Ebay Chinese Routers (CNC3040) - anyone purchased one of these machines recently?

**Musht** · 20-02-2012

second coffee of day ;-) , dodgy stepper 101, change the connectors over on to another axis, see if problem follows driver or motor.

**jcb121** · 20-02-2012

there is a way to reverse the motors in Mach without messing with pins and stuff. I have done it on my machine for both Axis.

it's in some sort of options and there is a table and one of the options in the table is Reverse and you can just change it from a cross to the Tick and it will be sorted.

I will find out for you later.

**camhguh** · 20-02-2012

Thanks for your thoughts on the problem folks, much appreciated!

Will give some of those ideas a try later on when were finished milling out our latest batch of bits and pieces! Were somewhat constrained noisewise because of neighbours so have to be prudent.

**Tenson** · 20-02-2012

The reversed direction was a joke right? I think it confused a few.

Anyway it does sound like wire, as said just move it to a malfunctioning position and test the continuity with a multi-meter. At the motor end you probably don't have access to the bare wire so you could push a pin through the wire insulation into the core and then you can test from that.

To be honest though, wire doesn't tend to break, the connection points do, at the plug and at the motor. You might end up needing to open the motor case to check where the wire joins.

**camhguh** · 20-02-2012

Originally Posted by Tenson

The reversed direction was a joke right? I think it confused a few.

Anyway it does sound like wire, as said just move it to a malfunctioning position and test the continuity with a multi-meter. At the motor end you probably don't have access to the bare wire so you could push a pin through the wire insulation into the core and then you can test from that.

To be honest though, wire doesn't tend to break, the connection points do, at the plug and at the motor. You might end up needing to open the motor case to check where the wire joins.

No joke sadly, thats what it does. Starts out on z+ for instance then reverses to z- or other way round.

If i jog the gantry around i can feel that there is little power on the zaxis motor because i can move it manually until it gets to a position on the bed where power has obviously been restored, then it feels similar to the x y motors. Guessing that its a cable/connector problem of some sort. On closer inspection the cables do not look new and are probably reused.

**Tenson** · 20-02-2012

Good point, mine didn't work right with the spindle running as it caused EMI. Have you been trying this with the spindle off?

**camhguh** · 20-02-2012

Thanks for the input guys! Yes i have tried it with the spindle not running, didnt make any difference! As soon as its finished milling the current bits and pieces then will have a look to see if i can pin it down.

Thanks for the link Modcube...looks like its a known problem with these machines?....hope this one's the same...easy fix!

**camhguh** · 21-02-2012

Originally Posted by camhguh

Thanks for the input guys! Yes i have tried it with the spindle not running, didnt make any difference! As soon as its finished milling the current bits and pieces then will have a look to see if i can pin it down.

Thanks for the link Modcube...looks like its a known problem with these machines?....hope this one's the same...easy fix!

OK..had a chance to investigate further but not resolved yet....been able to confirm that its a cable problem but unable to track down where exactly. Have to try and keep it going for the moment because we need the parts lol.

Checked out the control box internal wiring which appeared ok...no loose wiring etc and everything solidly bolted down.

**camhguh** · 24-02-2012

LOL , its catching, must be a virus going round!

Anyways were back up and running ok after replacing the cable...must have been a spot somewhere along the length of the cable where there was a breakage but making contact depending on where the gantry was positioned.

Thanks once again for all your input its been very helpful and much appreciated as usual!

**camhguh** · 24-02-2012

Ho Hum...now what?...the spindle motor brushes have worn out!! After approx 6hrs intermittent running!!

Plus the remains of one have dropped inside the motor..lol..

So the saga continues....