My Pro + is acting strange. During a carve with everything going fine, the router moves unexpectedly to a new position
and continues carving, offset from where it is supposed to be. It does this in both X and Y.
It doesn't happen during carving every file but chances are that during one of the cuts, whether it be Roughing
or Cutout, etc it will ruin the job.
The first time it happened I was using the project center as X0 Y0 so I changed all tap files to use bottom left corner as X0 Y0.
It carved a few files o.k. then ruined the project by shifting to a new location during cutout.
I've had it happen a few times. It could be a power issue. Is it running on it's on circuit or do you have other things on it? Are you cutting near the limit of it's range of motion? Are you cutting too fast or too deep causing it to lose it's zero? I have experienced, when changing bits it had not returned to the proper zero and the 2nd cut would be off. I have never found a reason for it doing that one in particular and it is rare but has happened to me a few times.
one of the "Usual suspects" might be the tightness of the couplers on the x and y axis. if they are not tight, they can slip till they grab again.
the lead screws should have a flat where the coupler screw should be. I personally have replaced the set screws with cap screws of the same thread as they can be tightened a bit better using a larger wrench
Something to keep an eye on might be the temperature of the controller. Intermittent electronic problems can be heat related and the Shark controller does not have an active means of cooling the electronics inside (like a fan), so over time it will heat up. if it is getting too hot, you may get some intermittent glitches in the electronics. If the problem happens after the machine has been cutting for some time, I would check the temp of the control box to see it it is getting warm, if it is , try some active cooling.
Hi all!!!
I had this problem too. One of these guys told me about feed speed. Don't run too fast. I don't know if that was my problem but, I haven't had that problem again.
One thing to be sure of is that your tool paths don't run out of the cutting limits. Once the router or gantry runs into an end limit the coordinates will keep advancing as though it didn't. When the router returns it'll be off by the amount it went past the limit. This could easily fit the symptoms you describe. You should also check that nothing is blocking the router or gantry travel. On the Shark we use where I teach a student left a ruler under the bed against a linear rail. No one noticed it until the first job that expected the gantry to move forward past where it now bumped into the ruler. The fix? Remove the ruler.
I would agree with 4dThinker. That is exactly how I messed up a few pieces with results like you described. I knew I was pushing the limits of the capacity of the Shark but thought I could make it work. Turns out I was off on the Y by about 0.01 inches so when it hit the Y limit, the controller software kept advancing the Y even though the gantry was up against the stops. And then when it returned to the work field the Y was off by 0.01 and the project was hosed.
I would recommend that if you find this happening that you first find the travel limit of the gantry after setting XyZ to 0 by manually advancing the X and Y and noting the amount of plus and minus inches of travel. Then load the .tap file in something like wordpad and search for values that exceed the value of the gantry travel. It's even better if you can see at what point the toolpath is failing and then you have a hint at where to look at in the .tap file. Another place where I have run up against the limit issue is production runs where after finishing one piece I moved the gantry so I could mount another piece of wood in the jig. I ran the gantry to the end of the limits and the X or Y continued to advance so when I hit return to 0,0,0 it did not line up with the past piece and I had another piece of firewood.
If it's happening intermittently my first inclination would be that the problem is somewhere between the keyboard and the chair Heaven knows I've had my share of problems and the fireplace is well stocked with my mistakes. While I don't discount intermittent problems or failures, a majority of mechanical or electronic failures are catastrophic and easy to recononize. I've had my Shark now for 3 years and each time something happens I end up finding that the problem is staring back at me in the mirror.
Using the 2.0 controller, after you have loaded your TAP file the preview is interactive. Set your 0,0,0 position, then you can jog out to the limits of the tool path shown on the screen. Crossing green lines indicate where the bit should be. Watch the router move, and if you are approaching a hard end stop slow down and make sure you get all the way to the edge of where it wants to cut without hitting one. The one hardest to "guess" is the Y limits. The under-frame of the gantry will bump into the front and back vertical walls holding the t-track up.
The last thing to be wary of is static discharge this time of year. I've seen my Shark suddenly head off to a crash after discharging myself against a motor. I've seen the same thing happen on the other CNC I have when a spark jumped off my shop vac hose to the metal frame.
I had almost the identical problem you describe with my Pro Plus, except my Y and Z would suddenly shift by some amount. It was somewhat random as you describe, and I also ruined a few good pieces.
Finally, after checking set screw tightness, cable connections, speeds and feeds, and all the other usual suspects, I sent my control box back to NWA and asked them to check it out. Sure enough, they found that I had a bad circuit board (the main board, not the cheaper y-axis board!).
They replaced it, sent it back to me, and it's been working fine ever since. My machine is about 2-1/2 years old (out of warranty) so it cost me about $250 but it was worth it.
I used to be in aerospace engineering before I retired and if we had had this type of problem with one of our products, we would have done a complete "cause and corrective action" analysis to make sure it never happened again. In this case, I was just glad to get my controller back in one piece.
If you can live without your machine for two weeks, it might be worthwhile to send it back to NWA for troubleshooting.
Heaven knows I've had my share of problems and the fireplace is well stocked with my mistakes. While I don't discount intermittent problems or failures, a majority of mechanical or electronic failures are catastrophic and easy to recononize. I've had my Shark now for 3 years and each time something happens I end up finding that the problem is staring back at me in the mirror.