I have been having an issue where my Shapeoko 4 randomly disconnects from my computer mid machining. Carbide sent me a new controller board and I swapped it. The issue seemed to improve (but not completely go away). Now, recently the disconnects have been happening again more frequently. I haven’t been able to associate it with anything in particular…seem random to me. Has anyone else had this issue, and found a reliable fix? I have seen a few other in the forums mention ground and humidity. When people say add a ground to the router or controller, what does that mean? How do I do that? Any other possible causes / solutions anyone has out there? I would really appreciate anyone’s insights. Thanks in advance!
I’ve had that problem, and have added ground wires, made sure that my vacuum hose was grounded, usb cords, etc. I had my laptop plugged into the same power strip that the Shapeoko was plugged into. I ran an extension cord from another outlet to the laptop, on a different circuit of the Shapeoko, and haven’t had a disconnect since.
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To really know what is going on would need a series of experiments. Set up a job that you think would experience a disconnect, but remove the stock. You want to do ‘air cutting’.
- First experiment - run the program with the spindle and dust collection off.
- Second - run with only the spindle.
- Third - run with only dust collection.
- Forth - run with both.
If you disconnect on the first, it’s unlikely to be static or EMI. Look for loose USB cable, bad USB ports, or the USB wiring passing close to other wiring and picking up interference.
On the Second, I would look for EMI. If you are using a router, try replacing the brushes.
On the Third, look towards static as a problem. Grounding, grounding, grounding, expecially the dust collection hose.
If it only happens on the Forth, I’m not sure what that would indicate.
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Hey Steve, thanks for the reply! I’ll try some tests with other outlets. How would I go about grounding the vacuum, USB, router?
If you have a Makita/C3D router it could be your brushes on the router. When the brushes get about half worn out the wire that attaches to the brush is short. So when you get about halfway through their life the wire is stretched to its limit and you start to get noise generated and that causes disconnects.
We are in the colder weather and static can still be your problem or it is both.
Just replace your brushes and see. If it does not fix your problem just keep the removed ones for future use.
I have experienced this same disconnect issue. We have a Shapeoko 4 in our community wood shop. It worked perfectly for about the first year. As time went by we had the original Carbide router fail - lower bearing - and we replaced it with a Makita trim router since we could get one quickly. Then the wood shop wanted to replace our dedicated Windows laptop with a new one having a larger screen.
About this time we started having disconnect issues during the middle of running a project or even after a tool change. We chased all of the normal suggestions - we replaced the laptop USB cable, we adjusted settings in the laptop thinking they might be causing a problem - like the display going to sleep and other power settings. We changed the vacuum hose setup and installed one with the grounding wire and added grounding from the router and the hose. We changed the router brushes and the router. We still experienced disconnects - almost every time someone used the machine.
About two months ago we realized that when we changed to the Makita router the power cord wasn’t as long as the Carbide router so it was installed in the same X-axis drag chain as the low voltage wiring that terminates at the controller so that it could exit the right side of the machine and be plugged into the power strip.
We decided to buy an 8 foot extension cord and re-route the router power cord in the separate drag chains originally designed for the power cord.
Since doing that we have had Zero disconnects while running projects or at any other time. The machine works perfect again and people have confidence to use it knowing that they probably will make it through their project without trouble.
I would think keeping the vacuum hose away from the low voltage cables would also be a good practice to avoid the chance of static getting introduced into the low voltage cabling.
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Thanks for the detailed response! I am going to try several different options, including what you mentioned here.
@WillAdams Thanks for sharing this post! Seems like an opportunity for Carbide 3D to offer grounded/anti-static shop vac hoses on the website as an add-on item. Ones that are proven to be effective and a drop-in solution. That being said, I wonder if there is a better (more direct) solution of better protecting (isolating) the controller from static / interference…such as using an electrically isolated box to house the controller instead of a metal one. When you pay several thousands of dollars on machine, most people have a high expectation that it will be able to handle a typical shop setup environment (a wide range of temperature, humidity, dust / static, etc). I love my Shapeoko 4, but it’s highly frustrating when the machine randomly disconnects while machining a part. Every time I hit Start I am hoping it will make it through without issues, instead of having confidence in the machine reliability.
I use a hose which I bought from Peachtree Woodworking ages ago — not sure if they still offer it or no, the word “static” does not appear on their current listing page:
so, I’m inclined to think not (as I recall, the anti-static character of the hose I bought was quite prominent in the product description).
A similar hose which I bought (but never used, and for reasons it’s now in an outdoor shed) is:
(but I’m probably going to pull it out and relocate it to my mother-in-law’s, or something)
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Thanks for sharing the links, I’ll check them out!
All good advice above… While I agree with the problems that static electricity can cause and the need to ground your dust collection hose and other components as required… You have to also ensure all your connections are solid. Vibrations while the machine is running can cause connection problems.
On my new to me SO4 XL I’ve had connection issues that made the Z axis act wonky and on one occasion I had a total disconnect. Turns out it was the connectors at the Z axis end of the cables. A simple squeeze or touch to the connector when the machine was acting up proved the theory of a bad connection.
Also make sure the connections going into the controller box are secure. There’s not a lot of room for the cables to make the corner to the box so sometimes they can wiggle loose.
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Thanks for sharing! What method did you use for connecting the ground wire at each ends of the hose?
Our wood shop dust collector system is made of sheet metal so one hose end is connected to it using a piece of 16ga wire - wire nut to connect to wire in hose and a crimp on ring terminal to connect the wire to a bolt on the dust collector system.
Same approach for the hose at the router end. Ring terminal was placed under the screw holding the router mount to the Z axis.
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Thanks, that’s helpful! I’ll look into those options.
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