Bill George
10-10-2014, 6:52 PM
So out with the laser this afternoon doing a little acrylic job. Getting near the end and the X axis takes a jump over about 2 inches and resumes the program. Then it went out of control more or less, so I shut it down. Had some stuff built up on the X rail so cleaned that off and then took the carriage apart and checked the bearings, all fine but I got the measurements for future replacement.
Started the job again only worse! Ran it around with the key pad while shaking some wires nothing found. Then I though, might as well ground the machine I had a 6 foot (2 meter) copper ground rod I used with my Ham radio set up. So I ran wire over and hooked to the machine. Same problem.
Started to check the connections on the "X" controller and was appalled to find them all at least one turn loose some more. One wire basically fell out of the connector! When I first got the machine I was happy to see the Chinese must have tightened all the connections really well because then they used what looked like clear silicone sealer over everything. Wrong. Screw connections loose even under the goop! Needless to say ALL connections got checked.
So far my limited retesting shows all is well. Moral of the story, don't trust anyone when it comes to wiring.
Started the job again only worse! Ran it around with the key pad while shaking some wires nothing found. Then I though, might as well ground the machine I had a 6 foot (2 meter) copper ground rod I used with my Ham radio set up. So I ran wire over and hooked to the machine. Same problem.
Started to check the connections on the "X" controller and was appalled to find them all at least one turn loose some more. One wire basically fell out of the connector! When I first got the machine I was happy to see the Chinese must have tightened all the connections really well because then they used what looked like clear silicone sealer over everything. Wrong. Screw connections loose even under the goop! Needless to say ALL connections got checked.
So far my limited retesting shows all is well. Moral of the story, don't trust anyone when it comes to wiring.