Will a bad monitor keep machine from working

[dlenardu]

I have a Partner 1 with a Cent V controller. I was running a program and the screen started flickering, then went green, then blank. The program continued to run. When the program was done, I shut the machine down and tried to power it back up. The machine turned on and the lights on the keys flashed but the screen didn't come back on nor could I reset the servos and home the machine. So my question is, if the monitor goes out will it keep the rest of the machine from working or do I have another problem? BTW this is not the original monitor, the guy tha had it before me replaced it with a computer monitor taken out of the case several years ago.

[One of Many]

I wouldnt think so, but if the video card was shorted or compromised by the CRT/circuitry failure anything is possible once it hits the motherboard.

Hard telling what other mod's have been done to the wiring. The monitor should be on its own fuse. Simple enough to totally disconnect that monitor and borrow another to see what is happening.

If you need to replace the video card, the era the original video card was from used a character set in a location that new video cards no longer have. You will need to look for legacy cards so the display text looks proper. I've found a software patch, but it doesn't work all that well in the edit screens. The most basic cards seem to work the best. Nothing high end. I'm sure Milltronics would still supply something $$$$.


DC

[dlenardu]

Well I setup an external monitor and everything started working again. But just to check I hooked up the monitor in the machine and it started working again but then quit after about 5 min. Hooked the external back up and it would not work. Shut the machine down and turned back on with external monitor hooked up and everything worked all day.

Anybody install a flat panel screen? If so, what size?

[One of Many]

Well, it looks like you have found the monitor bad. Since reconnecting it only serves to kill something else, I'd not do that anymore.

We have changed out all 6 of our monitors to 19" LCD's. Functional for our adaptive needs, but annoying since the monitor is so large compared to what I am used to. Just a desktop monitor with a custom mount to the front of the control box upper left corner to leave access to the keyboards. For the most part, these multi-sync monitors have been plug and play.

I have one that I changed to a 12" LCD mounted inside the Control box. It is beautiful color, crisp and high contrast, but glitches every few minutes like there is noise or a slight timing sync issue. 99% of the time, I'll live with it for now. This was piece together with a laptop screen and a VGA LCD screen controller on the cheap.

I had been looking at some 12" LCD monitors like used on Point-Of-Sale PC systems. These are not as high of contrast, but may be multi-sync and function better without the headaches I went through. You can find them on Ebay from $30-$400. I'd avoid the touch screen type or remove it before installing.


The control being DOS based rather limits the type of graphics/video card the PC will tolerate. Besides the older Vesa character set, the displays of this vintage were also limited to VGA and SVGA. 800x600 being the max resolution for most monitor/graphics card compatibility. Some legacy graphics cards had DOS drivers and utilities that would allow eprom changes, so depending on its former life, it may or may not be setup for this application. Call it a crap shoot, unless you know DOS and legacy hardware well.

DC

[chipsinpan]

I replaced my monitor with a 12" flatscreen .
But they are pretty hard to find that small .
I made a small aluminum box that covers the hole the the original monitor occupied . Custom made to slide the new flatscreen in , then slid a cover of clear acrilyc over it .
It only sticks out about 1 1/4" .
Only downside is the shadow it casts over the keys , and the F keys no longer line up to the screen like the original ones do .
I have done this to 2 machines for about $125 each ( plus my labor )
CHIP

[trevj1]

I run a Partner 4 mill, with a Cent 5 control on it.

If the machine is run for any length of time with the the feeds and cutter rpm way up, the screen flickers, then cuts out. If allowed to continue, the control would eventually stop in place, and the machine had to be reset to continue. Minor PITA. Kinda figure the issue to be heat or a voltage drop due to loads.

Once that was determined, we found that we could afford to wait the extra minute or so, vs. having the machine crap out. Dunno if your symptoms will behave the same, but we found that lowering the rpm and feedrate allowed the control to carry on. Have not bothered to dig into it further, as we rarely need to run the machine as fast as all that.

I installed a 17" Philips LCD in a frame over the front of the control, and just left the original monochrome CRT in place. The Philips screen auto adjusted itself to the resolution it was being fed by the vid card, and has been a great mod. In addition, we got color, rather than the shades of yellow that we had before the potting fell apart on the back of the CRT.

Cheers
Trev

[ekap3537]

I have a 9 "black and white monitor from a security sys, that I want to use in our Milltronics partner4. It has no input for vertical or horizontal. Just a bnc vidio input jack and the (120vac cord or the 12dc) input. I have the pinout of the 10pin header as follows from my OEM # MD2000-190 TOSHIBA CRT ( 1%10=GND, 6=HOR SYNCH, 9=VER. SYNCH, 7=12+VDC, 8=VIDEO ) Im concerned which gnd goes to bnc b- and chassis gnd, and if I just need pin 8vidio to the bnc b+. and do I need to use hor. and vertical synch ? The picture tube is Almost identical and I could get it to fit like the original. Been about 20 years since I had to hack a monitor, and could use alittle help. Signed, Under the gun.....

[One of Many]

Originally Posted by ekap3537 I have a 9 "black and white monitor from a security sys, that I want to use in our Milltronics partner4. It has no input for vertical or horizontal. Just a bnc vidio input jack and the (120vac cord or the 12dc) input. I have the pinout of the 10pin header as follows from my OEM # MD2000-190 TOSHIBA CRT ( 1%10=GND, 6=HOR SYNCH, 9=VER. SYNCH, 7=12+VDC, 8=VIDEO ) Im concerned which gnd goes to bnc b- and chassis gnd, and if I just need pin 8vidio to the bnc b+. and do I need to use hor. and vertical synch ? The picture tube is Almost identical and I could get it to fit like the original. Been about 20 years since I had to hack a monitor, and could use alittle help. Signed, Under the gun.....

That monitor will not work directly since it is setup for composite signal, not VGA. There are converters, but that would be more costly than an older 14" color VGA monitor you could strip the case off and fit into the display pendant housing.

DC

[steedspeed]

I just took the guts out of an old 14 inch PC monitor and jammed it inside the box sitting on a couple of 2x4s.

By some miracle it worked perfectly.