So I have been using this machine on and off for two years. It loves to crash into the homing switches occasionally but when I tap the connecting wires while it is happening it will reset and work. Annoying but I have been living with it as it is just occasional. Well it has developed the similar problem on the Z axis. It loses where it is and sounds like its “grinding”. It was getting worse and ruining work today (lost three different signs due to this and one was in mahogany). I traced it back to the connector between the stepper motor and the cable. It was hot and seemed loose when clipped together. To get through the day I took it apart and hard wired it together which fixed the problem but this leads me to doubt all the other connectors on the machine. I want to replace these connectors as they seem like a weak link. Has anyone else had this problem? Is there a better replacement for those cable connectors on the machine? Thanks
I wish they had used something a bit more robust, like this kind of connector. Some heat shrink before putting the wires into the cable gland would help with stress as well.
That’s one way to deal with it!!
The connectors work fine as long as they are assembled properly - there should not be any major stress on any of them which would cause connection issues or bend the conductors such that they would break.
However, the problem is that not all the connector assemblies get put together properly. I’ve redone connectors on both my machines due to improper crimping of the pins to the wires. This is usually due to the wire insulator getting pushed too far into the pin crimping collar & getting in the way of a solid crimp… It’s a quality control issue & one which doesn’t necessarily show up right away.
If you don’t want to spend the time to get the parts/tools to redo your connectors, Carbide3D support is usually pretty good about replacing bad cables.
Thanks. The connectors are definitely snapped together properly with no obstructions or binding. It felt like at least one wire was loose (it was also hot) in the connector so I pulled it and hardwired it to the corresponding wire. Fixed the problem but leads me to believe that the other “crashes” that have happened are due to other loose wires. This has been happening intermittently over the time I have owned the machine. In the beginning I had nothing to compare it to so thought it was me or the software but now I am not sure.
I sent a message off to carbide support and haven’t heard back and even called twice. I haven’t been able to connect with anyone there so I may just DIY it myself!
None of the connectors should get hot during use - that indicates a significant amount of resistance within the connector from a poor connection. Which means starving your stepper motor of power - I’m assuming it’s a stepper motor connection because no other connections should have enough current running through them for that to happen.
I don’t believe support works over weekends, so I wouldn’t expect any response til Monday. Even if you make some direct connections to keep yourself up & running, getting some replacement cable harnesses for the bad connections is probably a good idea.
I removed most of the connectors, and just butt spliced and heat shrinked them. No more problems with my Z axis.
Certainly one way to do it. Makes it a little more difficult to replace other components should they burn out or go bad, but not terribly so - just a bit inconvenient.
Considering that an intermittent steppermotor connection could take out the driver chip, it may prevent a component going bad.
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