Y stepper faulty

[techtonix]

So after a couple years of dealing with intermittent and tight bearings on my Y axis, it seems like the Y stepper motor is giving out. (Autoroute 4)

I noticed years ago that as the gantry reaches the top of the range on the Y axis the bearings get tight and the gantry is a little harder to move.  If the rails have any dust on them, the bearings trip and cause the Y stepper to jerk and slip, destroying the work.  I had made felt guards to help keep dust off the rails and it's helped a bit.

Today I went in to use the machine (first time in months) and the Y stepper was slipping really bad. I spent the entire day taking the machine apart, cleaning the bearings, and so forth and the problem only got worse.  As the stepper was disconnected from the spindle and the controller sending a signal for it to move, it was stuck. 
I tapped the side of the motor and it suddenly kicked on.  I can only conclude that in fact the stepper motor is internally faulty. I'm not sure if it's been faulty all these years but I suspect it has been faulty for a at least a year. 

Anyone else have this problem?  Also what's the warranty on these machines? 
 

[savannahdan]

Looks like the warranty is for 1 year according to this:


www.axiomprecision.com/warranty


I also have a CNC Shark which had defective motors.  NWA was kind enough to replace all three of them at no charge, even when it was out of warranty.  I'm thinking they had a bad batch of motors during the time mine was assembled.  You might want to contact Axiom about your problem.

[techtonix]

I did contact them, but with the holidays in full swing, it might be a while to hear back. Was curious if any one else had the same problem and seems like you did with the Shark.

Looking back on the issue, I think it always had a weak Y stepper motor, from day one it slipped randomly.   

Looking at the serial number it was the 71'st one ever made, so there might have been a lot of faulty parts on my machine, I'm sure current versions have most of these flaws worked out.