Has anyone experienced their machine disconnecting from Carbide Motion while running a file? I’ve had this happen several times resulting in the spindle taking a detour to an unknown path all on its own. Twice i had to restart my laptop and reconnect to the machince. And once i had to completed shut the machines control panel down and restart from the beginning. When i had to do the restart of the control panel the main screen popped up saying "no machine detected, couldnt even hit the pause button to stop the spindle, had to shut the power to the spindle off. Needless to say, all the failures resulted in the project being a total bust.
It is most likely a static electricity disconnect. You need to search this forum for “static disconnect” for remedies.
The biggest one would be ground your dust collector hose.
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Static is #1 on the list but worn brushes in your router would be #2. Worn brushes cause electrical noise and can cause disconnects. Being winter static increases with cold weather but if you have never had static problems then check and replace your brushes before you go crazy. It might just fix your problem.
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Thanks, I’ll definitely ground the hose
If your hose is listed as “anti-static”, “anti-nuisance” or has a metal coil in it, it’ll be easier to ground because it should conduct the static electricity to wherever you ground it.
If not, you’ll have to run a bare copper wire through the length of the hose run and ground that.
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I have the same issue with my machine on occasion. I had already run a ground wire through the hose and grounded it. The solution for me was to plug the shop vac into a separate outlet from the machine.
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Sooo…after trying all the suggestions given, I was still having the problem. I determined that it had to be something other than static or grounding. I finally conceded defeat and called my son. He’s a computer geek. Sure enough it was a setting problem that controlled the USB port in my laptop. I have a Dell laptop. Don’t ask me any technical questions about what he did, cause I’m not going to know the answer. He changed the settings, haven’t had a single problem since.
I really appreciate all the help given.
IF someone has tried all the grounding/anti-static things and is still having the problem, and you speak computer geek stuff, I’ll be more than happy to have my son post what he had to do.
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Thanks for the follow up on your resolution!
Hi. If possible to have your son tell you the technobabble, it would be great to hear the fix that he made to your USB settings. I also had some disconnects that were not related to the usual issues (i.e. vacuum static, router brushes, etc.) and would love to rune out a simple USB fix. Thanks.
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I have three Dell laptops, no issues, but an education is always welcome !
What was the USB setting change ?
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I am skeptical that some kind of a “USB setting” change is the culprit. Most likely, the solution is a thorough grounding solution. These machines are not grounded well and are prone to disconnects.
I must be one of the lucky ones. I have no add on grounding on either of my machines (SO4XL and SO4S) or shopvac dust extraction and have never had (knock on wood) a disconnect. Actually I did have one disconnect but it was caused by the USB connection at my laptop coming loose. My pregame warmup has me verifying all connections now. 
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I like to arrange the USB cable so that it is coiled at each end with the tension of the coil pushing the connector in.
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Thats the way I do it now too. 
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In the 3+ years I have had my machines only got the disconnect once.
Yesterday when cutting some PVC which is notorious for static I had the machine stop. Weirdly, it just stopped the gantry, the spindle was still on and there were no error messages. I hit pause, stop, raised Z and restarted the program and it happened 2 or 3 more times. And then not anymore when I ran the next job.
When it stopped I was doing a slightly aggressive cut, but it was PVC and the machine seemed to handle it fine.
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Just cutting a piece of PVC pipe causes static. How shocking!! 
Rich, the lahobbyguy put out a good video on USB issues. While primarily aimed at Lasers, there could be practical applications for CNCs as well since thet are both grbl.
Rich recommends changing the settings in device manager usb to disallow the computer from putting the USB to sleep.
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