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I searched through the posts and haven’t found someone with the same issue yet. I just finished the assembly on Friday. I believe that I have a firmware, grbl settings, or hardware issue with the Xcontroller. The X and Y axis’s are working properly but the Z stepper makes a very quiet noise with no movement. Troubleshooting so far:
Loosened the belt to make sure it wasn’t too tight, loosened the plastic nut to give it a little play, still nothing.
Double and tripple checked the wiring to include continuity testing both across the cable (all good) and across different wires in the cable (all open).
Easiest way to narrow it down was to then just plug a different stepper into that output port, so I plugged the z into the x and x into the z. The x stepper made the same quiet noise with no movement and the z axis worked.
Made sure I had the most recent Easel and Firmware on the Xcontroller then disassembled and reassembled the controller to make sure I had everything plugged in properly.
None of these steps have resolved the issue so I wanted to put it out here before I have to call tech support. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate any advice. Thank you.
These are the settings I pulled off the xcontroller:
Check the current limit setting on the Z axis. It is most likely set the same as the X and Y. If that’s the case then you probably have a bad driver chip on the Z axis.
LarryM, the current limit setting I’m guessing you’re talking about the potentiometer next to the dip switches? All 3 are in the same position according to the instructions. The dip switches are in the 1/2 step and active (1:off 2:on 3:off 4:on). I’m guessing maybe I just got a lemon. I visually inspected the board and haven’t found any bad solder joints and did a few continuity tests but I was hoping to spend more time this weekend focusing on cad and cam then figuring out how this board is set up. Unless there is something else I guess I’ll just call Inventables tomorrow. I’m guessing all the back ordering has just put a strain on their QA. I already had to repair their power harness (had a bad crimp on the Y connector to the E-stop).
I think you got a bad driver chip on the Z axis. Call Inventables.
When you get your replacement, it would be a good idea to change switch 4 on all axes to off. That will defeat the torque reduction circuit which has caused some difficulties for some X-carve owners.
Well, Inventables was nice enough to overnight another board and now my problem has moved from the z-axis to the Y2-axis. Maybe I can get them to test a card before they ship it to me.
