After five years in a garage and a 300 mile journey, I am trying to setup my deceased father’s machine. I believe it is a Shapeoko 3 XXL. I have never done anything with a CNC machine so any help you can give is greatly appreciated.
When I power it up it starts to make a noise and slight vibration in the cutting edge. The noise is a clicking or banging that occurs every second and one half for three clicks. Then a short pause and it starts again with two or three clicks. It sounds like a gear is trying to sync. I can share a short video of the issue if there is a way to upload it to this forum.
Do you know what sort of Z-axis the machine has? (possibilities are belt-drive, Z-Plus (black motor, lead-screw with top pillar at bottom), HDZ (silver and black motor same as other axes, ball-screw captured in a bearing at the bottom)
I am not able to connect the computer to the machine. When I go through the setup wizard, it does not find the machine even when the power on status has been verified.
I followed the process in the video and manual.
Strange thing, on one of the startup attempts, the computer started making a strange beeping noise as if there was a bad USB connection. While this was happening the clicking in the machine was not happening. BUT, when I disconnected the USB cable from the computer the clicking started again.
To answer your other question, I don’t know if I am trying initialize or not. I assume so but…
No, not trying to initialize yet since that requires connecting.
If you can’t connect, then most likely the problem is with the controller (if the power supply doesn’t light promptly and stay steadily lit it may be that) we have replacements on a hidden page in our shop:
write in to the folks at sales@carbide3.com to find out when it’s going to be back in stock.
What steps can I take to troubleshoot or verify the power supply is not working properly? Is there a particular light or color I should be looking for? I looked through the manual and support page and can’t find anything about this topic. But, it is quite possible that I simply looked right past it.
If you or a friend have a multimeter you can check the output, otherwise, the basic check is as noted above is that the power supply lights up promptly when plugged in and stays steadily lit.
John, is it possible that your dad was a member here on this forum? If so, then there may be a thread here about some kind of problem that he was having with that machine. A search finds four users with the name “hurst."
Unexpected travel caused me to take a pause on this project.
I have a multimeter and can do some checks if you tell me what to do. But…
I took the controller cover off. When powering up the lights turn on and off. Each time they turn off the click sound is made. Does this mean the controller needs to be replaced as you mentioned above?
The existing board says CarbideMotion v2.4d on the bottom left. I don’t see any other labels that suggest a model or version number.