Arrow 500 Could not be Aligned

[kilunee]

Hey guys,
I have a preowned CINCINNATI series 2 Arrow 500 (Model NO: EKK) and it can not be aligned now.
Error message as follows:

Alarm 39-148: NCA-Axis Pulse Enable Alarm
Cause: An alarm is being reported by the X axis drive in APC rack 5
(Siemens 611 drive node address 7)
There is no feedback being received from the drive
[X-AXIS5MDW BIT 13] (MW-PULSE_ENB) is OFF.
Remedy: Check the X axis drive fault indicator L.E.D.
Reset fault on drive. Refer to Siemens documentation for diagnostics.

Reset but still could not solve the problem.
I am not sure if the Mechanical Configuration is right or not since the machine parameters are not the same as default.

Scale feedback is used for both X and Y axis (Primary Feedback: Scale; Motor Connection: Direct; Index Invert A & B, Distance Coded are selected)
Encoder feedback is used for Z axis (Primary Feedback: Motor Direct; Motor Connection: Direct; No writing is selected)

Any expert on this?
I really want to hear some thoughts
Many thanks!

[maver1ck]

You indicated you reset the fault on the drive, but what was the fault? This control fault is just indicating your x-axis drive is reporting a fault. To figure out what is causing the x-axis drive to fault, you need to read the drive fault code before it is reset.

[kilunee]

The problem is here since I do not know the meaning of the code that I posted. I guess it might be the setting of Mechanical Configuration.

[maver1ck]

This control fault is indicating your x-axis drive is reporting a fault. To figure out what is causing the x-axis drive to fault, you need to read the drive fault code before it is reset.

To be more clear, when this fault happens, you need to open your electrical cabinet and look at the display on your x-axis drive. It will be flashing one or more codes you need to document and research.

If it is not faulted, it is possible the machine configuration is wrong, but seems unlikely since someone would have had to deliberately make changes to the setup pages for this to occur.

[kilunee]

To be honest with you, the machine had the z-axis alignment problem for a long time. Later, I got it aligned referring to some guy's advice from cnczone to reduce the feedrate override to 25%. But now the problem popped up again and the old solution won't work any more. And the error message is different. I referred to Siemens A2100 for the setting of scale feedback, encoder feedback for different axes but not sure the current setting is correct or not. Really confused!

[maver1ck]

Ok, it sounds like I may have jumped to the wrong conclusion earlier. I've been on the road and not able to check my notes, but the last time I worked on one of these with the Siemens drives, it was a similar alarm (I checked this morning, not the same), and I was thinking you had the same issue. Sorry about that.

I'm a little confused based on your description though. You used to have a problem with the Z-axis, now it is in the X-axis? Is it the exact same alarm so they may be related, or is it a different alarm?

Assuming you don't have a fault on your drive since you haven't responded to that question, when does this control alarm happen? You seem to indicate it is when you are trying to align the machine, but when in the process does this occur (i.e. the Z-axis retracts, then X & Y should move either a short distance or to the align switch, then each axis axis should go through a homing process)?

[kilunee]

Hi Maver1ck,
I really appreciate your time on that!
It is a really bad headache.

I think the two problems are related. As I mentioned before,we had z-axis alignment problem and I reduced the feedrate override to 25%. It worked well for about two years. Last week, the Z-axis alignment alarm (Z axis grid align failure) came back again and the old technique could not work any more. I checked on a document we have in hand: A2100-Rel 4.1x and confirmed the Mechanical Configuration as follows:

Scale feedback is used for both X and Y axis (Primary Feedback: Scale; Motor Connection: Direct; Index Invert A & B, Distance Coded are selected)
Encoder feedback is used for Z axis (Primary Feedback: Motor Direct; Motor Connection: Direct; No writing is selected)

And the following alarm came up:
Alarm 39-148: NCA-Axis Pulse Enable Alarm
Cause: An alarm is being reported by the X axis drive in APC rack 5
(Siemens 611 drive node address 7)
There is no feedback being received from the drive
[X-AXIS5MDW BIT 13] (MW-PULSE_ENB) is OFF.
Remedy: Check the X axis drive fault indicator L.E.D.
Reset fault on drive. Refer to Siemens documentation for diagnostics.

I am not sure if the Mechanical Configuration is correct or not. And I think the three drives did show some error code by blinking on the panel (like "ER581"?) when the machine could not get aligned. When the axes align are running, the Z-axis and Y-axis go to the align co-ordinate (+637.00 and +510.00) but X-axis does not.

I am thinking there is some trick on the Mechanical Configuration setting since I learned that X and Y axes are using scale feedback and Z-axis is optional for scale or encoder feedback?

Thanks a lot for your input again!

[maver1ck]

What the mechanical configuration should be depends on what your machine has, so unless someone changed these settings, they are unlikely to be the problem. Assuming you have Scales on X and Y, but not on Z, what you have posted looks fine.

Based on the alarm the control is posting and your description of when the machine fails, the problem sounds like it is in the X-axis, not the Z, so you probably have 2 separate issues to work through (although your Z issue sounds like it could be related to the align switch).

From my experience with these machines, when you first turn on the machine, all drives should be flashing alarms that indicate communication issues related to Profibus. These are not relevant. Press the green button to power up the drives, these alarms should all disappear. If not, document the alarm code(s) flashing and which drive has the alarm.

If the alarms disappeared as they should, try to align the machine, and when it fails, check the drives for codes again. If multiple codes are stored in the drive, they will flash through the codes, document each of them to ensure you don't miss anything.

[kilunee]

Maver1ck,
I will do what you suggested and let you know what happens today.

Thanks

[kilunee]

I turned on the machine and the following code appeared on each of the three drives: E-A831.

When I tried to align the machine, only one drive (labelled DRV3-A1, DRV4-A2) shows the code: E-A608.

When I reset the LED indicator and align again, the same code shows up on the same drive.

[maver1ck]

OK, now we are getting somewhere. Need proper information to give you the help you need.

As I mentioned the first faults in the drive are not relevant, but so you know what it is indicating, the E-831 alarm means "PROFIBUS is not in the data transfer condition".

The second fault is finally getting to what we need to know. E-608 is "Speed controller output limited". Essentially, this means the drive is trying to move the axis, but it isn't getting feedback indicating there is motion.

Typical things to check are motor connections and encoder/scale connections. If you recently changed any of the components on this axis, they may be at fault, and if parameters in the drive have been changed, it could cause this. Check your prints to verify the axis which is faulting, but based on the control alarm, it is most likely the X-axis.

Check to see if the axis can move freely. With machine power off you should be able to move the table by pushing on it (although it does take some effort). If you are not able to move it, remove the waycovers and try to turn the ballscrew. It should move freely and feel smooth. If you can't turn it by hand, something is mechanically preventing the table from moving.

[kilunee]

I checked the machine again and also called the company but with no luck.

The same code E608 showed up on the same drive and the other two drives showed E599 also. Z and Y axes can be aligned properly. X axis could not.

Interesting thing is when I selected scale feedback for X, Y and Z axes (no writing for all of them, no distance coded for Z), the "Y axis grid algin failure" showed up. The problem can switch to different axes! But that seems to confirm my suspicion on the Mechanical Configuration of the machine.

Hopefully there is some way for me to figure out!