Hi guys, I`ve been meaning to post this for a while. I made this x-axis power feed a while back, posted about it on here and I have to say that it is possibly the best modification I have done to any of my machines.
http://madmodder.net/index.php?topic=2417.0It has been working perfectly for some time and then I had a session where it seemed to lose all power and just generate a groaning noise. I turned it off and next time I came to the workshop it was working fine and forgotten about. Anyway, for the last week it has been doing it permanently. It is a low pitch groaning noise where the motor seems to be stalling. But the strange thing is, if you look at my motor it is fitted to the other end of the table than the handle so when you place your hand on the wheel and give it a light touch to help it around it goes around effortlessly! Just the lightest of lightest touch on the handle cures the problem, remove the helping hand and the motor groans. Even when taking a decent cut, just a light touch on the hand wheel stops the motor from stalling!
I`ve not got the money to just go and replace the drive and motor without being sure it isn`t something that can be fixed. I`ve tried two power supplies and the issue is not cured. Although I`ve played with stepper motors a few times the truth is I`m not that savvy on how they work so have no idea how to diagnose the problem.
Has anyone got any advice or suggestions? To me, it is just this bizarre behaviour of how a helping hand, literally a finger push on the hand wheel cures the problem, yet it can`t even traverse the table taking no cut without stalling on its own!
Chris