I just wanted to throw out there that if Carbide 3D ended up ever offering a closed loop upgrade that would pause the job and raise the head whenever a step was skipped, I would happily buy it. $1500 would be a drop in the bucket for the piece of mind such an upgrade would allow. I’d seriously consider it even if it cost more.
Food for thought, Carbide.
They can’t, there isn’t enough space in the G-code if I remember due to the Y1 and Y2. Step skip tracking also requires encoders which would be like a step-servo as some lazy companies call it (its not at all a servo its just an encoder to tell absolute position with the same amount of states as microsteps on our nema 23’s) Also given their experience with electronics I’d say you’re better off looking into how to do it yourself.
You’d have to replace the controller.
Look at pwncnc. They sell a closed loop conversion with. Masso touch. For $2700
The jog pendant will be the first thing that should be available before too long, but there are many other things we’re working on right now.
I mean, the only thing I would want a closed loop for is detecting skipped steps and stopping everything. You don’t need a lot of changes to the firmware to support that—assuming you have the right closed-loop controllers on the steppers. In theory you could do it by just adding two extra signals: a skipped step alarm (perhaps pulled low whenever a step is skipped), and an alarm reset (which the controller would pull low to indicate that the machine has been re-initialized). The controller doesn’t need to know which stepper skipped, just that it is now out of whack and needs to re-initialize.
This is a bit different than full closed-loop, but would still be very useful and it should be relatively straightforward to implement with the given controller.
I’m trying to keep things as “stock” as possible because it really simplifies support if I ever need it. But I may end up trying to rig something up anyway, or perhaps just going ahead and biting the bullet and switching over to pwncnc, especially if Carbide 3D hasn’t even started considering offering something like this.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’m seriously considering it.
Personally it wouldn’t be worth the cost to me unless I was doing their atc. And at that point I’d be buying a new machine.
Before you go loosing any warranty you do have and spending 3k to do so. Why don’t think you need closed loop? If your missing steps you have one or more issues.
I operated at grbl max speeds with 1/2” doc while slotting, 6 days a week. Loss of steps are not a concern unless I have a problem.
Working within the confines of the machine isn’t easy per say but it is easier on the 5 pro than any other Oko, do you think maybe he has a 65mm spindle and he’s pushing the limits of what a lil 1hp spindle can do?
That’s always a possibility. But even with an 80 mm spindle you can loose steps due to crashes and poor programming.