Problem- Meltdown... Where to go from here

[AndyL]

Never let the CNC run unattended...

Not sure what happened, But lost all my electronics last night... Cutting parts to build a RepRap Prusa, things were going good - so I decided family time was in order...

I'll post some pics once I clean up after the fire extinguisher, had either a massive short, or the power supply went nuclear... Luckily the allen bradley panic switch melted off a contact, the GFCI didn't trip...

Word of wisdom - nema1 cabinets for electronics are great for keeping router fodder out, but don't make for easy access in case of fire... Got a nice deep burn on the finger trying to release the top catch...

Damage count - power supply, hobbycnc board, control cabinet, toshiba toughbook (the real pissoff - I hunted for a laptop with an LPT forever - power LED comes on, but don't even get beeps), at least the X & Y axis steppers (not sure on Z - my phidgets stepper controller didn't like the second test - its now dead) Gantry is in pieces, guess overbuilding with 1" acme threaded rods wasn't the smartest idea... Should have had a sacrificial part in there somewhere as a mechanical fuse to protect things...

--

Well on the bright side; Guess it's mulligan time... Been pondering some upgrades to the router table; and the 24x24 size wasn't what I hoped; seemed like a good mix when I built it - but I'm usually either doing something much smaller, or wishing I had a 4x8'.

Thinking it's time to suck it up and go crazy, build a high precision 12x12 desktop unit, then start on a 4x8 this summer for the bigger stuff...

But at the same time perhaps it's time for upgrades? Saw that the preorders have started for the grblshield - an arduino via USB is much nicer than trying to chase down more Laptops with LPT ports... And trying to keep legacy hardware running... Dunno - anyone have thoughts?

[louieatienza]

Damn that SUCKS! Reminds me of the days I thought putting all my mission critial stuff in a Raid0 array was a good idea, until the stupid neon lights in my case caused a power surge that zapped the drives (making wish I chose a redundant array config!)

I actually done something even more humiliating recently, but I won't comment further till the issue is resolved! As the band SuperSonic says, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end!"

[mmcp42]

ouch that hurts at so many levels
glad to hear people damage was low

and an opportunity to upgrade toys!

[AndyL]

Yeah, no people hurt, still stinks of electrical fire in here... That's the important part...

Looking at putting an arc fault interupter onto the CNC's power circuits, though that might require a whole new panel in the garage... Wonder if I can get one similar to the GFCI cord I'm using now?

[RomanLini]

Do you know what caused it?? Normally correct fusing will stop that from ever happening, although you can still get some nasty results if vibration causes a power wire to work loose and fall down and touch something.

I feel for you, that must be a horrible situation.

[AndyL]

No loose wires thus far - looking like the power supply must be the culprit... looks like it probably fed something way over - as the drivers on the hobbycnc are no longer there... tracings have lifted all over that board... so somehow either current or voltage went through the roof for some reason...

It was a cheap chinese ebay power supply, so it wouldn't surprise me if it was the failure...

[microcarve]

I saw 3 of them pop within a year once. What happened
was there was a period of time when some bad caps were
being put in some of them.

The caps would pop for no real reason...other than being trash...
then the inside foil would blow out like confetti and short out
everything inside.

Don't know if that's what happened, but it was a light show when
I saw it....

That was 6 years ago and I haven't seen it since.


John

[CarbonKevin]

Funny you mention that, I just came upon this today...

Capacitor plague - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by microcarve I saw 3 of them pop within a year once. What happened was there was a period of time when some bad caps were being put in some of them. The caps would pop for no real reason...other than being trash... then the inside foil would blow out like confetti and short out everything inside. Don't know if that's what happened, but it was a light show when I saw it.... That was 6 years ago and I haven't seen it since. John

[AndyL]

Probably something like that - haven't tried digging into the melted mess that is the power supply, likely just going to toss the works into the trash today, nothing left worth salvaging... and its a royal mess...