Has anyone else had issues with the limit switch (particularly Y and Z) connectors losing continuity? I’ve narrowed the issue down by holding a metallic object in front of the sensors and wiggling the cabling at various locations, and the red LED starts blinking on and off when I fiddle with the connector. The wires are strain relieved in every way I could think of (zip ties, electric tape), I’ve blown the connectors out with keyboard duster, made sure the plastic clips are fully engaged, tried to protect them from dust ingress, etc. I’m pretty certain it is just loose contacts within, and have been reluctant to splice new connectors on.
The only time it becomes annoying is during machine initialization homing. If a connector loses continuity during this, the steppers just slam the gantry into the respective axes’ hard stops. I have to power down, power back up, fiddle with the wires until continuity is reestablished, and reinitialize. Once homed, the problem doesn’t affect anything else for the remainder of the job.
I’m anticipating that they will eventually give up the ghost completely, so am trying to figure out solutions ahead to avoid being really annoyed waiting on replacement parts to continue a job. Any help is appreciated!
Conductive paste / grease?? Typically used where contacts tend to corrode, but could solve the problem cheap. Or at least until you can replace the connectors.
Yep, happened with my Pro 4, and after reading how they would “do their best” to sort things out, I eliminated the connectors altogether with solder and heat shrink tube. I haven’t had a problem since. It sounds like they eliminated the majority of those connectors in the Shapeoko 5 's wiring harness.
It’s nice that they have great customer service, it’s even better if you don’t have to use it.
Thanks for the comment. I reached out, but if the only solution is to replace the switches or connectors with new units, I’ll be more inclined to take the steps you did and knock it out once and for all.
Can confirm for my Y-switch. (Pro XXL) IMO, I do not think those connectors are suitable for moving parts. If you do an image search for “CNC plug” you’ll find much sturdier ones. But I guess they are cheap and fast to assemble (which saves cost as well).
A general suggestion as I see problems come up on the board, contact support first they are very responsive.
I had an issue on my PRO xl. It was a pin in one of the connectors not being properly seated. Support dropped a replacement cable in the overnight shipping which should be showing up today I think (its finals week so I am a bit distracted)
Be careful on contact treatments, while they may improve things short term they can make for some long term reliability issues. (My prior industrial life was semiconductor interconnects, not particularly relevant, but my father did connector contact corrosion and reliability studies for IBM)