I moved from a desktop to raspberry pi to avoid dust but I keep getting USB disconnects about 2-3 minuets into a cut. I have done all the troubleshooting I can think of and need some ideas where to go next.
It works great on laptop or desktop
I can run the full program if I am not actually cutting
I tried different ports and a new USB cable
I bought a new official PI power cable
Tried wired USB keyboard/mouse instead of wireless
Ran the Router and CNC controller off a completely different circuit from my house instead of the shop
Verified there are no USB power saving settings
Replaced the router brushes
Move the router power cable from being zip tied to the other cables to going straight up along side my dust collection (From a youtube video)
I’m going to try a UPS next, but I’m at a loss if that doesn’t work. Any other ideas?
I have found that the Rpi5 I use on my setup seems to get disconnected from the CNC when I have an active network connection open to it from my PC - so saving a file to the RPi or File Explorer window open to the Rpi. I have yet to really verify this is the case. But it seems whenever I have gotten a disconnect error while running a job, it’s when I was also trying to do a file operation over the wifi network connection.
My laptops get more disconnect when I have them hooked up to the power supply. My laptop will run for hours on battery alone. I think it because the laptop is grounded when hooked up to the power supply. I live in a humid environment, Deep East Texas, but during the winter when a Northerner blows through and we get high pressure the air dries out and touching light switches gives me a shock. When I lived in climates that freeze in the winter i got the same shocks. So depending on where you live try to mitigate static with good grounding of EVERYTHING. The router, the inside of dust collection and so on. The Makita/C3D router I think are only 2 wire electrical connectors so a grounding wire and screw will keep the case grounded on the routers. Even if you have the grounded plug on your router an extra ground will not hurt anything. Moving bit and moving air are a great environment to generate static. Let us know if you find a solution.
I worked on computers for 40 years. I never had a computer fail because of dust. I found computers with inches of fine dust inside. Theoretically it could short out something but never had one fail because of dust. Now accumulated dust does make computers heat up more because the dust becomes insulation. So if you are worried about dust inside a computer periodically open it up and blow it out. Just keep it plugged up so it is grounded so you dont generate static and damage sensative electronic components. Even in enterprise computer rooms there is a tremendous amount of dust blown around and under the raised computer room floors is filthy. So machines running 24/7 - 365 in my observation never failed because of dust. If using a desktop put a small piece of foam over the power supply fan to help block out dust. Just dont overly restrict the air flow. Heat is the enemy of electronic components.