z axis stall 236????

[Woodman]

This project messed up at about the 95% completion point. It ended up doing up a complete air carve at the end and I'm at a loss and a bit frustrated. The rollers were set up OK and for this to be snipe is unlikely because the tip of the router bit ended up being about a quarter of an inch above the wood. The router bit hit the bit plate twice before carving so I'm clueless. At least I didn't break any parts!!!! *G* Pete

[Ike]

This project messed up at about the 95% completion point. It ended up doing up a complete air carve at the end and I'm at a loss and a bit frustrated. The rollers were set up OK and for this to be snipe is unlikely because the tip of the router bit ended up being about a quarter of an inch above the wood. The router bit hit the bit plate twice before carving so I'm clueless. At least I didn't break any parts!!!! *G* Pete


Hate to say it, it looks like you need a new Y motor or new Z pack. With the power off try moving the carving head left to right. If it is jerky in motion the plastic gears may be full of saw dust or broke. Then you will need a new Y assembly. Check to see if you have the new Z pack too, you can tell if it has 4 screws in the back of it.

Might have the 2 backwards, call LHR and they will help you out. Hopefully you will only need to clean the gears.

Ike

[Woodman]

I'll call 'em monday afternoon after work. I hope it's something I can fix. I have the new z bundle. This is the third of fourth time this thing has snafu'd on a friday afternoon after five o'clock. You suppose it wants the weekend off?????? I'll let the forum know what happens. . . . Sheesh!!! I checked and there is a very slight catch on the extreme left hand side of travel with the z truck. Anybody know what "error 236" means? I see it posted for x, y & z motion related errors. Or at least I think that's the case. It'd be nice to know what the code numbers mean. I just got this thing back from LHR and have only carved two short projects since then. For a new owner this is an exercise in patience, I'm here to tell y'all!!! The wife's gittin' upset and that's not a good thing. . . . I keep saying that I'm gonna need to know how to fix this thing and keep it running so it's maybe a good thing that I'm having to be a mechanic now while the warrenty is still in effect. It seems that the people who have their machines running all the time seem to know pretty much just what to do when their machine screws up and that's from bitter experience I reckon? Learning curve, learning curve. . . Lord have mercy on my brain and give me patience!!!!!! Pete

[Woodman]

Just got off the phone with tech help and they say I need to send it in. They replaced several boards & sensors earlier this month and I figured they had solved the problems. My sensors all read properly according to tech help Phil. I guess we'll see what Houston says. . . I'll keep y'all posted. Pete

[bobi]

Just got off the phone with tech help and they say I need to send it in. They replaced several boards & sensors earlier this month and I figured they had solved the problems. My sensors all read properly according to tech help Phil. I guess we'll see what Houston says. . . I'll keep y'all posted. Pete

Yep, the Z-pack bundle needs replacing, the encoder is losing counts and so it reads OK if you move it up and down, but during operation the number of direction changes cause it to end up carving air, and then when you press stop, it crashes into the top stop, and throws the Z-Stall error.

[Woodman]

Thanks for explaining the situation to me so well! It made me feel a lot better about the situation! It's one thing to have the machine screw up and do stuff that seemingly makes absolutely NO SENSE AT ALL but it's quite another thing to have some kind soul tell you what's actually going on. . . my hat's off to ya! *VBS* That's just another GREAT thing about the folks in this forum. I'd have demanded a refund by now if it weren't for you folks. . .

[Woodman]

Here's what happened: I talked with LHR & they wanted to see my machine. I sent it with the following info: "Customer concerns: (1) Needs new z bundle due to loss of data (2) Needs new rail 2 dents on bottom & z truck catches. When they looked at it they saw: z truck fixed bearing not fully set, board sensor reading low, FFC cable pinched, y rail not smooth, base broken at right tie rod housing. The parts they used were: ztruck/spindle, quick change, FFC cable, turned y rail to smooth side, greased lead screws & guide post, lubed flex shaft core, bebuilt machine with new base. After making sure everything was as good as I could make it (head pressure, levelness, etc.) I did two cross cuts on a 12X1 inch of oak. I also did two different boards and measured them successfully. Everything OK so far. . .I then did a calibration offset and after going through the wood the bit hit the metal release plate on the sliding guide plate release lever! I stopped it needless to say but this has happened to me before and I believe we replaced the ztruck that time. Since this is the weekend (AS ALWAYS!) and Ike's been raising caine I haven't even tried to call them. I just wanted to see what you guys thought. One thing I did notice: the bit struck the bitplate three times instead of two. I stopped it, checked the bit and started it again. It struck the bit plate three time again and then screwed up as described above. I also took the top hat off to check things and there was moly all over the top of the spindle. Makes me wonder how they lubed the flex shaft core! So I am more than a little frustrated folks. . . . please advise me! Pete

[Woodman]

That should read "rebuilt" not "bebuilt".