Question Newbie 840 user from Belgium

Hi, i'm Valery from Belgium and since there wasn't a dealer in my country, i decided to buy my Stepcraft 840-2 at Sorotec in Germany. So far so good, the DIY-built went fearly easy... now i've come to the point where everything should talk to my computer...

And that's where it fails. I need to testrun my Stepcraft, but the UCCNC software doens't seem to connect with the Stepcraft. I didn't receive my license key, so i'm hoping that's the reason for that...

If i would post here a screenshot of the diagnostic page of uccnc... would anybody be able to determine why my Stepcraft machine isn't working?

You need the license key! It will not work without...
So wait for it.

Happy Easter!

Hello Valery,
You should have recieved the licence key automatically from our system via email after your order.
To be on the safe side, I have emailed you the licence key again a few minutes ago.

Best Regards
Roy

Amazing... i posted a message on the Sorotec facebook Messenger arround midnight on the Easer holiday and i actually got response minutes afterwards... resolving the issue the very next morning.

I received the licence key and now i have my Stepcraft 840/2 communicating with my UCcnc software... so thumbs up for Sorotec...

Next thing is the 0-testdrive where i'll have to fix another issue : my Y-axis won't travel to the very end, whereby the belt is hopping over the flywheels.... problably a built-issue by my self, which i will have to deal with...

But for now... from zero to hero in one day... thanks to the excellent support of Sorotec...

Unfortunately i keep facing problems before i can start with my 'Referenz-run'.

The Z and X axis can run from end to end, but my Y-axis keep stalling. I tried virtually everything which is suggested on the forum here : loosing the end plates, bit by bit, clamping the portal with blocks to reduce the very minimum of slack, but my 840 only travels like 770 mm and i can't manage to reach the very end, which ic crucial for that basic run, isn't it?

i would be happy if there was a way that i could use, say 40 by 60 cm of the baseplate, so i can start making things, which i presume would be a little less complicated then the finetuning of the build (which was fairly easy). But i guess, that's no option?

i'm the first to admit i'm not the finest amongst technicians, so any clue, hints or help would be great...

Dear Valery,

I have a Stepcraft 600 purchased last year, until now I am satisfy with it. So it’s possible to get this machine running believe me

A couple quick hints:

Disconnect any power from the machine and try to move the Y-Portal manual by gently pull at the belt at the back of the machine this must be possible without much fraction. By moving the belt manual you have a better feeling in the power which is needed to move the portal certainly at the beging and end.

Check the tension of the belt or it’s not too tight, you must hear a dull tone when you touch the belt as a guitar sting.

Make sure that the belt does not slide over the three roller bearings, the roller bearings must rotate freely. I had to fix a problem with the bearings.

Check the distance of the portal left and right relative to the front (or rear) of the machine, distances must be very equal otherwise the portal will lock when moving.

Check that the machine is correctly leveled.

Question : do you have purchased the book ‘CNC-Fräsen für Maker und Modelbauer” ? this book contains a lot of tips about building up and aligning the machine.

Belgium greetings,
Ludo

Hi Ludo,

thanks for the advice.

I finally got the machine running. i discovered that the Y axis were not parallel aligned after tossing the portal back and forth by hand (as suggested here on the forum and by Ludo) for a zillion times... i had losened up almost every screw and when the portal was able to travel al the way down to the front, travelling back to the other end wouldn't succeed any more...

Then i realised the machined wasn't built right-angled. After i omitted the base plate, all went well, until i relocated the base plate. I finally took my bench plane and shaved some microns of the base plate... It slided a lot easier into the machine and buckled every screw up and tried it... Luckilly the machine did it, otherwise it was for sale for now for sure...

For now, i was able to load the test file and have it a run...
Now it's time to make my own design en upload it to uc cnc from Aspîre... which i believe is another venture...

Hi Ludo,

where can i find that book? Could you give me the link of the webshop?

Hi vdh43,

Out of curiosity I searched the internet and found this link to the book you mention. Hope this is useful.

Peter

Valery,

Nice to read the Y-ases problem is solved, this book is also available at Stepcraft self.

Regards,
Ludo