Wright CNC Table issues Could use some thoughts...

[Kevin D]

I am currently working for a man that owns a Wright MFG CNC 5x10 Table, and I am having issues.
I have tried to convince him that a tracker table is a far better product (I might be a bit biased since I own one).

Here is the problem I am having:
1.) The arm was having problems on the left side. The right seems to be acting right, but the left was seeming to hesitate, and became eradic in its movements (seemed slow to keep up with the right side).

2. Cleaned the machine thoroughly with air hose and rags, it cleaned up pretty good, blew off all the bearings, coated all the moving parts with some wd-40, then blew off all the excess wd. I noticed then that the drive gear from the stepper motor had broken and fallen on the floor. It broke the shaft coming out of the stepper motor, not the slip on gear.

Replaced the stepper motor with one that was in the shop (leftover part from a previous repair).
That didnt seem to fix the eratic behavior. I tried to loosen the tension of the gear on the rail, made it worse. tried tightening the gear tighter against the rail, not any better...

The right side is solid, and wont budge against push by hand when turned on, but left seems easy to move when on. When off, both sides free travel easily...
Any thoughts?

[acourtjester]

I would turn the power off and see how I moves, you should see equal movement on both sides with manual moving or the axis. There should not be a reason for things to break, that is an indication of a problem.

[Plasma-art]

Did you check the wiring?
Bad contact or wire break can cause erratic movements.

[Kevin D]

I would turn the power off and see how I moves, you should see equal movement on both sides with manual moving or the axis. There should not be a reason for things to break, that is an indication of a problem.

Yes, I turned the power off several times, and manually pushed the axis, from the middle, and the left and right sides, and the axis moves freely. Everything seems to be functional, and moves properly when power is off. The trouble begins when powering the unit to on...

[Kevin D]

Did you check the wiring?
Bad contact or wire break can cause erratic movements.

That will be my next attempt... on monday when back to work...

[adbuch]

I am currently working for a man that owns a Wright MFG CNC 5x10 Table, and I am having issues.
I have tried to convince him that a tracker table is a far better product (I might be a bit biased since I own one).

Here is the problem I am having:
1.) The arm was having problems on the left side. The right seems to be acting right, but the left was seeming to hesitate, and became eradic in its movements (seemed slow to keep up with the right side).

2. Cleaned the machine thoroughly with air hose and rags, it cleaned up pretty good, blew off all the bearings, coated all the moving parts with some wd-40, then blew off all the excess wd. I noticed then that the drive gear from the stepper motor had broken and fallen on the floor. It broke the shaft coming out of the stepper motor, not the slip on gear.

Replaced the stepper motor with one that was in the shop (leftover part from a previous repair).
That didnt seem to fix the eratic behavior. I tried to loosen the tension of the gear on the rail, made it worse. tried tightening the gear tighter against the rail, not any better...

The right side is solid, and wont budge against push by hand when turned on, but left seems easy to move when on. When off, both sides free travel easily...
Any thoughts?

Are you sure you have your turns ratio set the same (in software) for both Y-axis stepper motors? And of course set them for opposite rotation direction if they are in the standard configuration for mounting.
David

[adbuch]

I just visited their website to try to find out more information about their tables. Absolutely no information except price and pictures. So I don't know if they are using dual stepper motor drive on their Y axis or not. From their video, it looks like they have pretty much copied design ideas from both Plasmacam and Langmuir. Don't see how they can sell any tables with such a poor website.

https://wright-cnc.com/product/4x4-cnc-plasma-machine/

Does you Wright use a single stepper motor for Y axis - the one that moves the gantry - or dual motors. From the photos, I would expect a single motor. But can't really tell.

It also doesn't look like they have had any activity on their Facebook page for over a year. And the website says "out of stock" on their tables. Perhaps they have gone out of business. In any case, I think I would steer clear of Wright and tell your boss to look an tables with more support, better quality reputation, and current availability.

David

[adbuch]

For the Tracker, which I had not heard of before, I'm wondering if all the software listed with the table actually comes with the table purchase. Or is it only available at additional cost?
David

https://www.trackercnc.com/wp-content/u ... asheet.pdf

tracker.jpg

[Kevin D]

yes, i bought mine several years ago, and all the software came with it.
That nesting software is new since I bought mine.
I do have sigmanest though. It only came with my machine because of a little accounting error on their side.
They have been a fantastic company to deal with when i had/have problems.... 4 stars for tech support (as fas as i know, havet had to call them for a bit on mine!)

[adbuch]

Thanks for the response Kevin. That looks like a great quality table.

With the table you are having problems with at work, does it use a single motor for the gantry motion, or two of them?

David

[Kevin D]

Its a two motor system, i did see the response to check the wiring for loose connections and/or broken wires, contact, etc...
I am off until wednesday, so I will check them then. He had problems with the controller before i started to work for him, and yes, it was wiring problems. Unfortunately for me, I am the ONLY person in his shop that has ANY experience using this type of equipment, which is sad, since he has several other cnc machines as well, and nobody to operate them (high end milling machines and such)

[adbuch]

Its a two motor system, i did see the response to check the wiring for loose connections and/or broken wires, contact, etc...
I am off until wednesday, so I will check them then. He had problems with the controller before i started to work for him, and yes, it was wiring problems. Unfortunately for me, I am the ONLY person in his shop that has ANY experience using this type of equipment, which is sad, since he has several other cnc machines as well, and nobody to operate them (high end milling machines and such)

With two motors for the gantry motion, check to make sure the turns rations are set the same for both motors in your controller software.
David

[weldguy]

If you can I would try driving the right motor with the left side driver and the left motor with the right side driver. (keep in mind your gantry will operate in reverse direction now)

If the problem moves to the opposite side than the issue is with your motor driver. If the problem remains on the side it was before the issue is with the motor or the wiring. Since you already replaced the motor I would suspect the wiring.

Complete that test and while your swapping the driver sides check all wire connections. Often if they are in screw down terminals the connections can fail unless the ends of the wire have been tinned with solder for a more solid connection under the screw down terminal.