HDZ burned up my Z motor?

I received my HDZ today! I’m so excited!

Then…my Z motor started making some really weird noises like it was…skipping steps or grinding. Pretty sure it’s busted and I need a new one. Any way to upload a short video showing what it’s doing?

Put it on YouTube and paste the link.
Pretty unlikely that it’s the motor. Did you update your settings for the HDZ?

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Duh. Hehe. I’m dumb.

Anyway, yes, I have the directional changes, I changed the steps to 320, the direction is set properly

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That’s very similar to what happened with my HDZ when it arrived.

The sound is stepper motor missing steps because it can’t turn the ballscrew.

edit - the motor isn’t failed, that’s just what missed steps sound like.

If you take the motor off can you turn the ballscrew reasonably easily by hand and move the Z the full travel distance? It should be smooth and easy to do with your fingers. Mine had a manufacturing issue with the ballnut which was causing the rails to bind.

Try without the motor and it’s then probably a support issue.

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Before you installed it, did you move it manually all the way up and down successfully?

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I can definitely turn the screw manually with the motor removed, but it does seem to take more force than necessary, and I have all the mounting screws on the rails loose.

With the rail screws, and the slider screws loosened…barely…I can get get it to slide better. There is certainly a noticeable tension or something off with every half turn though. You can feel it every half rotation, something is tighter, and you can hear it too

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Sounds like it warrants a call/email to support. Unfortunately, you may have an issue from the factory like Liam had, but support should help you drill down to the root cause, and will take care of you.

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Yep,

Like Brian says, it’s probably support time, the HDZ should be smooth all the way from top to bottom, those linear rails and ballscrews aren’t meant to be lumpy.

Support took me through a diagnosis process to figure out what was wrong and get it sorted out and now I have a very nice HDZ.

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Yeah I’ll have to call tomorrow. I am thinking the ball screw isn’t straight. It seems to wiggle ever so slightly, and you can hear the half turn change in pitch on the motor as it goes up and down.

That is unfortunate.

If there is a misalignment with the rails the ballscrew is surprisingly easy to bend, definitely be a support issue, they’ll get you sorted out though.

Oh I have no doubt. This thing has been rock solid since I bought it 2.5 years ago. No issues and paid itself over a couple times. I’m more sad than anything lol. I have a spindle all ready to go on it, and just wanted to get all the things done at once.

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I upgraded to HDZ in March 2020. I can turn my ball screw but it is not easy because it is slippery with grease and it is awkward to get a grip on. My HDZ works perfectly but thought I would point out that it is not easy to turn the HDZ from top to bottom even with a working one. It should feel about the same from top to bottom as far as force to turn with no tight spots.

I had the same experience as Guy, I actually messaged support because the instructions made it sound like it should be much easier than it was. This was their response:

The ball screw can be a bit slippery, but should turn easily when the machine is powered down — it took me a bit over 50 partial turns on the screw to lower mine just now to the point that I could then get at the coupler which of course makes it easier to turn.

The HDZs are supposed to be tested along their full range of motion before sending them out, so the injunction to move them is something of a relic of the original instructions.

If the machine doesn’t move reasonably easily when turning it using the coupler let us know, but you should be good to go.

I haven’t been able to put it through its paces yet but I’ve run it through the full range of motion since upgrading and it doesn’t seem to have any issues.

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Please email into support. We also don’t recommend loosening or dismantling the HDZ unless advised to by support.

Things like feeds and speeds should be checked, we have had a couple people using custom settings which was not supported.

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