If you find your centre point is moving or that balls are firing into the inside casing of the purple body, the first thing you should always try is to operate your machine in manual mode to see if this fixes the problem. It is likely that your machine will operate perfectly in manual mode which you may continue to use until you can obtain support to fix this issue.
Starting in manual mode
If Manual Mode did fix the problem:
This means there is a problem with your horizontal sensor. Most likely you are on an older version of software, possibly MAIN 2.8.7 or earlier as a software improvement was introduced in December 2014, (software version MAIN 3.0.0). Please note, updating your software will not fix this problem, it will simply improve the error handling so that you receive an HCAL ERROR 2 message on your screen instead of an alignment issue (balls firing into the inside of the case of the machine). You do not need to update the software to fix this problem.
You can check what version of software you have while your machine is powering on.
If you do have older software prior to 3.0.0, then please assume your machine has a HCAL Error 2 and follow the support steps in this article to troubleshoot your machine further. It is most likely you will either need to plug back in your horizontal sensor or replace it.
If Manual Mode did not fix the problem:
If manual mode didn’t fix the problem, then we can rule out the sensor as the cause of the problem. The most likely causes now are:
- Faulty horizontal stepper motor
- Horizontal gear teeth connection
Faulty horizontal stepper motor
When the horizontal stepper motor is faulty, it can sometimes result in erratic behaviour. The motor may move left or right unexpectedly resulting in an alignment issue. This can be established by watching how the machine behaves when it’s losing its alignment, so feel free to email us a video for our assessment of the issue. In many cases, this issue is caused by a wire coming loose from the plug connection to the motherboard. If this is the case, it can simply be fixed by plugging it back in. Simply remove the 4 screws from the control panel on the back of your machine and gently remove it. Then check the 4 coloured wires (red, green, yellow & blue) to the horizontal stepper motor plug (shown in the photo below) and tug on each one gently to check if it’s firmly connected. If you find a loose one, push it back in to the plug firmly and confirm that your machine is now working perfectly.
If this is not the problem, the motor will need to be replaced.
Step 1: Remove the purple cover
Step 2: Replace the horizontal stepper motor
Horizontal gear teeth connection
If it’s the horizontal gear teeth connection, you should be able to notice the machine slipping when it tries to move from side to side. Once the motor slips, it will not longer have the correct alignment. This is where the gear teeth are no longer meeting properly. With the machine turned off, you can try pushing the internal structure from side to side to see if the connection feels solid or if there is some slipping happening.
To investigate this further, you need to remove the purple body from your machine and then remove the pivot plate. Please check the condition of the larger gear teeth. If the machine has had heavy use, the teeth may have worn away causing the slipping. Sometimes, it’s possible to adjust the height of the smaller gear on the motor axle to align with portions of the gear teeth which are still in good condition. Other times the large gear will need to be replaced. It may even be that there is dirt or debris between the gear teeth which just needs cleaning out (we recommend an air compressor for this job). Lastly, sometimes it’s possible to loosen the 4 nuts on the horizontal stepper motor and push it harder into the gear for a better connection and then re-tighten the 4 nuts.
Although we don’t have a specific video explaining how to check the gear teeth the two videos above explaining how to take off the purple cover and replace the horizontal stepper motor should be very helpful in investigating this.