Z axis binding?

Snapmaker 2.0
1

After waiting 13 or so months my 2.0 showed up in October. I set it up, did some laser prints and everything seemed fine. Laser worked great, modules moved smoothly, the kids were excited about being able to laser cut random pictures out. It seemed my investment was worth while.

Then I got a promotion at work, and the end of semester stuff happened at college, and the holidays hit so I had to take about a break from extra curricular stuff like Snapmaker and focus on real life to try to finish out the train wreck that was 2020.

Today I had some time, so I swapped the laser module to the 3d printed head and fired my a350 up. When I went to calibrate something seemed off. Real off. The Z axis would go all the way up, with some weird jerking movements, then it only goes half way down, and makes some weird binding noise and the X axis hops all over the place some more.

What is this about??? Not really sure how things can go from being awesome to busted without me even using it.

Video is below.

2

dear god

what the hell

i think this ones gonna need support something obviously went bad… if it was working before

i would say maybe something was connected to the wrong spot but if it worked before…

Maybe try to remove the X axis from the z modules and let the two pillars move

see if one is acting way faster than the other? maybe one is getting bound up

maybe it got knocked out of wack and they are not evenly elevated?

but support@snapmaker.com is who its gona have to be if its anything beyond that i think.

please keep us posted.

every damn day this forum never ceases to amaze me with the wild shit this thing does.

3

im wondering if the one on the left is not moving at all so the right one is trying to go and its kinda wiggling it downwards, and when the module isnt able to move the stepper shuts down from some kinda overtorque protection (via current monitoring) and springs back up to match the other one based on the connection tot he module, then tries again.

i could def see an oversight in the firmware in how to react in that situation since its not supposted to happen.

when you take x off youll be able to see that real easy

there could be something with the leadscrew being stuck or maybe however its attached to the stepper came loose

but that will need supports blessing to open up.

i guess id also make sure that the connectors on the z axis splitter are firmly inserted… maybe one fell out.

4

In my case

I don’t know if this will help.

If there is a period of time when the unit will not be moved for a while, I move the XYZ axis once by hand to the forward end before turning it on.

After that, turn on the power and do homing to avoid some bumps.

My A250 has variations in all six linear modules, so bumps can occur in any combination of linear modules, like the Y and Z axes.

This is because one signal is directed to two linear modules, and it stops when one of the linear modules pushes the limit switch at the forward end.

If both maintain the limit switch information at the forward end, they can homing align every time, but even if only one side is off, they will still be able to homing.

So I do the initial homing after moving it by hand before turning it on.
My A250 bumps so much when I increase the movement speed that the CNC breaks the end mill.

I’ve given up looking for a solution.
This is because it is structurally impossible.

In order to solve this problem, the two linear modules need to have “nearly identical” forward and backward ends, ball screw backlash, and travel distance dimensions.

Here is a video of me homing a linear module with extreme misalignment.
I’m sure this will convince you.

Snapmaker support, can you please give me a hand when I give up?

Snapmaker support, do you still have a suggestion for me when I give up?

5

Have you actually emailed support? They should send you new modules in this case. They have done so for other people.

6

This morning I double checked the cables and everything is seated properly. I was hoping that was the fix, unfortunately it wasn’t.

After that I did try removing the X axis off the Z axis, and it appears one of the linear modules is bad.

When I powered it down, and rebooted with the X off, looking at from the front the right side moves up and down smooth (the one the keeps hopping up and down in the video), the right side is dead in the water.

When the power was off I tried manually moving the dead one and it’s really stiff and requires a lot more force to move than the side that works. I guess I’ll put my making on hiatus for a while and wait for support@snapmaker.com to respond. :slight_smile:

I’ve worked with Rockwell Automation stuff for 15 years and this doesn’t surprise me, because I’ve seen weirder stuff happen.

7

That’s really strange. I haven’t tried the CNC portion of this machine yet, and honestly that’s one of the main reasons why I bought this so I could test out if I wanted to buy a bigger unit for my shop or not. I hope that this isn’t an ongoing issue.

8

I hope they get back to you quickly and get one shipped.

chinese new years rapidly approaches.

make sure to include your address, order number/backer number with the email in order to help skip a step of back and forth.