So I have a typical low end K40 and have done a few upgrades such as better mirrors, smoke assist, better water pump, better power cord, and an inline duct fan for exhaust. I had this issue previously and the culprit was losing steps because I was running too fast. I ran these at 150mm which I wouldn’t think is too fast, and also whenever I lose steps it seems to always be right around the half way point of a project. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
I’m not really sure why this is happening. I’ve seen a number of people complain of this symptom but have never really seen a good cause established.
If you are willing to do some tests maybe we can figure out what is going on.
To start with do these couple of things and report back:
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Raster engrave a series of 5mm wide vertical lines going from top to bottom of the bed area. Do 4 lines spaced about 25 mm apart. Engrave each line separately at say 300mm/s. The goal here is to see if the shifting is occuring at the same point or if it varies.
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If the shifting is occuring at about the same spot, try manually moving the head, by hand, through the shifting area to see if you can feel any difference that may indicate a mechanical problem.
Let me know if you have any questions.
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Thank you for the suggestion, I will run those tests tomorrow 2/24/20
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Hi. I have had this problem on and off for a while. I bought a new belt from Amazon and it came with 2 new drive gears for the stepper motor. I replaced the belt but problem still occurred. What I noticed was the drive gear had crud in the teeth. I decided to replace it with one of the new drive gears. Unfortunately the stock gear has been pressed on. So my dilemma was how to remove. I took a bicycle chain splitter and modded it. I removed the stock gear and fitted the new one. The new ones have an Allen key grub screw. What I noticed straight away was that the movement left to right was so smooth. It seems to have cured my problem. If you can’t replace the gear try cleaning it out.
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I apologize, I’ve been super busy at work, should get the tests in tonight 2/27
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