Build finished but can't get any further

[FabianPruitt]

Hi all
I built the 3018 the same evening it was delivered wired everything up and then realised it was 1oclock in the morning and went to bed. The next morning I connected my laptop to the 3018 and got it to show up in coms 3. The red light glowed on the control board and a blue light (I guess this is saying I'm connected to your computer) came on and stayed on.

I now tried to nudge the Z drive either way but nothing happened. I pressed most of the other buttons and still nothing. I can see I need some help here so if anyone knows why nothing is moving perhaps they can shed some light on the problem, PLEASE.

Thanks a lot.


Fabian.

[routercnc]

Do you have some picture of the machine, control box and a screenshot of the software. Usually CNC machines need configuring with ports and pins so it might just need that.
In case it is more than that it might help to show inside the box to see what you have in there. I don’t know if it came with a warranty so don’t open anything just yet, just external pictures.
Did the company you bought it from supply any further info ?

[BeagleBrainz]

What you may have to do is fiddle with the pot that controls the stepper motor current.
I bought a cheap cnc desktop thingy a while ago and when I first had it connected up none of the axis would move. A little fiddle with the pot got things going.
If there is any identification on the plug in driver boards, should be 3 boards the same, try searching. If not some close pics of the boards may help.

Cheers
Rob

[FabianPruitt]

Hi, and thanks for the reply.

I've attached 3 pics of the machine and software (I wasn't happy with candle so I used Universal Gcode Sender instead). I don't have Screen Capture on the laptop so I hope the pics will be good enough to see what's wrong.

[FabianPruitt]

Well now, how do I explain this without looking like a complete dork?

As I explained before I'd set up the machine in the evening it was delivered and setup Candle on the laptop. Everything looked fine but the machine wouldn't work when I added the "Test" machine code to Candle.

It would have helped a great deal better if I'd actually turned the 3018 "ON" in the first place. Although the wiring was setup properly and the red and blue lights had come on when I pushed the USB plug into the laptop the machine wouldn't move at all.

After getting a magnifying glass and having a closer look at the control board I noticed at the bottom a small white button that said "POWER" and pressed it. Low and behold it began to work when I pressed the jogger button on Candle.

As I'm 75 I shall blame my age for this slight oversite on my part and apologise to everyone that took the time to reply to my false "Cry For Help"

Now somewhat embarrassed I can press on and cut my Acrylic with a smile on my face

I will say one thing though, in all the videos I watched on YouTube and other bits of info I gleaned from the Internet, NO one mentioned the little white power button at the bottom of the control panel. I needed to point that bit out.

Thanks again for the replies to all the members.

Fabian.