Finally got my ShapeOko going again.

CAD & CAM Tool Chain ChiliPeppr
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Finally got my ShapeOko going again. I upgraded from GRBL 0.9a to 0.9i, which meant I needed to do a bit of rewiring inside my control box to swap D11 and D12. I took the opportunity to clean up all my wiring so it’s a little more movable and safer. Since I was last running CP probe support has been added, so I wired in a touch probe too.

Good News:

  • Using a touch probe inside CP is super easy.
  • Everything mostly works after reassembly
    Bad News:
  • Spindle enable commands don’t seem to work for me (yet)
  • Skipped steps on Y axis

So I air-printed the CP sample a couple of times, and it looked OK. When I ran it for real, it ended up skipping steps on Y. I did not have the spindle cranked wide open, it was around 66% so I may have not been spinning the mill fast enough. And it only shows up on Y because that’s got the longest movements. (?) Or I need to increase the current on my Y stepper. Anyhow, Success!! It’s so nice to come back and see all the new features in CP.

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I faced similar problem with a 3D printer motors some time ago. I found it was related to stepper motor drivers overheat resulted to temporarily cutting current and loosing steps.

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There’s a fine line between not enough current (stalled motor) and too much current (thermal shutdown). I ended up adjusting the trimmer potentiometer on the stepper driver while doing long G0 seeks.

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There is a reference voltage pin on each driver which allows to regulate voltage. According to my printer manual correct Vref is 0.9V and I used a multimeter connected between Vref pin and GND to set the right value (0.9V on the multimeter) with a potentiometer, as @Gordon_Broom ​ mentioned above. Additionally I added small heatsink on each driver. No thermal shutdown issues since then. Some people install extra fan in order to cool down electronic board, but I don’t have it.