Torq Cut 22 Tool Changer Problem

[MetalicGlow]

Hello Everyone,

I have a 1996 TC-22 and it has been mostly trouble free since 2002. Today I started it up like I always do and proceeded to run parts. On the first tool change I heard a loud "BANG" and ran over to see that happened. A plastic tool holder finger had broken off and the tool holder went crashing. I thought maybe it was stressed over time like a 2 or 3 other fingers have done over the years. So I relocated that particular tool into another tool slot in the carousel, modified the part program to reflect its new location, and began another part cycle. Only this time it broke ANOTHER finger off during the part cycle.

I read the manual and followed instructions for resetting tool changer height and noticed that the Z axis tool change height was about 1/2" higher than it should be. No wonder it was breaking off the tool holder fingers.

I reset/saved the proper tool change height after adjusting the Z-axis into place - something I haven't had to do since I bought the machine in 2002.

Then I rechecked all TLO offsets and expected them to be off, but everything there was perfect. How can the tool change height suddenly be 1/2" off but not the tool offsets as well?

I then rebooted the machine and before DOS loaded, got an error message that says " CMOS battery problem, defaults loaded....press F1 to continue" (This is the first time I've ever seen a CMOS battery error message since I got the machine.)

So I pressed "F1" and everything loaded and came up normally. I even checked the tool change height again and it was correct. So even though the CMOS battery is dead, the control is recalling/moving to the correct tool change height.

On a weird side note: when in the settings page>tool change(6)>Password (9)>Start (1), the Z axis moved to tool change height and the spindle orients as usual, except the coolant turns on. I have not seen that happen before.

Could a bad CMOS battery cause the inconsistent tool change height problem?

The second time I ran a part program after resetting the height, it successfully did 2 tool changes before breaking the finger on the 3rd tool change. So, whatever the problem is, it is not consistent.

How can this machine function at all with a bad CMOS battery?

I looked at the 3V button cell on the motherboard and it did not appear to have been leaking. Can I replace the cell with the machine turned on and not lose CMOS settings?

Any help would be appreciated.

--Metalicglow

PS. Where can I buy replacement fingers?

[machintek]

Your height is a parameter stored on the hard drive as BMDCPRMS.SYS thus if your CMOS has corrupted because the battery is low, it may not read the hard drive correctly thus creating such issues. Part of the cMOS are the hard drive parameters such as heads, cylinders, sectors, etc. Change the battery and check your CMOS settings.

George

[MetalicGlow]

Thank you for the response George.

I put in a new CR2032 CMOS battery. The new battery voltage measured 3.25V. The old one measured 2.75V. That does not seem like it was a dead battery after all.

QUESTION: Is 2.75V considered low battery voltage?

Also, I did the battery change while the machine was running. Before I put in the new battery, I expected to get the CMOS battery error on boot-up, but didn't this time. I was messing around with the battery retaining clip before that to see how easy the old battery would come out. Maybe it cleaned the contact points just enough to get a good connection once again.

Anyway, a new battery is in and I am assuming that the default CMOS values are in effect. I have not run any part programs yet, but I did check TC height and it was perfect. I am a bit jittery about diving back in and running the risk of breaking more tool holder fingers at the tune of $40 a pop.

After holding the DEL key while booting a second time with the new battery in, it brought me to the setup screen. After doing some research here on the forum, I hear that "LBA" needs to be turned OFF in order for the machine to work properly. I looked through every page in the settings and only found one mention of "LBA" . I attached a photo of that screen so you can see what I am referring to.

The screen in the photo is for "auto detect HDD" settings page. The red area tallys what is currently set as per what was "auto detected" since I did get an error message yesterday indicating that default values where loaded.

On the first line in the red area, and to the far right side is "LBA" underneath the column heading: "mode". I am a bit nervous about changing anything here since the HDD can be wiped out with the wrong settings. Should I do anything with the settings to change the "mode" to something other than "LBA"? I am a noob when it come to this stuff. The MB was replaced on this machine in 2002 after the original MB died.

Should I run it as is, or?

I appreciate any guidance as to what I should do next!

Metalicglow

[machintek]

You may need a new bible. Mine is called DOS for Dummies.
Here are some additional things to muddy up the water.
None of the hard drive parameters are acceptable to me. Why? Because all these old mother board BIOS do not like a hard drive with a capacity greater than 528MB (or is it 504MB). Try and find a new hard drive that small. Cannot be found. So what we do, is buy a small hard drive and FDISK it to the 504MB partition. Then load dos, etc.
When I approach a unknown machine I boot from a boot floppy and run Fdisk to see if it was done correctly for that mother board. Then I can check the CMOS. Typically a 504 MB hard drive has 16 heads, 63 sectors, and 1024 cylinders. Running the hard drive seek does not guarantee correct hard drive parameters. Thus people either educate themselves about all this or call a service tech. From where I type, I do not know what size hard drive you have and how it was FDISKed. Then there is FORMAT and SCANDISK to see if you have any bad sectors on the hard drive or corrupted data. Even scandisk is not perfect. Quite often, it is easier to "nuke" the hard drive and start from scratch.
A lithium battery has a lot of energy density per size but more important is that it has a very flat discharge curve. So the voltage stays high for a long time and then drops off dramatically. So it the voltage has dropped, it can be considered dead. The concept is that the voltage stays above 3 VDC to maintain memory logic.

George

[MetalicGlow]

I have a spare small hard drive to start with. I also have a diskette that was made using the MAKEDISK.BAT utility. Once I format, partition to 504 MB, and install DOS 6.2, what is the procedure to reinstall the files on the makedisk diskette? Is there an .exe file to run, or do I simply copy A:*.* to C:?

I have a feeling that my existing 540 MB hard drive (which did not originally come with the machine) was never partitioned since my machine has ALWAYS done weird things such as run certain canned cycles BACKWARDS, for which I was able to find workarounds

Thanks for the help.

Metalicglow

[machintek]

You have to do a DIR of the floppy to see if there is a INSTALL.BAT file on it. If so that is what should load the software. I typically use a software disk from Bridgeport. It uses a install.bat file to load the software. It asks for a disk that has the BMDCPRMS.sys file which is the parameter file. It has to be current for the TC height and orient to be correct.
The make disk utility does copy the BMDCPRMS file and the leadcomp.dat file if present.

George

[MetalicGlow]

Thanks George.

I have an INSTALL.BAT file on the backup, so I think I am good to go there. No CMOS changes have been made since I replaced the battery, and have been running my machine with the default settings of 540 mb for the existing hard drive.

I won't say everything is working as it should because it NEVER did since I took delivery of the machine. However, the machine works exactly as it has since delivery. The tech who replaced the HD before I got the machine probably didn't partition the drive. Nevertheless, I want to do it right so I am gathering what I need to do so.

The extra HD I have is 540 mb like the existing one in the machine, so I got my hands on an old 420 mb HD. All I need now is DOS 6.2. I have DOS 5, 6, and 6.22 but not 6.2. A friend of mine will get it for me as soon as he can "dig it out".

Another prolific poster here stated in an old post that a "system disk" should be made on a floppy before running MAKEDISK.BAT to copy the backup files to it, so as to be able to boot from the makedisk backup floppy. I did it this way, but was wondering why is this a requirement, given that I would have a HD with a fresh install of DOS 6.2 already on it?

Does this mean that I should boot from this system disk in the floppy drive when running INSTALL.BAT to reinstall BOSS and the parameter files, even though the HD already has DOS 6.2 installed? This is confusing to say the least.

Can I copy all files currently on my existing 540 MB HD to the reformatted 420 MB HD, thus making a "plug and play" mirrored replacement HD, while not needing to get a copy of DOS 6.2 and reload machine software? Or is the installation on my existing HD somehow machine specific?

[machintek]

You can create a boot disk from the control.
The command is FORMAT A/S. This formats a floppy and makes it bootable. I then transfer such items as FORMAT, FDISK, EDIT, SCANDISK, DEFRAG, etc.
This allows me to go up to a machine and do some investigation and repair. It also allows me to prepare a HD for use.
Once a HD is FDISKED, partition made active for DOS, I can put in disk one of the DOS set and reboot and DOS will load. Once DOS is loaded, put in the back up floppy and use the install.bat. This will install the machine software. It is machine specific as it is for a particular type of machine, a particular version, and the parameter file is generic with machine specific items such as TC height, orient, backlash, etc.

George

[MetalicGlow]

This makes perfect sense. Thanks for the informative responses.

Metalicglow