver board, and about 15 mins goes by. Bring someone down to watch, and the Z axis gets inverted. I start jogging the Z axis manually and it would go in both directions. Hold z axis + it would move up, pause press z axis+ again and it would go down, z axis - would do the same thing go in both directions. X & Y were working fine. Rebooted everything, and still had the issue.

[DanMc]

Can you describe your setup a little more? You said you're using Mach3, what board are you using? Are you sure you have step/dir pins hooked up correctly? You might also check the active high or active low settings in Mach. There is a lot of setup required in Mach3 to get the best performance from your system, if you haven't really gone through everything it might give you movement but not the right movement.

[Improbable Construct]

You have a loose motor wire on the z axis.
This is classic loose wire behavior.

[valesco]

Danmc
I am using this board

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/231157835770?lpid=82

I'm certainly not certain that I have everything connected correctly, but everything thru extensive testing was correct. I read through the entire Mach 3 manual during setup, so I believe the pins are setup corret. The issue is some time elapsed and the z axis started going haywire.

Improbable,

Thanks, I will check all wires tomorrow and report back.

[valesco]

Improbable, you were correct. The exposed section of the green wire on the z axis was not long enough to have a consistent connection. Thanks