Earth Clamp Mod

AliveOak · Post by **AliveOak** » Thu 06 Aug , 2020 9:19 am

Can someone point me in the direction of the Earth Clamp Mod for the Microrouter Compact mentioned elsewhere on the message board?

Many thanks.

Martin · Post by **Martin** » Fri 07 Aug , 2020 12:07 pm

Are you talking about the Dust Extraction earth mod for the static?

If you are it`s as simple as running a earth wire between the top & bottom barrels to earth both.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Wed 12 Aug , 2020 7:01 am

There was also a mod done adding a earth wire to the vacuum nose pipe where it passes through the side window as static could jump the gap and ground to the cabinet.

AliveOak · Post by **AliveOak** » Tue 03 Nov , 2020 10:50 am

Thanks for the reply, guys. I'm not sure what you mean by "barrels", Martin. Are they the extraction pipes that form part of the spindle clamp and the one that exits the case, through the perspex, on the left? Will clamping an earth wire between these pipes help to stop static build-up?

I'm having terrible trouble with the "move buffer full" error message. I've tried everything: reloading & updating all software, compressed air, cleaning the inside of the computer tower, a complete clean of the machine & case, checking all the machine parameters. I've even had a new SSD hard drive installed on my PC and, if anything, it's worse. It won't complete more than ten lines of code before the warning message appears. The machine is entirely useless in this state.

I suppose feeding the machine and my PC through a wood chipper would stop the code from appearing. I'll keep that one in my back pocket... for now.

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue 03 Nov , 2020 14:52 pm

Yes add an earth wire from the aluminum tube that passes through the side window and link it to the frame of the cabinet. What shop Vac do you have? If it has a metal housing make sure the top and bottom are also linked.

AliveOak · Post by **AliveOak** » Wed 04 Nov , 2020 13:36 pm

Cheers, Steve. I'll give it a try and let you know.

I don't run extraction while the machine is running as I've understood that can cause static build-up too. I just clean it all after every run.

I have two of these machines and have checked every parameter to make sure they are identical and yet one runs almost flawlessly and the other, as I say, falls over after 10 lines of code. Would upgrading to V5 help or cure the problem do you think?

Thanks again, Steve.

AliveOak · Post by **AliveOak** » Wed 13 Oct , 2021 14:05 pm

My latest attempt to resurrect this machine has taken the form of a new PC (8gb ram, 64bit, windows 10) complete reinstall of VR Milling (V5 this time) and a completely isolated system connected via USB.

I have run a typical job for me which contains about 141,000 lines of code with the spindle switched off and it has completed 121,000 lines of code before crashing into "Timeout on ICM (Host TX)" message and stopping.

It can't be static as I am not running extraction and the spindle is disconnected. What can be interrupting coms after running fine for 90mins? It's driving me crazy.

Is there a default timeout setting in VR Milling V5 or in Windows I don't know about?

Having upgraded the computer AND VR Milling to V5, I am at the end of the road. If anyone has any ideas (I mean ANY ideas!), I will be eternally grateful.

Here's hoping,
Pete

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue 19 Oct , 2021 11:52 am

Have you checked the power saving settings on your PC? Make sure the USB port does not shut down in power saving mode

: power saving.JPG (118.55 KiB) Viewed 14036 times

AliveOak · Post by **AliveOak** » Thu 11 Nov , 2021 12:06 pm

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the reply. On your advice, I changed the settings and ran another program and the same thing happened.

One obervation is that, after the machine stops, the PC no longer recognises it at all. I can't reconnect without rebooting. This surely measn it's not a "move buffer full" comms issue but, more likely a Timeout issue. Some parameter is cutting the connection between CNC & PC altogether. This is why your suggestion was so promising but, alas, no dice.

What could it possibly be?

DavidB · Post by **DavidB** » Thu 11 Nov , 2021 18:11 pm

Have you looked in the Windows event logs to see if anything has been logged by the system?

AliveOak · Post by **AliveOak** » Tue 16 Nov , 2021 10:31 am

David, I did as you suggested and found "VSS Service is shuttting down due to idle timeout".

After Googling VSS Service, I found that the "Volumn Shadow Copy" settings were coming up on a lot of CNC boards.

I went to the Services window and found "Volumn Show Copy", hit Properties and set Start-up Type to Automatic from Manual and...

IT WORKED!!! It ran whole whole 140k g-code without missing a beat. I will try it again to make sure it wasn't a fluke but, as of now, problem solved.

Thanks again, David. Brilliant.

DavidB · Post by **DavidB** » Thu 18 Nov , 2021 0:25 am

That does sound like a result and good on you for tracking it down and all being well no recurrence of the issue. I had to look up what VSS was and it sounds like it has a genuine raison d'etre. Event logs and services are things which most Windows users will likely never have any knowledge of. I used to work as a software engineer doing mainly Windows software so was well aware of the event logs and services and have had to deal with them before. Some years back I got asked to investigate a new HP PC which was rather sluggish for its spec and tracked it down to HP having stacked the PC with a bunch of their services which from the description had no benefit to the PCs owner so I disabled them and the PC perked up significantly as the 6 or so services I disabled were using significant CPU time for no apparent benefit.