As a true beginner, I came across quite a few issues when I first began to use my farmbot. A lot of information can be found in the documentation and on this forum but I struggled to find answers to a few of my problems. I finally did and am hoping that the suggestions below may be of assistance to others:
Stall on X-Axis
- Use shims if the spacing between your 2 rails varies (even slightly) along the length of your bed
- Use shims if the track plates are not perfectly vertical
- Your tracks must be perfectly flat. You can easily gain or loose about 2mm in height by unscrewing the M5x10mm screws holding the extrusions and the plates together, pushing the extrusions up or down and holding them in place while re-screwing
- Overtightening the belts is an easy mistake to make
- The wheels on the gantry plate need to be quite loose (as long as the gantry doesn’t wobble)
- If you need to re-adjust the eccentric nuts and don’t want to remove the whole gantry, release the belts on both X-axis and bring the gantry wheel plate half out on one side of the bed. You can then adjust 2 of the wheels. Bring the gantry to the other side of the bed and adjust the other 2 wheels
Leak between the barbed adaptor and the solenoid
- You need a lot more Teflon tape and apply more strength than you might think
- Teflon tape needs to be applied clockwise
Additional information (firmware version, IP address, Wifi strength, etc.)
You can find a lot of addition information by clicking on the Farmbot OS’ version number
Farmbot is unlocked but doesn’t respond
- Restart the firmware (Device -> Firmware -> Restart)
- If that doesn’t help, re-flash the firmware and restart
Can’t connect / All is lost / There is black magic involved
- Re-flash the SD card
- Re-connect to Ethernet or Wifi through the usual procedure
- Re-flash the firmware
- Restart the firmware