I have had my Sieg x3 for over a year and a half and have not gotten one single decent part machined in it. While trying to make a part today it began stepping its cut along the Y axis, like usual.
Normally, I would just curse at the machine and break out the well used files.I then had the idea that perhaps it was a backlash problem and proceeded to try to adjust it using the backlash function in Mach 3. Not only did this have no discernible effect, the longer I ran the mill, the worse the step became. I tried to photograph some of the circles to show the test.
Its hard to make out in the picture, but the step becomes progressively worse. My question is, is this indicative of a bad stepper motor or some other electronic/ mechanical issue? Any suggestions on how to salvage this machine?