HI all,
After battling this problem for quite some time, and scouring countless xwinder forum posts to find nothing, I finally found a solution to this problem I've been having. I have the 4X-23 kit, and when winding in 4 axis, at around 10-20% through a helical wind (never a hoop wind), the G code will stop advancing, and the machine will either 1. rotate the mandrel endlessly forever, and the program will display the phi angle as ever increasing, or 2. the delivery head will forget where it is and start extending into the mandrel, ramming into it (I have had mandrel damage due to this.
The steps I took to solve this:
1. Buy an actively powered usb hub that plugs into your laptop, in order to give the USB port enough power to have no issues (I used this cheap Anker hub that plugs into a wall socket https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0192LPK5M/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
2. Move the power supply that comes with the Xwinder as FAR away from the machine and from your usb hubs as possible. I did not need an extension for this, but only when the power supply is literally pushed as far as it will go away from the usb hubs, will these issues cease.
Only with BOTH these steps taken, the Gcode has run flawlessly for 11 layers straight. I suspect this is from some kind of EM interference with the power supply and the usb ports.
I figured because no previous posts had a clear solution, that this would help someone out in the future. I am a complete newbie when it comes to electronics so if this is common knowledge to all of yall then disregard, but I hope this helps anyone out there having these same issues. Happy winding.
Zach
