New Linear Z for my SO3 XXL - Long post with pictures

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41

HI,
Just finished this upgrade on a XL (that was converted from a standard S3).
Fit and finish was perfect, no physical anomalies at all.

However, I do have a travel issue I am hoping someone can advise me on. The Z axis moves up and down easily and cleanly but Only 4" in total. It does not matter what I set $132= to, any number from 5 to 800 has No effect on the total travel I get when jogging. (machine is usable with this much travel, I would just like to set my router higher in the clamp)

Ive read as many posts as I can find, but cant seem to figure this out. For example, I turn on cnc, start up carbide motion, home, open the send panel and type exactly $132=199
When I send, then open log and use $$ to list, I see that $132 does indeed equal 199.
However the total distance I can jog the Z azis remains the same, if I use 199 or 5, it still travels 4" down from the home limit positon.

GRBL on the carbide board is.9g and below is my latest list - any suggestions/advice much appreciatedā€¦
Thank You,
Peter

Test Waitingā€¦
<Idle,MPos:-4.550,-18.500,-45.500,WPos:-4.550,-18.500,-45.500,Buf:0,RX:0,Ln:0,F:0.>
gc_not_motion
___________$$ ___________
$0=10 (step pulse, usec)
$1=255 (step idle delay, msec)
$2=0 (step port invert mask:00000000)
$3=2 (dir port invert mask:00000010)
$4=0 (step enable invert, bool)
$5=0 (limit pins invert, bool)
$6=0 (probe pin invert, bool)
$10=255 (status report mask:11111111)
$11=0.020 (junction deviation, mm)
$12=0.010 (arc tolerance, mm)
$13=0 (report inches, bool)
$14=1 (auto start, bool)
$20=0 (soft limits, bool)
$21=0 (hard limits, bool)
$22=1 (homing cycle, bool)
$23=0 (homing dir invert mask:00000000)
$24=100.000 (homing feed, mm/min)
$25=1000.000 (homing seek, mm/min)
$26=25 (homing debounce, msec)
$27=5.000 (homing pull-off, mm)
$100=40.000 (x, step/mm)
$101=40.000 (y, step/mm)
$102=200.000 (z, step/mm)
$110=5000.000 (x max rate, mm/min)
$111=5000.000 (y max rate, mm/min)
$112=5000.000 (z max rate, mm/min)
$120=400.000 (x accel, mm/sec^2)
$121=400.000 (y accel, mm/sec^2)
$122=400.000 (z accel, mm/sec^2)
$130=425.000 (x max travel, mm)
$131=465.000 (y max travel, mm)
$132=199.000 (z max travel, mm)
ok
gc_dwell
___________N0 G4P0.05 ___________
gc_get_offsets
___________$# ___________
[G54:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G55:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G56:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G57:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G58:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G59:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G28:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G30:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G92:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[TLO:0.000]
[PRB:0.000,0.000,0.000:0]
ok
gc_parser_state
___________$G ___________
[G1 G54 G17 G21 G90 G94 M0 M5 M9 T0 F100. S0.]
ok
<Idle,MPos:-4.550,-18.500,-45.500,WPos:-4.550,-18.500,-45.500,Buf:0,RX:0,Ln:0,F:0.>

42

I donā€™t see anything that would limit your Z travel. Your steps/mm are set to 200 ($102). I see your $13 is set to 0, so you are not reporting in inches, but that must means you are reporting in mm, should not be limiting anything. Your hard limits are not turned on $21=0, so Iā€™m not sure how your homing works, but I guess Iā€™ve never tried homing with $21=0; If you have an XL, shouldnā€™t your $130 be more like 840 or 850 (not that it would affect your Z travel). Iā€™m not the GRBL expert by any means, but I donā€™t see anything that would be limiting your Z travel. Hopefully someone smarter than me will be more helpful.

43

Thanks for the response Dustin. Iā€™m quite perplexed why the $132 makes no difference to the travel, it moves the same distance down from the limit switch regardless of what I set it at. Just tried Zero for the heck of it, and of course the down jog moves the same.
Your mention of homing and $130 - the most I can say is I have limit switches, and did the upgrade to the XL version following carbide instructions. The machine has been working great since the upgrade, homes perfectly and is always repeatable on a restart. Ive never had an instance whereby the short value on the X you called out was even noticed, I often run jobs the full width of the machine - perhaps your notice of this is indicative of why Iā€™m not able to change the Z travel rangeā€¦
Very strange, and will hope for continued feedback!

44

The $21=0 might be because Carbide switches are homing switches, not limit switches. I have limit switches on mine, so I bet that is the difference. I only have my $132 set to 120. But if I home my machines I can then drop the Z down to where the router collet can almost hit the waste board if i donā€™t have a bit in.

Did you get your slider from cnc4newbie? Are you sure it is the fast screw? Maybe your screw is a different pitch? If that was the case, your steps/mm might need to be set differently. When you tell it to move Z 1 inch, is it actually moving one inch?

45

It was this detailed post that got me interested, so yes, followed this post to the letter including purchase link ':)'
I double checked distance, all is good, one inch is very close to one inch (ran drilling and pocket operations to confirm)

Iā€™m beginning to think this may be a support issue, as I cant change travel no matter the setting of $132, either increase or decrease - its almost as if it just ignores what $132 is at.
Ive posted a short video in the continuing hope someone on here will recognize the issue, (Will??) or tell me if I need to call support.
Z Travel vid: https://youtu.be/M05PjAs_zEM

Thanks Again,
Pete

46

Have you tried using Universal GCode Sender instead of Carbide Motion? I donā€™t use CM, so maybe there are some predefined limits in CM that ignore your $132 setting. Try using the 2.0 nightly build of UGS and see if you can jog down all the way.

Here is a link to UGS 2.0 (slightly) stable build.
http://bit.ly/2ssmIqt

47

Awesome! Your suggestion lets me jog the full extent! Thank You
Now Iā€™m confident its not a physical issue, however, using UGS to again set the $132, travel range is not being adjusted. Meaning I can set the $132 to say ā€˜10ā€™ and still jog the entire extent and jam the carriage at the bottom.

So one half of the equation has been solved! Now I just need to understand why I cant set travel on Z.

48

Try turning on soft limits. Without soft limits, I donā€™t think it will know where to stop based on the $132 setting. So try $20=1

1 Like
49

BINGO! That worked perfectly for the UGS app! I even reset my Y axis since apparently I never did when I did the XL upgrade. Now, with UGS, all travel is working as expected, and stopping and throwing an alarm when I try and jog to exceed.
So Dustin, Thanks Again!

Now that I know about this UGS app, I donā€™t think I will go back to Carbide Motionā€¦ But for the heck of it I did just try it now that UGS functions as expected.
No Luck - Carbide Motion still stops well away from bottoming out and ignores the $132 settings completely.

Perhaps there is something else Motion needs?

50

I have not used Motion since I started using limit switches and probing about a year and a half ago. I used it for a short time when I first got my machine in September 2015. Since then I have used UGS. So I am of no help with CM.

51

CM is all screwed up and Carbide 3d needs to hire someone to fix it ( I donā€™t think they have anyone in house).
Itā€™s really to bad because it is a fairly descent system with the 1.1 upgrades but they got to get them to work through CM.
Iā€™m glad to see this upgrade being received so well, Iā€™ll be placing my order next week. Great job all.

52

Got my new modified rear Z plate from Joe @ CNC4NEWBā€™s today to fit the later model SO3ā€™s with the pulley adjuster nub. Have yet to install it, but by looking at what was done it should fit without any modifications to my stock X carriage plate. I had sent Joe the measurements from my machine two Mondays ago, thatā€™s a pretty quick turn around including shipping from Canada, great customer service!

Dan

4 Likes
53

I love that mods like this are possible. Hackable hardware FTW! Thanks for sharing, this stuff makes me happy!

54

Hey Dan

I also just pulled the trigger for a new linear Z axis plate. I wrote on the notes and asked for the new modified Z plate ā€“ hopefully it fits well.
How was your experience with the new modified rear plate?

55

Havenā€™t installed it, but the changes look good. Unfortunately Iā€™ve had a busy December which includes cutting a truckload of Christmas ornaments on my XXL. I have several other updates to do on my machine at the same time Iā€™m planning to add the new Z, but I have to get some actual projects done before I pull my machine apart. I had planned to get this all done a few weeks ago, but life happens, haha!

Dan

56

Bummer but thanks for the update though!

Glad to see you are keeping it busy!

57

Oh yes, super busy. On top of the ornaments, I also recently added a largish dust collector to my shop. Problem I ran into is that even though Iā€™ve added two more 20 amp circuits to my shop, the dust collector alone pulls 17.5 amps by itself. So this past weekend I had to clear everything out, wire up two additional circuits, and added another whole room dust collector (the kind that hangs from the ceiling and just pulls room air through some filters and spits it back out). I still have a ton to do before I can consider my shop ā€œworkableā€, but these things had to get done before I could even really get moving on anything again. Hopefully in the next day or two Iā€™ll get back to ornaments, and then I can start tearing my XXL apart for itā€™s first overhaul (new belts, V wheels, and the Z slider). Yesterday I actually got so tired of messing with it all, I saw my motorcycle that I had moved out and parked in front of my house, so I decided it was time for a break and just took off riding!!! My poor bike was so dusty I actually cleaned it with a broom, hopefully with all of the new dust collection in place I wont have to worry about it as much!!! Yay!!!

Dan

1 Like
58

The same but at half cost. $ 95

1 Like
59

Looks like you would still need to add the back plate drilled out to fit the SO3 X plate. And adapt it to use the original spindle mount, and add a limit switch. By the time you do all of that i doubt youā€™d be saving much and the CNC4NEWBIE model is already tested and proven to fit. So Iā€™m happy to pay the extra.

60

Dustin , will it be very difficult for an S3 operator to open some holes and mount this screw ?.