I’ve had the Xcontroller since day 1 and love it. Didn’t need to touch a thing on the boards, no pot adjustment, nada.
Its not assembled, but you basically insert the PS, add the boards, connect jumpers for pause and estop. No soldering.
Keel in mind, if you’ve already got the gshield, both Y are combined and you’ll need to run a new wire to one of the Y, so get stepper cable when you buy it. I got a 20 ft length.
Phil,
I’ve got one on order. (3 weeks out). I was told that they now come fully assembled.
That’s even better. Although the assembly took me less that 30 minutes.
One note, the stock fan on the thing sounds like a wounded shop-vac, at least the early models. I replaced with a 40mm nactua (sp) off amazon. …
Had the same problem on mine, from the original pre-order batch. I noticed on mine that the fan blades suck out from the fan housing ever so slightly so they hit against the case grill. As its set on a spring you can push it back in but it bounces back out again. I more or less fixed it with some extra washers in between the fan and the aluminum box.
Other than that it was supper easy to assemble. So far no electrical gremlins or controller issues. I do wish there were a few modifications, like either another usb port or the port was on the back and i wish there was an alternate location for the E-Stop. If it was in the front you could mount it inside a cabinet with just the buttons facing out but that’s just my preference to get it off the top worksurface.
What issues are you having with the stock electronics ?
it’s most likely still due to a noise issue or a soldering connection. What did you use for noise suppression?
You can’t just use capacitors, look at this thread, there is also a link to the filter circuit if you would like to build it yourself. Whoever told you to use only .47uf capacitors without adding a resistor to the circuit was greatly mistaken and you can do damage to your boards. If it’s a soldering issue this board will work for you as well for all your connections. but being that you seem to know how to solder a circuit, take a look at the circuit and if comfortable you can make your own and save a few bucks from buying one. But in my opinion upgrading to a X-controller will not fix your issue as it uses the same electronics just a few upgraded chips and frills in a proprietary board.
Hope this helps,
Brian
The arduino doesn’t have a strong enough resistor for what you’re trying to accomplish. Use a 100nf and some 680 and 10k resistors and you will be up and running in no time. I’ve proven it with many machines, up to about 40 sold (all worked) and however many have made their own. try it out you have nothing to lose here is the circuit for each axis. didn’t read anything about the noise suppression circuit built in now, but that’s good new if true, but still to pricey for my taste, maybe if it was available as an option instead of the regular boards before ordering, but hey early adoption comes at a cost. here is the circuit. Cause seems like one of your caps gave out and your getting a false signal from noise again.
Brian
My best guess would be one of your caps gave out and you’re getting noise again on that line. I don’t believe it’s a short only because if it was a short causing the issue the caps you installed wouldn’t of made a difference for the two weeks they did and it is cheaper more that a third cheaper than purchasing a X-controller. What I can offer you is if it doesn’t fix your issues I’ll be glad to have you return it and I will refund it minus and shipping charges.
Brian
The reason you go back to 0/0/0 when you unplug the Gshield is because your motors are connected to your gshield so when you disconnect there is no noise. I use several resistors and caps to filter the noise from each motor and your power supply. I’m a big believer in it won’t matter what causes the noise if you filter out all of it 
And everything you’ve told me points to noise, so either filter it correctly or use the g28 feature instead of homing.
All you would do is put your starting point where you want it, type in G28.1 and that will be your starting point every time you type G28. It won’t enable you to use limit switches but you will always be able to find your original 0 until you get a filter so you can home your machine. Remember the 5 pin header is nothing more than a connecter to the pins below if there not soldered to each other and they don’t look to be in the picture it should not be an issue just a coincidence it happen at the same time.
Saw your post on the other page about the filter board, just so you’re aware the limit board does have a easy connect for the probe and pwm as well. The only thing extra on the x-controller is the nice case, a $5 e-stop and better controller chips than the gShield and not so sure it has a noise filter built in. Just making sure your info is correct. Happy carving
I sold my power supply, arduino, shield, etc after the XController arrived. Got back $100 toward the XController.
Would it be possible to double up on the Y axis and use the extra output for a 4th axis?
I suspect you could, but then you’re back in the mode of trying to mess with the Y axis potentiometer to make sure you don’t miss steps, except now you have to disassemble the case to get to the pots.
Sacrificing the stability of the Y axis current, which you use ALL the time, to get a 4th axis, which you probably wouldn’t use all the time, doesn’t seem worth it to me…
You’re probably better off just finding an Arduino shield, or building your own, to support the 4th axis that still speaks the same GRBL (if that’s even possible).
Beats me… If I had to guess, I’d say no, since if it did someone would have already built one.
My xcontroller had issue with USB port. It wasn’t stable and carve would stop half way through. Replaced USB port and have not had an issue since. It was simple plug and play. I had one that had to be assembled, so i knew how to change it out.
It’s been discussed before when the XController was unveiled.
my had a loud fan but i replace with a better fan.
everthing work very good.
I just added some more washer to pull fan away from housing. Definitely not as loud.
