Issue type: Equipment Problem Area: CNC Equipment: Laguna Small CNC Summary: Y-Axis stops moving and motor hums Additional Info: I was moving the gantry in the Y-direction and 1/4 of the way along the bed it stopped moving and the Y-Axis motor sat there humming then stopped. I paused and tried moving it again and it started moving but it then stopped again. The X-Y origin was then no longer correct. I powered off/on the machine and it worked briefly but then started acting up again.
I am willing to volunteer some time to help maintain and fix this issue, just need some initial help.
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@andrewl looks like the ball screws and linear bearings need a thorough greasing. possible some ball nuts are damaged but start with the simplest.
Coordinate with @Rolo@sarahmartin for them to get you the white lithium grease and a grease gun that can work with those small fittings. you will want to grease all the ball screws down as well and wipe off excess
I spent some time working on the small CNC today. It is moving 100% smoother and in just moving the gantry around with the controller, it didn’t stop moving and hum. It is probably ready for use again. It will need grease via the zerks soon though.
Detailed description: I started by cleaning and lubing the Y-Axes screw drive and that did not help. I then removed the ball screw nut interface from the gantry so I could slide the gantry manually on the rails. Sliding the gantry manually showed that the problem was with the linear rails/linear rail bearing block. I thoroughly cleaned and lubed the rail with some white lithium grease that I was able to scavenge around the shop. That got rid of the binding and grinding of the movement of the gantry. I proceeded to clean and lube the screw drives and linear rails of the X and Y axis and all is moving smoothly again. I couldn’t locate a grease gun, so the lube was only put straight onto the rails. I would recommend hitting the linear rail grease zerks with some lithium grease. I didn’t do any cleaning/lubing of the Z-axis, so that could probably use it too.
I believe there is also a grease gun in the main stewards closet. Neither of them are loaded with lithium grease though; I’m not sure if there are compatibility issues.
If it is still going to be RED tagged and we are waiting on a grease gun decision, should the pendant be replaced/upgraded at this time too? The current one has been acting flakey and there have been suggestions of replacing the pendant with the old one from the big CNC or with an upgraded one like is on the big CNC. Happy to help on that too.