Shapeko 3....ooops Can you help?

Have had Shapeoko 3 for about a year now. Had no issues up until today.

Job was cutting design in some hardwood, as I had done numerous times before. Program worked fine for 90 minutes. Last tool change to a 90 degree Vee bit…to outline framing of image…3 passes were fine and it appeared to be progressing normally to it’s final depth. Last pass the tone of cutting changed drastically and Vee bit did a very deep plunge, 1/2 inch… machine clearly started to labour. I hit pause button and router retracted and the Vee bit fell out of chuck. I had stopped the router seconds after hitting pause button.

First thought was I might not had tightened the chuck with the Vee bit in it… but no I remember doing my double check.

I tried to re-initialized the machine after pausing for a bit and as it proceeded to top right corner it made a “heck” of a noise as it did not stop. Killed the power on Shapeoko 3. I cussed quietly…sort of…

Tried it again after re-powering and got the same result. Thought perhaps controller would re-set after being powered down.

I checked the gantry movement in all directions by manually moving it when the machine was off and all directions it was seemingly normal movement. I looked for loose bolts etc…none. Checked belts…seemed unchanged with minor flex.

I am wondering if there is a proximity sensor at the home position, top right corner that is not functioning. Having said this the red light was on when it was trying to re-initialized. I had probably not so wisely moved the gantry when power to the unit was on and the senor light did turn off when the gantry was withdrawn.

There was a message on the screen at one point “Machine controller restarted and may be in an undefined state” . This occurred after I tried to re-initialize the first time.

So any Ideas what the heck I did or didn’t do. As I said toolpath worked just fine for 90 plus minutes and issue only occurred on last pass of last tool change.

Appreciate any help.

There is a proximity switch at the back but the bit coming loose likely caused a belt problem. Take a good luck at your belts to make sure they are not missing teeth. There is no reason for the proximity switch to fail at the same time as your bit came loose. Anything is possible but not probable. Check your v-wheels for tightness and the belts for stretch/missing teeth.

In the settings you can see if there are any active inputs. The inputs are the homing switches and the BitSetter and the BitZero. With no activity there should be no active inputs. The proximity switch can checked with the machine powered and and not initialized. Place a metal object on the switch and it should turn red. Also in the settings you should be an active input.

When your bit buried itself you could have knocked the gantry out of square. So turn your machine off and slowly move the gantry to the front and see if both sides hit the frame evenly. If you are off considerably on one side then go through the squaring procedure.

And if you are moving the gantry around a lot to see what’s going on, please take a minute and just unplug the stepper motors.

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bit of an update
checked belts…no sign of missing teeth
proximity switches both light up when metal object is placed in front of them
moved gantry to front and pretty close to equal alignment…one side perhaps 1/16th off… not significant
powered down unit completely overnight to de-energize it…thought it may re-set (?) controller if that was the source of the problem…
Tried to initialize machine again… gantry moves smoothly to top right corner then seems to not stop…very noisy. only way to stop it is to turn off machine or hit “stop” button.

Two questions in my mind
Why did tool suddenly plunge on 4th pass of toolpath after previous 3 were fine. It was a continuous path towards a final depth so depth per pass should have remained same…
Why does machine not properly locate and stop at the home position any more…

mystery continues…

Please write in to support@carbide3d.com

Per the machine operating checklist: Machine Operating Checklist - Carbide 3D , the basic points of adjustment for a machine are:

Ensure that all screws are in place and secure, esp. on the linear rails on a Pro.

Also verify that all wiring is in good condition and all connectors secure.

Make sure that all homing switches are secure, and adjusted so that the machine can mechanically move so as to activate them.

If there’s any doubt, re-send the machine configuration, or verify that it is correct.

Update #2
Just tried to initialize again after checking much of the suggestions above. Found that the proximity sensor on the y gantry is engaging and lighting up and correspondingly stops the movement to the right towards the home position. However the x axis sensor is not picking up the gantry moving towards the home position to stop the movement. Again I had to shut off machine due to its failure to stop. I then place a metal object over the proximity sensor on the a axis after stop and found that the light went on.
This is leading me to think that when the tooling plunged for an unknown reason it jarred the alignment?
Other ideas?

Per your suggestion, I re-sent the machine configuration and the results were the same.

leaning towards it being an issue with proximity sensor position on x axis or machine alignment…???

You should find that the sensor is somewhat adjustable. I had issues with my Pro4 with that sensor, and had to shim it out a little for it to register.

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Steve…how did you get to the screws to shim it as it is seemingly impossible to get to the screws? Did you take the end plate off? Would that not impact the squareness of the machine?

Here’s a link to assembling a Shapeoko 3, page 46 covers installing the proximity switches. https://my.carbide3d.com/pdf/shapeoko3_xxl_assembly.pdf

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Maybe you just need to adjust that switch closer. The sensor works by the red light coming on but if it is too far away from the trigger point it will keep trying to get home and make the grinding sound. Turn you machine off and manually move the gantry to the very rear right. Then adjust the proximity switch so it is very close to the trigger point. That may fix your issue with homing.

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