Partner 4 w/ centurion 4 losing servo drive

[tinker226]

I invite you all to join muy headache. I have been chasing a problem with my mill for quite some time now. I am looking for anyone's thoughts. My machine will power up, grid, and run for around Ten minutes. At that time the audible high pitch whine associated with the powered up machine goes quiet.if axis is running (any one) I will get an excess error. If the machine is idle, no error until axis tries to move.manually or automatically. The machine will cut even out if the machine is sitting idle. When it cuts out, I can manually jog the spindles and the screen shows movement, but the servos are not moving, until the excess error comes up and e stops the machine. If left alone, the machine will come back online by itself, but lasts shorter time until it won't come back until complete shutdown. I am 99% sure it is heat related, but what? When machine kicks out, I still have +-15v, 5v, 32v, and 72v where necessary. Transformer and capacitor for drives check out. Where do I look next?

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[ZZZZ]

It sounds like you have a problem with one of the axis drives.

I agree with you, it certainly could be a over-heating issue. Make sure all the fans are running and are clean.
Check the connectors on the axis drive cards and make sure the cards are clean also.
Dirty fans don't blow and dirty cards won't cool.

When the error occurs, look at the drives to see if one of them displays an error light. You may have to leave the door open to catch it, but that can help cool the cabinet.

Let us know what you find.

[tinker226]

I have run the machine with the cabinet open and the axis drives do not show error code. All fans are running and I removed all drive cards and visually inspected boards and connectors. Thinking back, I had an issue where the x drive servo was getting hot for some time before this latest problem surfaced. The issue was one of the lube lines for the ball screw cracked and fell loose. When the line was loose the oil just pooled under the table and never got forced on the ways, table was incredibly tight. Could this high load on the servo damage the drive board?

It sounds like you have a problem with one of the axis drives.

I agree with you, it certainly could be a over-heating issue. Make sure all the fans are running and are clean.
Check the connectors on the axis drive cards and make sure the cards are clean also.
Dirty fans don't blow and dirty cards won't cool.

When the error occurs, look at the drives to see if one of them displays an error light. You may have to leave the door open to catch it, but that can help cool the cabinet.

Let us know what you find.

[jimairth]

Spindle VFD trips off? (high pitch whine associated with the powered up machine goes quiet)? there is an external trip for VFD-not sure what triggers it.

[tinker226]

I spent some more time on the machine today. I think I solved the problem. New parts on the way and I will post if it is the fix. Upon closer inspection of individual components, I noticed the clear case on a relay was clouded showing signs of heat. I removed the relay and hooked it up to 120v power source and it activated. I left the power on and it eventually opened contact by itself, same as the machine was acting up. This dpdt relay triggers the servo disable circuit. I reinstalled the relay without the case on, powered up, and when the machine kicked out, I manually closed the switch and it came back on while holding it closed. There are snubbers installed on this and a similar relay for flood coolant (which was not working either...this relay would not even close at all when powered)they and others seem to be defective also. should be 220 ohm and show open cicuit. I ordered New snubbers too just in case they contributed to relay failures. Best news is the parts cost me less than $100 as long as this is the fix.

[tinker226]

Got the parts yesterday and couldn't be happier. After months of fighting the machine, an $11 part and one minute of labor too plug in a new relay the machine is running again. I was making chips and smiling last night! Thanks for the input and hope I can help someone else in the future.

[dkirby]

Tinker,
It is good to hear that you were able to solve your problem, and a bonus was that it was a cheap repair, and thanks for informing the rest of us on how you did it.
It may help myself and others to be able to repair there own machines, that run into the same problem.

Thanks, Dave,

[Joe Miranda]

Tinker - can you post a pic of the relay that you are talking about?