I have an issue with my Shapeoko 4 and would like to see if I can be pointed in the right direction to get it working again.
I create the file on carbide, set the machine, and the job starts fine, but sometimes, it randomly loses its marbles, plunges the tool to the point where it will bottom it out, and continues the job, ruining the waste boards and even cutting into the chassis. Sometimes, if I reset the machine and rerun, it will cut fine for a while.
Sometimes, it stops moving and makes an odd noise, almost as if it is stuck; if I jiggle the cables on top of the Z-axis motor, it will work. I checked to ensure everything was tight, but this occurs relatively often. I was running some orders on it last night and had the runaway issue cutting right through the board, the Z-axis plunges right to the bottom. It’s an issue with the connectors themselves, as I see the red and ground cables bulging out on two of them.
Another issue that I don’t know is related. I have a hard time getting thin media to cut through. I have to set the media thickness to 4mm larger to get it to cut through, and sometimes, with the same settings used for the job previously, I have to increase it by 1mm to cut through. I have a bit-setter and bit-zero, so I don’t know if I am doing something wrong or if the Z-axis issue is not helping.
I was thinking of just cutting off the connectors and soldering them.
Yea its lubricated and I gone through the cofiguration mutiple times. When it gets stuck jiggling the cables gets it going again which is why I think its related to that. I will check setting the origin to the on the surface of the MDF.
Yeah that sounds like a bad wiring harness connector making intermittent contact. You can try securing the Z-axis motor connector to something solid & protected from being strained. Some people have had success to zip-tie the two sides together.
My Z-axis on my SPROXXL was fine for months until one day while doing a repetitious job run I was getting some rougher looking carves & a couple of failed ones. Checked my Z-axis motor connector & sure enough it was not providing a solid, steady connection - just good enough not to seem like a problem most of the time.
I have yet to put a new connector on that as I decided just to hardwire the motor to the wiring harness to eliminate the problem.
Hey Vecink, I just installed a HDZ and a VFD on my S4 (love the VFD btw!). Everything seemed fine so I started a test job. Things were doing good but the top side of the piece was off (i.e. the cut wasn’t the correct depth). When I flip the stock to run the bottom side the z-axis started acting up…stuttering and not moving. Like you, I started looking a the connections etc, then noticed the the z-axis home sensor wasn’t tight and had moved. The was causing the z-axis to bottom out and then the motor started making all sorts of wierd noises and not move. I turned the machine off while I readjusted the homing sensor. After that it’s been good. Ran the job again and it came out perfect! Not sure if this is your issue, but something to check. Good luck!
-DRW
Not sure if this is your issue, but something to check. Good luck!