Hey all, I have a Shapeoko 4 XL. I have
never had this issue before but today when I turned on the machine and went to initialize the machine the z axis shook/made noises I did not like. It moves fine when I turn machine off and move by hand. The proximity sensor also seems to be working. See videos and photo for reference and please help!
It looks like a faulty connection to the Z stepper motor. Check wiring/connectors from the Z stepper to the controller ?
(also, as usual, get in touch with support@carbide3d.com)
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Yeah I just sent them an email but sometime forum is quicker. I checked all connections and wiring and everything seems to be fine
Update to this post. I decided to try using mdi to home it with the “$h” command and it worked. I then turned off and did again by pressing “initialize machine” in motion interface and it worked again. So it magically fixed itself but it is a little concerning that that’s the case. Anyone have any ideas what the issue may have been?
Intermittent issues like that make me think it was connector-related. You should inspect them, maybe one wire is a little loose and when the machine moves the connection makes or breaks randomly
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Thanks for helping out @Julien I agree that does make the most sense. I rechecked the wires and each connector for any loose connections and everything appears to be intact. As of now I am going to assume everything is fine and if it occurs again I will delve deeper into it.
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I’m having the same issue with a brand new machine. The z-axis will decide that up is down and will dive into the project or will not home. We have replaced all of the cabling except for the cabling on the z-motor itself, requiring a new z-motor, but that seems to be the issue. The male connector on the motor wire is a fraction smaller than the rest making for a loose connection to the extension cabling. Really annoying. Support has been good so far, but I’m getting to my wits end. $3,000 for a machine and it ought to work out of the box. I’m on week 2 of troubleshooting. Most of the issues have been wit weak cable connections. My bitsetter cable had to be replaced as well, plus I was missing my v wheels for my y axis assembly. I’m ready to start making projects but wood is too expensive to waste right now due to issues that should happen to a new machine.
Please let us know about the need for a new motor w/ new wiring connection at support@carbide3d.com and we’ll get this taken care of as quickly as we can.
I have left a voice Mail. This will be round 4 trying to deal with this
Hello, I started having the same problem yesterday. I have a new Pro XXL. I found that it was the z connector. In this case, it seems there an occasional internal non-contact in the connector. After reinitializing the machine multiple times with the same result I started looking at the wires. When I pressed together the Z motor connector I heard the motor engage like it does when you turn it on. After that it worked fine.
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