Board going haywire

Board Configuration and Setup
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#1

Machine: K40

Board: Cohesion3D (Order info redacted for privacy)

Firmware: Smoothie on MacOS

Problem/ Question: I’ve had my board for about 2 months now and everything was working as it should. Now the laser jumps on the x axis as it’s engraving and the lines are not smooth at all. I though this would be a grounding issue, so I checked all of that and everything is fine. I then proceeded to swap out components and nothing has helped. I have purchased a new power supply and laser tube and with both new, I am still getting the same result. As I was testing, I noticed the LCD control board doing some weird things. Very shortly after starting a job, the display would go wonky and display strange characters and garbage. This leads me to believe the board has crapped out in some way, but I’m no expert. The power supply and laser tube I swapped out for new were only 2 months old as well and seem to work just fine. Mirror alignment is good as well.
Is there a warranty on the board? Is there a post or any other test that I can do to verify the board integrity?

Images: “Sorry, new users cannot upload images.” I can provide images and a video upon request.

#2

Hi Robert,

Welcome to the forum! I have upgraded your trust level so that you can now upload photos.

Please provide clear pictures of your machine, control panel, board, other electrical components, and wiring. We need to see how and where everything is connected.

If you would like to provide a clear video of the exact steps you are taking and results you are getting, please post it on YouTube or another site, then paste the link into a reply here.

image

Is this what you are seeing? This scrambled screen is typically an indication of electrical interference, specifically inside the cabinet where the board and wiring is. Make sure your HV wire is away from all of the other devices in the electronics compartment.

It is worth making sure that the machine is properly grounded. If you need steps on how to test this, I can provide them.

The LPSU is a particularly large source of electrical noise / interference, so you’ll want to make sure that the 2 ribbon cables going to the GLCD are tucked away as much as possible from that and any other wires, especially the high voltage wire from the LPSU.

Some people have had good results with protecting the ribbon cables with an EMI / EMF shielded foil (or aluminum foil).

#3

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