09-30-2017, 10:56 PM
After my house fire a couple of years ago, I thought I had the little CNC running again, with a treadmill motor as a replacement for the seized motor and dead controller. Then it started getting really inaccurate and unreliable. I tried all sorts of things to no avail, then finally gave up.
More recently, I built a 3D printer, which has yet to become useful. In the early going, the Y-axis stepper was really jerky and useless. That turned out to be a loose connection on the stepper cable.
Today, I finally got around to applying that info to the CNC mill. I found a loose wire on the X-axis cable. My mill is back! Right now, I'm setting it up to cut a foam plug for a cast aluminum cover for the oil filter on my Aspencade. After the fire they threw away the hot-wire attachment I had made before, so I had made another one.
So, if you've got jittery steppers, it could be settings, but it might be as simple as a bad connection. Go over them like you expect to find one.
More recently, I built a 3D printer, which has yet to become useful. In the early going, the Y-axis stepper was really jerky and useless. That turned out to be a loose connection on the stepper cable.
Today, I finally got around to applying that info to the CNC mill. I found a loose wire on the X-axis cable. My mill is back! Right now, I'm setting it up to cut a foam plug for a cast aluminum cover for the oil filter on my Aspencade. After the fire they threw away the hot-wire attachment I had made before, so I had made another one.
So, if you've got jittery steppers, it could be settings, but it might be as simple as a bad connection. Go over them like you expect to find one.
Mike
If you can't get one, make one.
Hawkeye, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.
If you can't get one, make one.
Hawkeye, proud to be a member of MetalworkingFun Forum since Jan 2013.