X-carve x-axis and y-axis problem

X-Carve Troubleshooting
1

Hello everyone.

I have a problem with my x-carve electronics.
I’m using CNC- shield instead of grbl shield.
I instaled the easel driver on my comp and uploaded the
Grbl v0.9j Atmega328p 16mhz 115200baud with generic defaults on my arduino.
Connected the power source, connected the x and the z motor (i didnt recieve the others yet).
The Z motor works well, but the X motor spins fast like it’s ment for the threaded rod instead for the belt.
It makes so many turns that would spin the x axis for meters.

Any ideas?

THX

2

@Aleksander

Check your micro-stepping on the CNC board and the steps/mm settings in grbl ($100,$101).

3

If i change that in gcode sender, will it be changed in arduino or i have to change it easel too?

4

@Aleksander

The $100 and $101 settings are in grbl and reside on the Arduino. You only have to change them on the Arduino.

All the programs that send G-code will benefit from the change.

5

Larry,

thank you verry verry much for your answer, it helped me a lot.
I dont know why the default value is set to 250 steps/mm if it’s ment for x-carve.
I also found in one of your posts that the value is set to 40 steps/mm and on the first look (my steppers and cnc shield still on my desk) should be a good value before final calibrating.

Thx again.

Alex

6

@Aleksander

There are several “forks” of the grbl project. Mostly the differences are for tuning to a specific machine. My guess is that the version/flavor of grbl that is in your Arduino did not come from the Inventables fork of grbl as the defaults in that fork are correct for the X-carve.

7

Hello again.

I mounted a motor on the x axis just for testing and i tuned the settings to get the right step/mm movement in the universal g code sender.

It turned like this:

$0=10 (step pulse, usec)
$1=25 (step idle delay, msec)
$2=0 (step port invert mask:00000000)
$3=0 (dir port invert mask:00000000)
$4=0 (step enable invert, bool)
$5=0 (limit pins invert, bool)
$6=0 (probe pin invert, bool)
$10=3 (status report mask:00000011)
$11=0.010 (junction deviation, mm)
$12=0.002 (arc tolerance, mm)
$13=0 (report inches, bool)
$20=0 (soft limits, bool)
$21=0 (hard limits, bool)
$22=0 (homing cycle, bool)
$23=0 (homing dir invert mask:00000000)
$24=25.000 (homing feed, mm/min)
$25=500.000 (homing seek, mm/min)
$26=250 (homing debounce, msec)
$27=1.000 (homing pull-off, mm)
$100=10.150 (x, step/mm)
$101=10.150 (y, step/mm)
$102=160.000 (z, step/mm)
$110=500.000 (x max rate, mm/min)
$111=500.000 (y max rate, mm/min)
$112=500.000 (z max rate, mm/min)
$120=10.000 (x accel, mm/sec^2)
$121=10.000 (y accel, mm/sec^2)
$122=10.000 (z accel, mm/sec^2)
$130=790.000 (x max travel, mm)
$131=790.000 (y max travel, mm)
$132=200.000 (z max travel, mm)

the settings with the half step jumpers are:
$100=10.150 (x, step/mm)
$101=10.150 (y, step/mm)
that looks verry low which results in verry slow speed in movement.

Do u know what am i doin wrong?

Thx for your answer.

8

@Aleksander

It looks like you have some bad values in there.

Here are the defaults for the X-carve 500. The X-carve 1000 is only different in $130 and $131. They are 790.000 for the 1000

10

Hey Alexander,

I am having the same problem.
Below are the values that i use and the machine is very very slow.

$100=5.000 (x, step/mm)
$101=5.000 (y, step/mm)

I was hoping if you found any solution.

Thanks in advance.

11

Hey.

What kind of controller do u use? (grblshield, cnc shield)
On my CNC shield i used 1/4 step (middle jumper hi), i had to raise st/mm four times.
You have to play with other settings too to get the right speed and values.
I will check my settings and i can post them if u want.

12

Hello,

I am using cnc shield with A4988 drivers.

After you used 1/4 steps and increased the $100 and $101 4 times , did your machine speed increased?

i am a real NOOB here. Please let me know how to set 1/4 stepping. and if you can post your settings that would be nice.

Thanks.

13

Hello,

i’m realy sorry for my delay, i’m verry busy these days.
I dont know if A4988 drivers are strong enough to drive the nema 23.
You can find the step settings here; Protoneer blog

My settings look like this:

$0=10 (step pulse, usec)
$1=25 (step idle delay, msec)
$2=0 (step port invert mask:00000000)
$3=0 (dir port invert mask:00000000)
$4=0 (step enable invert, bool)
$5=0 (limit pins invert, bool)
$6=0 (probe pin invert, bool)
$10=3 (status report mask:00000011)
$11=0.010 (junction deviation, mm)
$12=0.002 (arc tolerance, mm)
$13=0 (report inches, bool)
$20=0 (soft limits, bool)
$21=0 (hard limits, bool)
$22=0 (homing cycle, bool)
$23=0 (homing dir invert mask:00000000)
$24=25.000 (homing feed, mm/min)
$25=5000.000 (homing seek, mm/min)
$26=250 (homing debounce, msec)
$27=1.000 (homing pull-off, mm)
$100=20.000 (x, step/mm)
$101=20.000 (y, step/mm)
$102=160.000 (z, step/mm)
$110=7000.000 (x max rate, mm/min)
$111=7000.000 (y max rate, mm/min)
$112=1000.000 (z max rate, mm/min)
$120=200.000 (x accel, mm/sec^2)
$121=200.000 (y accel, mm/sec^2)
$122=25.000 (z accel, mm/sec^2)
$130=200.000 (x max travel, mm)
$131=200.000 (y max travel, mm)
$132=200.000 (z max travel, mm)

Hope this helps.

14

Thanks man.

But i did found the reason why the motion was slow , values for $100 and $101 were very less.
Now its fine.

I followed the instructions to set 1/4 micro-stepping , but after using the jumper wire my PC is not recognizing the arduino. Can u help?

As with full step , stepper vibrate so the whole cnc vibrates. That aint good.

15

Hi.

The microstepping adjustment shouldn’t break the arduino connectivity.
Take off the cnc shield from the arduino and try to connect it to your PC.
When connecting check the ports, sometimes it changes and u have to select the right one.
The 1/4 microstepping is ok, i’m using it on my homemade x-carve and it works good.