Dear farm nerds,
I’m in the process of installing my Express XL kit. The instructions are crystal clear and nearly everything went well. There is one issue I’m experiencing and I hope you can help me out.
Details:
Farmbot XL
Farmduino V1.2
Installed outdoors
My FarmBot is not able to move over the X axis. It tries few times and stops. According to the motor load it is trying really hard. I’ve tried to solve the issue but I’m out of options. Below is a list of things I checked, tweaked or fixed.
I lowered the belt tension a few times until the pulley doesn’t have enough grip.
I saw there was no space between the pulley and the stepper motor and created a 1mm spacing by moving the pulley a bit on both gantry columns to ensure no friction here.
I checked the belt is not twisted inside the gantry column.
I checked all wheels to make sure they don’t cause any friction.
I re-positioned the connection between the gantry columns and the gantry main beam. I also used a level to make it exactly right.
I tested different spacing between the wheel plates and the bed.
I helped the gantry by hand when starting to move over the X axis. When I do this it successfully keeps moving. Still it’s at >50% motor load while moving.
I compared the force needed to rotate the X1 and X2 stepper motors by hand while the FarmBot is powered off. All though I think I feel a tiny bit of a difference it’s not enough for me raise an issue here.
I moved the Z axis / cross side assembly to the opposite gentry column to lower the load on the main gantry column containing the electronics box as I think the stepper motor located here is having the most issues.
I increased the motor load threshold a few times up to 100%.
One other thing I can think off is sanding the wood but the weather isn’t allowing that at the moment.