z motor issue, board?

[cxixer]

I have a xylotex 4 axis kit on my cnc, which I recently converted to leadscrews from R&P. I had some makeshift couplers on each axis and cut several pieces in this condition. I then replaced them with lovejoys and updated the bearings on the screws. The motors, driver board, and wiring were untouched during this lovejoy transition except for putting on and taking off the couplers. The screws now rotate much more smoothly but today I went to cut something and the machine locked up, it just stopped moving after about 8 inches of cutting. When I went to stop it on Mach3, the computer froze. After trying to cut this thing again, and the same thing happening, I tried a third time and everything was working except the z axis. Trying to manually jog it, it wouldn't move at all, or would vibrate a little. Taking the z axis apart revealed very poor movement from the motor. Any finger pressure at all on the nut would stall the motor, and it vibrated and made a weird noise when it would move when getting up to speed. I then attached the z axis motor to the x axis driver on the board, and it seemed to work fine when I jogged the motor up and down. The motor had much more torque, and I put some pressure on the nut and it still worked fine.



This leads me to believe something happened to my board. When I originally set it up, the Vref's were all identical, and I have not changed them, although my digital multimeter is unavailable at the moment, so I can't test them. I tested the vref settings on all axes with the analog multimeter I have and they all had very similar readings, but I'm not exactly sure what they were.

Is this a board issue I'm having? Could the board issue (if that's what it is) have disrupted mach3 in any way to freeze my computer?

I already emailed xylotex just now about the board issue, but is that it, or could I be having an issue with mach3 too?

Any info is appreciated!

[cxixer]

So here are some updates.

I ordered a new driver from xylotex ($80 as a replacement board within the warranty period). Hooked it up, everything worked ... for about 10 minutes of cutting. Then one motor cut out.

One of my Y axis motors doesn't even lock up. After several emails with Jeff from Xylotex, it seems that it is again the driver. Coincidence?

Instead of answering my questions and helping me come up with a solution to the problem, I am just sent a new board, and am supposed to install it as is. Huh...

So after these emails, I have been notified that because I changed from rack and pinion to leadscrews, I have changed the way the system is "grounded", and because I have a dust collection system, I should have grounded each individual moving part before installing and testing the new driver board... Well this is good news to know after blowing up the second board....

This is not covered under the warranty policy because the failure was caused by "overvoltage" from static buildup. There's really no way to know what the real cause was, but as with most consumers, I'm inclined to blame the new piece that worked for 10 minutes instead of the machine that has had the same grounding, the same dust collection, the same level of static buildup, the same everything except the drive mechanism, which worked with a board for over 6 months and countless hours without causing any static buildup to cause a board failure. But... apparently, that's what the cause is and now I'm out the original price of the board, the replacement cost of the board, and the board itself.

Just in case - any of you who use dust collection... vacuum system... or heck, any type of cnc - be sure you ground every component and read VERY carefully before purchasing, installing, testing, using, or sending in your xylotex board.

Anyone currently using a xylotex board - don't change anything about your machine, don't even look at it differently - you may cause a lethal static buildup!

[TommieK]

sir: Hello, my name is Tom. I am not an electronics guy so I can't answer any of your questions. I can only sympathize with you because I have the exact same problem with my machine (with my Z-axis). I have E-mailed Ron and have recieved an answer to the mail but as yet we have not come to any possible solution to the problem. Could it be he recieved a big bag full of parts from some foreign entity at a rediculously low price and is making his units from that bunch without first QCing them? I don't know that either but right now my machine stands all alone in the darkness of my closed off garage just waiting for a solution or a replacement part. I have some questions of you, though, if you don't mind. Was the $80 for a second controller box or was it for a replacement box with an exchange? Did you ever get your machine running as expected? I do have access to a multimeter but have no idea how to translate anything it shows me to what its like in the real world, Could you (if you don't mind taking the time) explain to me (1) what setting to put the multimeter on, (2) What to touch the pins to inside the wire ends of the leads from the box, and (3) What readings to expect from each wire pair. I know this is a lot to ask and it is Ron's job to answer, not yours, but I wanted you to know that I do sympathizewith you. My E-mail address is Chrysntom@AOL.com Thank you Tom

[TommieK]

Oops, I meant Jeff not Ron.

[cxixer]

sir: Hello, my name is Tom. I am not an electronics guy so I can't answer any of your questions. I can only sympathize with you because I have the exact same problem with my machine (with my Z-axis). I have E-mailed Ron and have recieved an answer to the mail but as yet we have not come to any possible solution to the problem. Could it be he recieved a big bag full of parts from some foreign entity at a rediculously low price and is making his units from that bunch without first QCing them? I don't know that either but right now my machine stands all alone in the darkness of my closed off garage just waiting for a solution or a replacement part. I have some questions of you, though, if you don't mind. Was the $80 for a second controller box or was it for a replacement box with an exchange? Did you ever get your machine running as expected? I do have access to a multimeter but have no idea how to translate anything it shows me to what its like in the real world, Could you (if you don't mind taking the time) explain to me (1) what setting to put the multimeter on, (2) What to touch the pins to inside the wire ends of the leads from the box, and (3) What readings to expect from each wire pair. I know this is a lot to ask and it is Ron's job to answer, not yours, but I wanted you to know that I do sympathizewith you. My E-mail address is Chrysntom@AOL.com Thank you Tom

I can not for sure tell you what the problem is with yours, but I can tell you that after my second board cut out, I trashed both boards and ordered new controllers from probotix, grounded the entire system better than it was, worked out binding issues, and the setup works great now. As far as the electronics and vref settings go, I do remember there being this info in the documentation somewhere. Testing was not as difficult as working out the rest of it!

[TommieK]

dear cxixer, well so far I have not heard anything else from Jeff at xylotex and I'm not ready just yet to completly trash that firm or it's people but I have been thinking about the possibility of purchasing a different controller box if I don't get a response soon from them and Probotix was a name that was mentioned before to me. Another question or two if I might? When You went to the Probotix box did you keep your original Xylotex motors? and, Was wiring from the new box to the motors much of an issue? If you answer these I got a couple more I'd like to ask. Thanks for your time. Tom

[cxixer]

dear cxixer, well so far I have not heard anything else from Jeff at xylotex and I'm not ready just yet to completly trash that firm or it's people but I have been thinking about the possibility of purchasing a different controller box if I don't get a response soon from them and Probotix was a name that was mentioned before to me. Another question or two if I might? When You went to the Probotix box did you keep your original Xylotex motors? and, Was wiring from the new box to the motors much of an issue? If you answer these I got a couple more I'd like to ask. Thanks for your time. Tom

When I bought the probotix boards, I did keep my xylotex motors, they still work fine. The wiring itself is the same, still using a four-wire setup. The controller box itself is wired differently. Probotix uses a main breakout board to connect to the computer, and has separate driver boards that need to be wired to the breakout board, which is more work than the all-in-one xylotex board, but then - if you accidently fry one of the drivers, you only need to replace that one driver, not the entire thing - much cheaper in the long run if anything happens.

[bamwa]

Hello there, you guys are making me worry. Sorry about your bad "luck". I have purchased the 4 axis kit with 425 oz. motors to run a 6x12 plasma table. Am I s.o.l.? What is with the freezing/grounding issues? My stuff is still in a box.
Thanks

[cxixer]

Hello there, you guys are making me worry. Sorry about your bad "luck". I have purchased the 4 axis kit with 425 oz. motors to run a 6x12 plasma table. Am I s.o.l.? What is with the freezing/grounding issues? My stuff is still in a box.
Thanks

My advice? Make sure to ground every point of your table to a dedicated ground line. The table itself, the gantry, etc. These boards (including the probotix) are very sensitive to any static buildup. I still havn't figured out exactly what happened, and switching to probotix did solve my problems, but that is a likely cause of any malfunction like what happened to me.

[TommieK]

Hello again. Since I last posted to you I have E-mailed twice to Jeff and have not recieved a return message yet, so far, but I decided to send my box back to them for repair and I guess hope for the best. Good Luck Huh? You remember I said if you answered my last questions that I would ask some more so here are a couple, or more... What did you ever do with the two xylotex boxes you had? Did you ever personally open either of the boxes to see the stuff inside? If you did get inside them was there a schematic taped to the inside? Just curious at this time, but I have more if this is no bother.

Thanks, Tom

[monte55]

Do we no longer get support on Zylotex?

[cxixer]

Hello again. Since I last posted to you I have E-mailed twice to Jeff and have not recieved a return message yet, so far, but I decided to send my box back to them for repair and I guess hope for the best. Good Luck Huh? You remember I said if you answered my last questions that I would ask some more so here are a couple, or more... What did you ever do with the two xylotex boxes you had? Did you ever personally open either of the boxes to see the stuff inside? If you did get inside them was there a schematic taped to the inside? Just curious at this time, but I have more if this is no bother.

Thanks, Tom

Hi,

I didn't order the boxes originally all built, I ordered the boards and wired them myself, paying strict attention to the instructions and warnings. There is only one controller board, and all three/four drivers are integrated, which is why it is so expensive to replace. This is the (other) reason I like probotix, if you fry one axis drive, you only order that single piece, nothing else. If you have more questions, I can answer your questions over at my board more efficiently - cut files (dot) com