I’ll start off by saying that I have searched around the LB forum and other internet sites in search of a solution to my problem and I feel my problem is unique or has been unsolved from other posts that the OP neglected to elaborate on what they fixed.
My S9 recently blew some chip/capacitor on the board (I’m a novice in electronics like this, so I may not be exactly correct, but I do know a bit) prompting me to search for a new board. No Y axis moves. I swapped X&Y cables and I confirmed that it was not the stepper that failed, it was indeed the board.
I decided to “cheap out” and get a MKS DLC v2.1 as it was cheaper than the Sculpfun board and I assumed they are the same or close to it, being Arduino looking (I could be wrong). The board looks great, very pleased with the initial looks of the board.
I was having issues getting LB to recognize the board, so I installed the CH340 & 341 drivers again, I have used those for other projects. I also followed some other posts on this forum for updating the firmware to the S9 firmware, instead of using the factory MKS firmware. Can those two drivers be installed at the same time?
Mild success! Connected and the laser would fire when starting the design to laser engrave. But unfortunately the X & Y axis would not move. I have the S9 12v power supply, tried different USB cables, tried the original short stepper cables, tried my rotary stepper on each X/Y; tried all the “turn it off & turn it back on again” type stuff that seems to be the most common issues. Restarted the computer, updated LB; the works.
I attempted to jog, use the xy position go-to, tried different designs, and also tried different GRBL programs to try to eliminate variables. I also saved the machine settings from the S9 and loaded them to the MKS board, still no luck.
The pins on the two boards appear to be the same. 12v out, TTL, XY in (BAAB). The original S9 board was 8bit, the MKS DLC V2.1 is 8bit as well, correct?
Here is a photo of the board I ordered from eBay
Has anyone had any experience with this issue? I find it odd that after flashing the S9 firmware from a post I found on this forum worked to get the board connected and firing the laser; that I must be missing something simple.
