@Brasch, to elaborate on @LiamN’s idea, one way to test that hypothesis would be to:
With the machine turned off, manually (and very slowly) bring the gantry all the way to the front plates, hold it there making sure both the left and right side contact the front plates, then turn on the machine, and initialize.
then do the same “forced skip” procedure you describe
power off the machine
again manually (and very slowly) bring the gantry back all the way to the front plates, hold it there making sure both the left and right side contact the front plates, then turn on the machine, and initialize.
Is there zero still off then ? If it isn’t, Liam’s guess is probably the right one
The far left side is way off, I shit down, slid it forward to contact the front, restarted to get the home process and the zero was dead on, but the left side is still off, but now closer than the right side which looks to be pretty consistent , see below
Which I guess means that the squaring of your machine is not as good as it could be. When you did the squaring part during assembly, did you already have a gap on either the left or right side, when the gantry is pulled to the front ?
No it is square when pulled forward, its like the steppers seem to be running at different rates?
How can I recheck the square process, I need to find the setup videos I guess to start
Diagnostics are pointing us toward possible culprits.
So, if the machine is square when all the way forward but when you jog it to the back it is no longer square, that suggests that the two Y belts have unequal tension, see this post for more info. The belts tension by being stretched so unequal tension would mean unequal steps / mm which would mean the machine could only be square at one Y position.
I’d suggest checking the tension of both Y belts, if they’re the same and you still have the problem, it may be that one is starting to fail, replace both if so.
After cutting, filing and shimming the ends of my X beam straight I found that there is more than enough slack in the V wheels to start up off square, I always gently push my X beam into the rear stops before powering up (on my machine this does not over-compress the homing switch) which gives me a consistent X-Y angle and consistent positioning. I still have a repeatability problem on one of the homing switches and as soon as there is stock at Robotshop I’ll try the inductive ones instead.
Well, the belts seemed to be right based on using this same article in the past. But I reset them, or at least tried to, now the ends just slip off the “clamps” no matter what we do to try and keep them in one place. The tension works, then the belt just slips back to the last location, and if we move the belts to “new” non memory locations they slip thru the clamp. So now I am really DOWN. Where can I get new belts ASAP? They are not on the Carbide site? Are they 15mm on the PRO??
Thanks to the amazing service of carbide we are back up and running, I did run the belts a bit different, even the new ones seem to slip some, this approach I’ve used on other machines and it keeps the tension just right with no slipping. We ran a test I know foam, and the rails are now dead even! Thanks all… now back to aluminum cutting!
That picture of the belt clamps doesn’t look right. My SO3XL has the belt approach flat to the aluminium, climb through the clamp and turn back under - so 2-3" of belt teeth are meshed together. Don’t know if the 4/PRO is different in this regard, but I can’t see the arrangement you have working
Its not how they say to install, but even the new belt slipped some if you put any tension on it, this way it locks in tight and the belts do not slide in the clamp. And no issues in the function so win win… I did calibration test cuts and zero sets and it is back to where it was when I got the Pro all setup.
If you tug on your belts a but by hand watch the clamp area, I bet you can see it slip and loose tension, it has bugged me since the start, they need a better setup that can be tensioned and hold tight IMHO.
Sounds like your belt clips might be a bit funky, they’re meant to pinch the belt tooth to tooth under the clamp once tightened up I believe. I’ve had mine slip whilst initially tightening the clamps but not once done up.
I bet if you tug a bit on them they will slip, might be some funky early Pro versions, but you can see if slip just a bit at a time, original belts, after use, and new ones… So this seems to have fixed it, I will see after hours of cutting I guess. I will let everyone know
What’s funny is my machine is less than a month old and I’m having the same problem with the belts slipping out. Trying to get enough tension on them is really hard because by the time I try to tighten them up they start slipping back out. I wish carbide would switch to a tension knob and have the belts run through the end plates. That concept has become super common on 3d printers and it works much better at dialing in tension
Try the way I ran the belts, you also can use a small pry bar to get even pressure on the clamp to get the bolt started, you will be surprised, I am so far loving it, I have pushed the machine faster and it has less issues so far. Tomorrow I need to run some production aluminum so I can compare to past runs and see if I can push it harder.
I own a business that makes custom parts and interiors for old Porsche and other custom cars. The Picts on Reddit are of a new key surround we are testing on my 1972 911. You can see our parts and interiors here Http://achtungKraft.com
