I've attached a video of my x axis motor. It had been working fine since I built this 3 months ago. No issues. This time I was prepping to do some small cuts and it started acting up. It wasn't actually during a cut. It started making a grinding noise, then it would randomly change to the opposite direction, then it finally just stopped working. Is this a bad motor or could it be anything else??
Sorry, my ancient phone won't play mp4's, but from your description I would strongly suspect one intermittent connection in the stepper motor cable - look for a loose clamping screw in a terminal or broken conductor (could even be inside the insulation) especially where wires are flexed when the machine is in motion. Alex.
