This has happened two or three times now. Everything is fine when I run simulate in CAM and it shows up fine in the window on mach 3.
I run the program, and at some point it decides to go off center with some part of it. In this case, the outer square was cut off center. The image was originally perfectly centered in the square.
My machine didn’t lose track of zero on X/Y either. It was in the correct spot when I told it to return to zero.
You have me stumped. Every scenario I can come up with involves losing it’s coordinates. Like a dragging tip, too much friction on a lead screw, motor
I guess in a way it did lose its coordinates somewhat…
When I restarted the cut as a dry run torch off, it wasn’t aligned with the initial cutout. So I guess the entire cut was off when I tried to restart it.
But why would it suddenly do this 3/4 of the way into a cut that was going perfectly fine? I watched the entire thing.
@BrooklynBravest Sorry to hear about your issue. Do you know if you have any other programs running in the background while cutting? Mach3 really does not like background programs running. Also was the cut off in both axes or just one?
Nothing else running. Mach is the only program actually installed on this laptop.
It was only off in One direction.
Which axis was off? Do you notice any binding of the system along that axis when jogging or cutting?
Can you also try and run that program a few times with the torch cable unplugged and see if you can replicate the issue?
So to follow up on this,
It happened again today. Costing me yet another $25 in material and wasted time.
I loaded my program, cut the first one which came out great. Loaded the next piece, all was going well until the bottom half where it just decided it hates me and doesn’t follow whats on the screen in Mach.
Against my better judgement I closed mach, reloaded it and the program and ran it again. Went haywire at relatively same spot.
The image in mach comes up just fine. It appears to be cutting right in the jog follow but in application it is off its mark.
This is really getting frustrating. It appears only the Y axis is off.
Did you ever see any indication that the Y axis was missing steps during the rapid move between cuts? When it misses steps it will make a high pitched and very audible stalling noise.
Have you ever had Y axis binding when jogging? It’s very strange that this issue isn’t presenting itself during a cut. Seems like it only happens in the rapid moves between cuts.
Edit: Giving this more thought, i believe the likely culprit is mechanical binding between the Y axis lead screw and lead nut. The fact that it happens only during a rapid move leads me to believe that it is speed sensitive. Stepper motors have the least amount of torque at higher RPM, which means excessive friction becomes more challenging to overcome at higher speeds. We are going to send you a new lead screw and lead nut for the Y axis.
Possibly same issue I had with the y axis leadscrew binding. I would lube the crap out of the y axis lead screw and see if that helps. If not dry it completely and run the break in program repeatedly and see if it stalls in a certain spot. Pull the leadnut off the gantry and hold it in your hand as you jog the y axis and feel if you have binding in certain spots.
Thank you Daniel, very kind of you.
From what I’ve seen on the forum you guys provide customer service second to none. Hopefully this resolves the issue!
Side note, regarding the high speed movements. Would it help if I turned travel speed between cuts down?
Also, of the two out of three cuts it messed up, one was toward the bottom of the Y axis and the other was in the center of the table.
Just an update.
Langmuir was kind enough to send me a new Y axis screw and it seems to have resolved the issue.
I cleaned both lead screws as well and oiled the tubes lightly as well.
