DynaTorch motor failures, Anybody else having same trouble?

[WSS]

Myself, I have heard plenty. I must say that DT has two really strong points. One is their control software and nesting package from we-cim and the second is their tech support. What they are lacking in is solutions. You would not believe the amount of time I have spent with tech. At this point any ideas they have are on my company's money (and time, I am cheap but not free).

WSS

[big iron]

Hi there, did you ever get to the bottom of your motor failure problem?
My Dyna Torch machine is about 5 years old and has been through a major upgrade 2 years ago, changed to dual drive X access with all new gear racks and pinon gears ( finer pitch), also added air hold cylinders.
We installed an Omic sensor and the new enclosed aluminum slide unit for Z access, prior to the slide change out our torch would hold in the up position when powered down however since the change the torch drops very fast to the stop dampers on the bottom of the slide when powered down.
So far not a problem however I am not happy with the torch drop at shut down .looking for cure to this as I have be told that this could cause motor feed back?

[super95awd]

super95awd,

Just curious, is your slave add-a-motor harness hooked to your Z motor or your Y motor on the carriage? It is the other end of the rolled up cable that sits on the end of the slave motor and fits in between the power input cable on either the Z or Y (mine is the Z).

WSS

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking as I haven't paid too much attention to it, but let me inspect further and I'll let you know.

[WSS]

Hi there, did you ever get to the bottom of your motor failure problem?
My Dyna Torch machine is about 5 years old and has been through a major upgrade 2 years ago, changed to dual drive X access with all new gear racks and pinon gears ( finer pitch), also added air hold cylinders.
We installed an Omic sensor and the new enclosed aluminum slide unit for Z access, prior to the slide change out our torch would hold in the up position when powered down however since the change the torch drops very fast to the stop dampers on the bottom of the slide when powered down.
So far not a problem however I am not happy with the torch drop at shut down .looking for cure to this as I have be told that this could cause motor feed back?

big iron,

No, we have not solved the problem. No solution has been offered. That said, we will be retro-fitting our table next month with a more reliable servo system from CandCnc. It is expensive to be sure but we believe it will be more cost effective than our current set-up in the long run. The new system has double the warranty of DT and will provide solutions not just parts.

It may be that our table size is just to big for those tiny motors, as Animatics stated in there diagnostics, the board may have collapsed on decel (sudden stop). I know we are not the only ones with major problems here, but I am not sure they are large gantry kits as well.

Your new slide has a ballscrew which is basically threads on bearings and that is why your slide drops when the power is removed, you may notice while powered up that the Z gets a bit hot and seems to vibrate, that is the controller holding position. That INA slide is a very nice and durable Z axis. I pulled the plugs on our Z motor and put a volt meter across it and let it drop about ten times to see what kind of voltage it would generate and had 12 volts tops, most drops were 8 volts. I was assured this was a safe voltage.

WSS

[plain ol Bill]

WSS I really think you will be happy w/ the CandCNC electronics. The customer support is top notch and Tom really bends over backwards to help his customers. He made things work for a dummy like me so I know you will have no problems.

[big iron]

WSS, please let us know how your change over works out.
I have a very large/ old Linde electric eye cutting table that works however we don't use it much, would like to retrofit to cnc. Cand may be the ticket for us as well.
In regards to our Dyna Torch I can see that the Z axcess drive shaft does in fact rock back and forth( small amount) in the up/idle position.
And yes the Z axcess motor will warm up a little more than before???
I have noticed that over time since we installed the new slide assy that we have had to increase our plasma down force.
For a long time we where at 40 now we have it set at 70, our slide assy moves very freely, no drag at all, however If we try to set at 40 now the torch attempts a down move (about 1/2") stops/fires the plasma and sets a fault.
Anyway I am now happy with how the machine works now but we have spent many thousands of dollars up and above the cost of the machine to get there.

[WSS]

WSS, please let us know how your change over works out.
I have a very large/ old Linde electric eye cutting table that works however we don't use it much, would like to retrofit to cnc. Cand may be the ticket for us as well.
In regards to our Dyna Torch I can see that the Z axcess drive shaft does in fact rock back and forth( small amount) in the up/idle position.
And yes the Z axcess motor will warm up a little more than before???
I have noticed that over time since we installed the new slide assy that we have had to increase our plasma down force.
For a long time we where at 40 now we have it set at 70, our slide assy moves very freely, no drag at all, however If we try to set at 40 now the torch attempts a down move (about 1/2") stops/fires the plasma and sets a fault.
Anyway I am now happy with how the machine works now but we have spent many thousands of dollars up and above the cost of the machine to get there.

big iron, you can loosen the four hold down screws and re-position the slide up or down to get away from that rough spot. We found that when the torch touches off around the same position every time it tends to get a hang up area and we would have to increase the down force as well. You can also remove the screws holding down the magnetic cover and put some light grease on the rails and ballscrews. Just remember not to pull out the leadscrew from the nut

I should add that the higher downforce has other repercussions too, It will flex the material more and not retract high enough to get a good pierce and trash nozzles in a hurry.

plain ol Bill, Thanks for confirming my choice of products. Torchead has already been a big help and we do not have the kit on the ground yet. I have been doing some pre-retro-fit work so it should be a LONG weekend install if all goes right. I will have to make some room for the nema34 mounts and the new Z slide before hand. I will be working on the water table too before hand.

WSS

[LeonD]

We (Dynatorch) generally try to avoid getting involved on these pages so as to avoid being seen as interfering with free exchange. We do not want to censure or get a "sales talk" only image. We also see that you folks do very well on your own. I do think that if I can find the time to check in more often, perhaps I can drop some useful information your way. The issue on this thread is important and deserves a response.

We have been using Animatics motors since our inception. The unique abilities of these motors has been a cornerstone of our design and low cost. For a long time there were no issues with motors failing unless abused. More recently, it appears that the quality of the motors has fallen away. Animatics has flat refused any warranty for us. We have absorbed all warranty costs for our customers. I have sent motors in for evaluation. We have to pay for every one of these. The reports I have received back are very short and useless. The one listed here is far more detailed than any I got. It was usually "application error". Nothing more. Since we do not know the internals of these motors, we can not diagnose the cause and effect a solution. Nothing has changed on our system design during this time while failures have increased. There was a batch of motors last year that Animatics claimed were assembled with inferior components. These motors WERE warrantied by Animatics. If we found a machine with any of these motors we immediately had the customer return all the motors with serial numbers from that batch rather than wait for inevitable failure.

We have, and will continue to support our customers as always. Animatics has begun sales and promotion of the new Series 5 motors. (old ones are series 4). These are not interchangeable with the earlier versions. All software requires rewriting and no system with series 4 can use a series 5. Since this is the case, we decided to pursue a new drive system to replace Animatics. The new servo system we settled on uses a more standard drive layout with separate drive amps and motors. These are higher torque and have 10,000 count encoders. Servo update rates are 50-100 times faster allowing for greater detail. Sinusoidal ramping also smooths operation. These are 400 watt where the Animatics were 200W. Overall this system does cost more but it can handle bigger machines and has more long term expandability than the old system which Animatics is discontinuing development work on. The new system is more in line with high end industrial machines but is still 25-50% as expensive and our same software interface is used so any user today would not be able to tell the difference in operation.

Thanks to all of you out there for your loyalty. We will always be there for you and must look ahead to improve our products on a continual basis. Standing still is not an option. More new products soon and perhaps I can drop some ideas here to assist your cut quality and operation.
Leon Drake - Engineering