Are you certain the cables are properly connected to the new board?
Try this test. Move the laser head to the right rear then hit the home button. With your fingers or a pencil, engage both limit switches individually. Does the motion stop in either direction when manually engaging the switches?
Be ready to move your fingers out of the way so you don’t get pinched.
To me, it sounds like a wiring issue as well. Make sure you connected the switches correctly. The one sitting on the frame is the Y limit switch, the one that’s sitting on the moving gantry is the x axis switch.
Do this test:
Allan,
Perform the tests @thelmuth and @misken described as well. It does not hurt to know as much as possible about the condition of your machine.
Mikey
Tim, I moved the laser to the center and hit home. It immediately went to the bottom frame, engaged the limit switch, and did nothing. The switch is in this case useless.
I then moved it further away and did both switches. Again the bottom (cable is marked Y) did nothing but the X switch stopped the left/right motion.
I’m going to pull the cover off again and double-check my connections. I’ll photograph what I have.
Thanks for the reply.
That tells us that either the conection is bad, the switch is bad or the cable is bad. Check the connection first. If everything worked properly before you changed the board, it’s most likely a bad / incorrect connection on the board.
Here are the ‘replacement’ connections and the original motherboard. There’s a slight difference in the female connectors in the new board. The YMOTOR2 socket is blue while the original was white but all three males are plugged into their respective sockets.
Regarding where the air assist wire goes, its location is different as are the 12/24U and G TTL S but I’ve plugged the appropriate cables in. Same with the X and Y
Original board:
Plus the X & Y sockets are turned 90* FWIW.
This is the note and photo from Sculpfun to go with the new board:
You can refer to the following instructions to complete the wiring, and then turn on the limit switch function on the software without refreshing the firmware.
Follow the above instructions to connect. After the wiring is completed, if you are not sure whether it is correct, you can send us a photo of your wiring on the motherboard for confirmation.
I noticed I had #6 & #7 backwards as I put the air cable where it was labeled air on the board. I just reversed it to what Sculpfun showed and now the laser moves to the left when starting, not to the bottom.
I don’t know how to check for broken wires or switches.
The only thing I notice in the photos is the Y2 connector doesn’t appear to be fully engaged. That may just be the angle of the photo. That would not affect the limit switch not working though.
You said you don’t know how to test the switch, so I assume you don’t have or know how to use a multimeter. That’s Ok. I’m going to suggest a test to see if it’s the switch / wiring or the board.
On the board, swap the X and Y switch connectors and repeat the test where you press the switches to stop movement. IPressing the switch on the frame should now stops the sideways movement, pressing the switch on the gantry should stop front to back movement.
Perform this test and report your results.
My son gave me a multimeter but you’re correct, I don’t know how to use it. Haha!
Have to run to a doc’s appt. Will try this upon return.
Thanks again, Tim. I’ll be back soon.
After checking all cables are plugged into correct sockets, 1st thing I would do is make sure all settings are the same as the old board by loading a preferences file from when it was last working correctly…Files>Preferences>Load Preferences Backup
I think y’all have helped me to fix it.
I did swap the X and Y leads as well as load preferences from a date that it worked previously. It homed about 99% correctly; there’s a 1/4" gap from the limit switches but it could be bounce-back of some sort. I did a test burn and had no problems.
I’ll continue to test things over the next couple of days and as this post will stay active for the next month, I should be able to report back nothing but good news.
My sincere thanks to all; your help is truly appreciated. Wishing everyone a very happy New Year.
Melvin, this is what I got when I entered ‘?’ into the console bar:
It certainly looks different than your screenshot. However, as per my last note, it appears to be working so I’m not sure how important this is. Is it? Or are my parameters OK?
Thanks.
Dang, dang, dang. I typed too fast on my previous note thanking everyone.
I just loaded a previous file from early December and centered it, framed it, and homed it. Then I clicked start and the laser went to the opposite diagonal corner >36" away! and I had to stop it. I clicked home and it went about halfway and I had to click home again to get it to the lower-left corner.
Looking at the console I got the Alarm:9 again, “could not find limit switch within search distance.”
My frustration level is rising to unhealthy levels.
How is this possible on a 16" frame laser?
Stop everything until we get this figured out.
What were the results of the test I asked you to do? When you swapped leads, did the X axis stop when you pressed the X axis switch or when you pressd the Y axis switch? What was the behavior of the Y axis?
Tim, I have the extended 900x900 frame, ~40" x ~40" OD.
Performing your test, engaging the limit switch on the gantry did not stop it from moving side to side nor did touching the switch on the frame stop it from moving front to back.
Also got a lot of this at one time:
The $$ settings you posted above show the machine as 400x410 mm.
Did touching either switch stop movement in ANY direction?
If the machine continues to work, it is nothing ov concern. That is the PC and Controller trying to sync up and communicate.
You need to adjust Max Y travel ($131=900) to get it to home in one motion from the far end. The “Rubbish” in the control tab is usually due to incorrect Baud rate setting or Interference being picked up by the USB Cable
Ooooohhhhhh, sounds like somebody skipped a step!
I really don’t know why they keep shipping extension kits without that large flashing Neon sign, Remember to adjust $131 LOL
