X-Y-Z steppers all only going in 1 direction

[keitaka1]

I was cutting out a simple part about an hour ago, and the bot just started racking itself in the (Y) axis and didn't stop until i hit the emergency stop. No wiring was disturbed, nothing running on the computer accept the latest control software. I have a g4 board. I tried to raise the (Z) axis with the keyboard command and the page up key, but the (Z) axis kept going down instead of up at the same time I noticed that my (A) axis had moved, and as a part of the part file it should not have. Through the keyboard command, my (X,Y&Z)are all going in 1 direction. down for the (y) axis, to the left on the (X) axis, and down on the (Z)axis no matter which appropriate key is pressed. my (A)axis seems to work in both directions as it should with the alt key engaged. I've reinstalled the control software, cycled the control box, and rebooted the computer, and i get the same thing. Again, nothing was disturbed nor anything being used in the building to cause such a thing, and it's still not working. Any ideas?

thx -Sheldon

[myxpykalix]

I don't know about your specific problem but I would suggest that just turning off the box may not erase the settings or the problem, so i suggest that you recycle again but this time go over to your circuit box and turn off the breaker controlling the bot. That way any settings being saved by the bot will be erased and you can try it again.

[keitaka1]

I powered the control box down and unplugged it from the UPS, installed the control SW on a freshly installed XP OS machine with a new keyboard and mouse, same results.

[myxpykalix]

does it do this on any other file you try to cut?
Have you cut this particular file before sucessfully?
You might look to see if there is an updated beta version of the software, if not then you might want to revert back to a previous version.
The first thing i would do is call shopbot.

[keitaka1]

Sorry Jack, this isn't a temporary glitch, it happened as I described, steppers X-Y&Z only move in 1 direction Period now. Never encountered
a problem like this before, I just upgraded to the 4G board about 6 wks ago. It's 1 thing to have a rogue gantry with a router, but it's jaw dropping to watch a new spindle do what it wants without any tell tale signs of what caused the issue. In the past, I hadn't really given it a second thought to leaving the shop with the bot running, and to have this happen on a file as basic as(NICK) in 8"script in 3/4 MDF, a really simple file. Imagine what could have happened if I was cutting a more elaborate file and decided to walk away for a bit.

[ron_moorehead]

May want to check your unit values in the software. If they got messed up, even powering the control box down would not reset them.

[keitaka1]

Ron, i did a fresh install of the control SW on a machine whith a fresh XP OS, this has to be a hardware issue, i would think.

[beacon14]

I think this is a problem for tech support, I don't recall seeing this problem in the forum in the past.

Send them an email - they check e-mails on the weekend.

[Gary Campbell]

Sheldon..
One last thing.... did you reinstall the firmware? That would be the last software item to cross off the list.
Gary

[keitaka1]

Yes Gary, i did that with the fresh installs. Why do all the major problems happen on the weekends?....grrr..grunt......lol