I have an Acmer P3 and laser is acting erratically and slamming into frame. Also slamming when sent to home position. Please help.
What do you mean it is acting erratically?
Are you sure you have your working size set correctly in your device settings?
When you are jogging the machine does it move in the correct directions?
Are you able to home the machine correctly on startup?
Can you show us an example of what you were doing when the machine is not behaving?
When I hit āhomeā it slams into the front of the unit over and over.
Not sure how to upload a video
Are you sure your machine has limit switches? Was the machine able to home before and this is now a new problem? Or is this a new machine and you are just setting it up?
It could be that your limit switch is not working correctly.
Normally your laser will touch off X first then continue traveling forwards and then touch off Y.
Is the laser touching off X correctly on the gantry first?
Then the laser continues towards the front of the machine and slams into the rails?
Turn on the machine, Then push the laser head to the back of the rails. Then power on your machine.
As the machine is moving manually trigger the end stop switches with your finger.
Does the machine stop?
Iāve been using this machine for a couple of months. Everything had been fine until today. I donāt really understand a lot of your terminology. I just know that when I hit home it keeps slamming against the frame for several seconds until it stops in its own. Home is front left. How can I send a video to show what the issue is?
It sounds like it is not activating the Yaxis Home switch.
With the laser module in the middle, hold the switch closed with your finger and enter ? in the Console window. A line that has āMPosā in it will appear. Copy and paste that text line in a Reply.
Iām having a similar issue with my P3 and it started around early June as well. I ordered a new limit switch that arrivd today and replaced that but it dināt resolve the issue. When my Acmer attempts to home I get the following on the console:
Waiting for connectionā¦
ok
[V4.00(8M.H35.20240702)]
[VER:1.1h.2024070201:]
[OPT:VPH,63,256]
Target buffer size found
[MSG:Using machine:MKS DLC32]
ok
[MSG:Mode=AP:SSDI=ACMER_P3_41060:IP=192.168.4.1:MAC=66-E8-33-6F-64-A0]
ok
Homing
[G54:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G55:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G56:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G57:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G58:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G59:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G28:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G30:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[G92:0.000,0.000,0.000]
[TLO:0.000]
[PRB:0.000,0.000,0.000:0]
ok
<Home|MPos:-405.900,0.000,0.000|WPos:-405.900,0.000,0.000|FS:5000,0>
ALARM:9
Homing fail. Could not find limit switch within search distance. Defined as 1.5 * max_travel on search and 5 * pulloff on locate phases.
<Alarm|MPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|WPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0>
ok
Grbl 1.1h [ā$ā for help]
ok
[MSG:ā$Hā|ā$Xā to unlock]
ok
[MSG:Caution: Unlocked]
ok
<Idle|MPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|WPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0|WCO:0.000,0.000,0.000>
If I close the limit switch by hand I get :
slight_smile: ALARM:1
Hard limit triggered. Machine position is likely lost due to sudden and immediate halt. Re-homing is highly recommended.
<Alarm|MPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|WPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0|Pn:X|WCO:0.000,0.000,0.000>
ok
[MSG:Caution: Unlocked]
<Idle|MPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|WPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0|Pn:X>
?
<Idle|MPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|WPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0|Pn:X>
ok
<Idle|MPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|WPos:-440.000,0.000,0.000|FS:0,0>
Were you holding an Xaxis switch when you did this?
Yes it was held for that
My SF-A9 has switches on all 4 corners. It uses the front left corner to Home. How does your machine compare?
Do this for each switch:
- Clear the Console window (right click)
- Module in the center and power on.
- Enter ?
- Hold a switch down.
- Enter ?
- Home the machine, expecting error.
- Manually activate eavh switch in the Home position, without moving the module.
- Does either switch click or indicate it is switching?
- Copy and paste the entire Console window in your Reply.
Hey wanted to follow up in case it helps anyone else. I had also contacted Acmer support and it turned out there seems to be an issue with running the air hose through the plastic chain with the wires from the controller to the laser head. I had to replace the x axis contact switch wire as well. And support told me to run the air hose outside of the chain, then zip tie it to the chain. That resolved the problem. There were no obvious wear spots or anything on the x axis wire I replaced.
Thanks for the follow up! Thatās the sort of edge case we see very rarely, but yes, a rigid hose can definitely stall stepper motors on small machines. Let us know if you have any other issues!