Hi everyone, I'm currently building a new cnc machine with dual y axis steppers driving ballscrews on each side on individual drivers just 1 being a slave axis over the other with mach 3. When i was testing out some max feeds on the y axis it come to the attention that 1 coupling had come loose so at one point 1 motor was pushing the gantry along on 1 side while the other was not so the gantry was twisting itself around so to speak (not much but maybe 5mm over the 1300mm span which is enough to concern me).
i haven't had a problem since tightening the coupling but it is of some concern that down the track a similar problem occurring or driver failing or stepper failing etc that 1 side of the axis will continue to drive while the other will remain stationary and end up causing the machine to break something somewhere.
My machine is a steel construction and the steppers would probably end up clutching out before actually breaking something but i thought if there was an easy limit switch arrangement others have come up with for this then i might as well install it.
I was originally thinking of having limit switches running on either side of the gantry (front to back not side to side) to the main frame and just off being triggered so that if 1 motor stops the twist in the gantry will end up making the limit switch activate and estop requested.
has anyone thought of anything for this situation?
i have new linear rails to go on each side so that will reduce any ability to twist the gantry anyway but im just worried as to what would happen if 1 motor fails etc...
Any help is appreciated cheers