ARGH! my shopbot has been one headache after another since i bought it new about 3 years ago. It's a PRS standard, 48X96 pc style control box, running a 2.2 HP spindle and i have a vacuum hold down system. When running a cutfile, at random, and it seems it's every other sheet i run, it will be cutting fine, then i hear a grinding noise, machine stops for 1 - 3 seconds, then it continues. The software doesn't know it stopped, so it continues on, with the X Y off, and ruins my sheet.
The other odd thing is i get a message yesterday that says somthing like "the shopbot toolbar has changed, would you like to use the new one?" (no clue) and i did get a comm lost message once too.
This thing ran pretty good till recently, and i have made no changes of any kind. It used to do the above mentioned problem about once every 40 or 50 sheets, i've ruined 3 out of 6 sheets in 2 days.
I cleaned the rails, no signs of wear. I pulled the stepper motors and see no issues with the pinions. i unplugged all my stepper wires to the control box and pushed the gantry against the stops to make sure the gantry was square. I am at a total loss. i am running close to 80 % on the speed test.
i don't remember, but should the stepper pinions turn hard? seems like my gantry wasn't that hard to push in the beginning (with the steppers unplugged and the machine off of course) I know how to set gear lash, and not just mash it till it stops and tighten it down.
Also, my stops have never worked correctly. my machine could be out cutting at X48 Y17 area, somewhere in the middle of the table and i would get the "stop hit" message and it would quit.
I am at a total loss here, i had a saturday deadline i can no longer make, and i've wasted 100.00 worth of material. I've cut this material with the same bit, same speed, etc with little issue. PC is not on the internet at all. Any ideas?