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I’ve had my 1m machine for about 3 months now, and for the most part the learning curve has gone very well. a few problems with a “loose nut behind the wheel”, but a great piece of gear.
one thing i noticed on the 2nd or third carve was that the controller saw erratic behavior from the Z-Probe. it would say the puck was making contact with the bit when it wasn’t, and vice versa. I could wiggle the connector at the carriage and it would straighten itself out at first.
it got progressively worse, to the point where i unscrewed the black cover over the solder connections (on the detach side) and fiddled with them until it worked, but try as i might, it gets screwy when i try putting the cover back on.
so i have been VERY CAREFULLY plugging it in, and removing it by the bare contacts, but i know that it is not going to last forever.
considered re-installing it using a 1/4" phono male and female, or something of the like…
Am i the only one?
also, the puck isn’t flat… so i have an “x” marked on it so i know my Z zero is consistent
The plug has a fail safe short, so if it fails it shorts. The xcontroller thinks it has contact. Double check that it is plugged in solid. If you have a dmm you can test this.
I have not had mine fail in the way that it falsely indicates contact, but on more than one occasion I’ve had it fail to detect contact (despite everything being hooked up correctly), at which point it just keeps driving the bit down into the contact plate. Fortunately I’ve noticed and stopped it before it really ruined anything, but it’s just a matter of time.
I’m betting it’s the barrel connector so far, because both the tip and ring contacts inside of that are concerningly loose - I just haven’t gotten around to replacing it yet.
On one hand, it would be nice if any replacement solution would fit in the same counterbored mounting hole as the original. On the other hand, coming up with an alternative mounting bracket seems like a fair price to pay to be able to have a connection you can trust.
That, and there’s just something satisfying about connecting a good old fashioned phono plug, so that’s an added bonus
I’m having issues with the Z-probe. New out of the box though, it doesnt wait till I’ve made contact to go green and register contact made.
It does it straight away.
Did you change the plug and it solved issues? Pull plug apart and check connectivity???
I’m adding my voice to this. The z-probe is an unreliable mess. Wastes more time than it’s worth. Has there been any official response to these complaints?
It won’t register as being plugged in or it’ll think the plate is touching the bit when it’s not or it won’t detect the plate when it needs to and I’ll have to manually stop it. It’s just totally intermittent. There hasn’t been any undue stress on the jack or cable and the probe attachment seems fine…
One way to confirm if the issue is with the jack is to connect the touch plate wiring directly to the X Controller instead of using the plug. I don’t know how long the wiring is for the X Carve version of the Z probe but here is a simple way to test things out.
Get two pieces of wire 3 to 6 feet long depending on the location of your X Controller.
Disconnect the wiring for the probe jack from the back of the X Controller and connect one end of the test wires in it’s place. Red Arrows in the below image.
In Easel, go to the Machine Inspector and with the test wires not touching observe that the Probe Status Light is NOT Green.
Touch the two ends of the test wires together and verify that the Probe Status DOES turn Green.
If that works correctly then go through the procedure to zero your z axis with the test wires still in place. When the bit starts moving down, touch the two ends of the test wires together to simulate the bit touching the touch plate.
Repeat step 5 a couple of times to confirm that the bit only stops when you touch the wires together.
If all is well up to this point, remove the test wires and reconnect the wires that go to your jack on the gantry and try again. If it starts acting up then you have a intermittent short in the wiring, the jack on the gantry, or the plug itself.
