I was doing some maintenance on my Shapeoko 4 XXL and came across some strange noises when the machine moves in specific directions and at specific spots.
At first, I thought it might be a loose screw or maybe some part vibrating, but after checking everything carefully, I couldn’t find the source of the problem.
I’ve uploaded two short videos showing the issue, one when moving the X axis to the right, and another when moving the Y axis forward,hoping someone might be able to guide me on how to fix this.
Really difficult to hear anything abnormal in your video without knowing exactly what to listen for - the microphone picks up the stepper motors clearly the most. What I did notice was how your cabling is being flexed in/out of the cable guides as the machine moves around. This is generally not good. The harness connectors are notorious for giving problems when allowed to be flexed/vibrated by the machine operation. Securing the cables properly, especially the connectors to the stepper motors so they maintain solid connections & are not flexed/strained in any way is good practice in keeping your machine running reliably. Nothing worse than random lost steps in the middle of a job run.
If you ever hear the stepper motors stutter or ‘grind’, it usually means the motor connections are poor. Setting a X/Y zero point, jogging the machine around, then sending it back to zero is a good way to check for loss of steps. If you really want to test the motor connectors, gently flex/fiddle with them while jogging the machine - stutters/grinding will usually happen if the connector is not providing a solid connection.
Hard to tell what we are supposed to hear over the stepper motors. What is not right is your wiring harness moving in and out of the drag chain on X axis, this can lead to disconnects etc on the machine.
Thanks for your comment! I took the opportunity to try fixing the issue the best I could using some zip ties. Now there’s only minimal movement in that area. I suppose there has to be a bit of motion anyway since it moves from side to side. I also secured the spindle cable to prevent it from bumping into the hose as much.
However, those small sounds are still there. They’re more noticeable on the X-axis, and there’s definitely something going on that I’d like to understand better.
The wiring harness should not be moving in and out of the drag chain. The harness should have enough slack where it comes out and connects to the stepper motor, router/spindle etc. It should be secured where it exits at the router position. It should have sufficient slack as it’s routed thru the drag chain until it exits the drag chain where it should be secured again. At least that is how I have mine setup and I have no issues with it.
Yes, but you need to understand why the harness is physically moving in and out of the drag chain first. A strain on the harness as Chaotica mentioned in his reply could cause issues.
