All was going great cutting some polystyrene foam when I noticed small change in the X-Axis alignment of a pocket. I went to pause the job to investigate and before I could hit pause I could hear the machine locking up. So did an e-stop and powered it all down.
Restarted and tried to reinitialize the machine. Z & Y axis work fine. But the X-axis stepper motor just grumbles loudly and won’t or can’t move. I take the sound of it trying to move means the control signal is likely fine…
I powered it all off again and tried to slowly move the X-Axis, but it will not budge at all in either direction. (Meanwhile, the other two axis are able to be moved manually.)
I’d guess the stepper motor failed internally, but any troubleshooting steps I can do to confirm?
Edit, update 1: I removed the motor and the gearing could use a cleaning, but even without the motor, the assembly will not move left to right at all… So, I disassemble down to the bearings and the top ones can move with my fingers, but the lower ones are absolutely frozen. I gently persuade them a bit and, with both hands holding them, the bearings will slide back n forth with serious effort.
So, guessing I need new X-axis bearings?
Edit Update 2: Nope! No new bearings needed (yet). I added more oil and just kept sliding them all back n forth until all of them could be moved with the flick of a finger. Reassembled, reinitialized, and working great!