Z Axis Issues

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BillConroy
Posts: 12
Joined: Tue Sep 01, 2020 7:42 pm

Re: Z Axis Issues

Post by BillConroy »

Have any of you opened the controller box shipping with the SD510?

markjonesranger
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:47 pm
Location: Ozark Mo
Contact:

Re: Z Axis Issues

Post by markjonesranger »

I have the Shark HD510. It has preformed very well over the past 1.2 years with a couple hundred projects being created with it. I called for the first time tech support yesterday morning. It was making a grinding sound and was loosing it's z height and would not respond to z up and down controls. Pendant would show it going up and down but the z never changed or made any noise. A reboot would often bring the z back on line. They had me silicon the z bearings with spray and that cleared up the grinding noise. I have been lubing and cleaning the machine every 30 hours or so according to videos I found on youtube. I was using a dry lube (that is for the round bearings under the table) and went back to using the recommend Teflon silicon spray (2) kinds of spray for the linear and round bearings.

They first had me check the motor allen screws on the shaft to make sure it was tight. I did this by removing the 6 screws that hold the motor down and lifting it straight up putting a 2x4 under the router to hold the stepper motor up as I checked the set screws. Then
Tech support had me swap the next port x or y with z. The trouble stayed with the router z so they are sending me a new motor and cable in 4 days.

The call was painless. The teck support was spot on and stayed on the phone while I was unscrewing stepper motors and control plugs as we trouble shot the issue.

Perhaps it's the cable as it gets lots of twisting back and forth in that track. Will find out in 4 days! I am very glad I bought the shark. Getting things fixed fast and easy is paramount to me.

markjonesranger
Posts: 67
Joined: Mon Aug 17, 2020 3:47 pm
Location: Ozark Mo
Contact:

Re: Z Axis Issues

Post by markjonesranger »

Tech support shipped me a new motor and cable today to fix my Z axis issue. It wouldn't respond when it was moved around via the x or y axis and z would just quit working. It would make a little noise but that was it. The controller showed it was going and down but it didn't respond. I verified the z axis was still broken before I started the repair this evening.

I replaced the motor first as it was the easiest. The coupler set screw broke 2 of my 5/32 Allen wrench's. I let it soak with wd40 and then applied some heat. It came out but it was tough. I ended up unscrewing the ball screw with coupler and motor out of the z axis housing and worked on removing the set screw on the bench. I used my expensive Allen wrenches and twisted one around before it broke loose and unscrewed.

It should have taken about 5 minutes to pull the old motor and loosen the coupler set screw and swap the stepper motor and put it all back together again.

I then ran a test and it still failed. So the old stepper motor is a backup now. I pulled out the new cable and just plugged it in on both ends and tested it. All was well and working great.

I then removed the cable from the plastic track and the inner shield. When I came to the side support where the upper gantry bolts to the lower table I didn't take all that apart. I just left about 12" of the old cable inside this side support and ran the cable on the outside with a cable clamp then into the inner shield and then placed the ground and other axis cable in the inner shield and put it back in the plastic track. (This took about 30 minutes or so to complete).

Ran several tests and all was well again. My Shark CNC is good to go. I did find a splice in the cable that was near where the flexible track and the side support join. I figured that is where it went hi open as we call in in the communications world. I used to run this type of continuity fault all the time for a large corporation.

Bottom line. I am very happy it's fixed and the effort that it took was fun to fix. Tech support was right on and what they said they were doing they did. My hat is off to the Shark folk. You have a great product and did a great job keeping me smiling all the way.

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