Has anyone got any tips, or indeed needed to lubricate the X or Y axis on the machine?
I took my RV1s apart somewhat in an attempt to see where you might oil or grease the thing but it all seems fairly well sealed up. Also looked at the two main belts underneath for wear (having seen worrying pictures from Sixexe, Topic: Toothed Drive Belts) but they appear to be in near perfect condition.
I'm finding it makes a really nasty noise, bit like when you spin a nut on a bolt and it 'vibrates' and comes to a halt quickly. Or to put it another way, when you wet your finger and run it round the rim of a glass. No doubt there is a specific mechanical term for this! When it does this it loses steps and goes wrong. Oddly though it completely disappeared after I partly dismantled it and put it back together. Today its re-appeared. When I move the arm in both axis by hand with the machine unpowered its smooth as anything though so I'm becoming suspicious that it might actually be the motor drive electronics causing some sort of judder in the drive, giving the same symptoms as a mechanical joint that needs lubricating.
Anyone had anything like this?
Doesn't Mike ascribe this noise in relation to a faulty stepper controller?
Aah I hope so. Electronics I can do. Mechanical stuff, not so good. I'm borrowing an identical control box so I can compare. If its the one with those hybrid modules in (which it probably is) I can borrow one of the newer control boxes and make replacement parts using that. Will post my progress.
Nasty noises that come and go could well be a stepper missing a phase connection.
The RV uses unusual 5-phase steppers, so will run at the right speed and direction, albeit roughly, with only 4 out of 5 connections working.
Prime suspect would be connectors - in my case I had a dodgy contact on the D connector at the base of the machine - it was visibly burnt through sparking. This would probably be Prime Suspect as it's rigidly attatched to the frame.
First action should be to measure stepper coil resistance at the driver board - should read same between each adjacent pin and between outer 2 pins (windings are connected as a ring)..
You can swap driver boards to eliminate issues there - from memory the only one with different settings is the Z axis, as this doesn't turn the motors off when not moving.
The rotation axis motor is useful to use while testing as it won't break anything if it goes nuts.
BTW avoid connecting/disconnecting/wiggling suspect connectors while powered as this can damage drivers due to back-EMF spikes.