Problem- Machine meltdown

[ammach]

Hi guy's , I'm new to the CNC zone but have owned and operated the 325 for about 10 years now. I have kept up with the maintenance best I could since buying it used and have not needed to repair it much . Few boards here and there , Batteries .

But after running a tool few weeks ago , it went home , end of cycle . Sitting there waiting for me to change part , it just died. Shut off . Have not been able to get computer side back up .

The Drive enable contactor that makes a sound you can hear when you start up does not happen. After pulling the e-stop at controller (Dynapath 20) usually hit the re-set and the drive enable engages , I Have a (WDT) watch dog timer , fail lite on the AUX board , I pulled the board and put in a identical machine at another shop , run a small program and it worked fine.

Was told that the problem may be before the board and thats why the alarm lite is on , its not getting something , signal ? , to activate the Aux board. I have checked all the fuses , and the way it shut off tells me it blew something . Pulled all the boards out of chassis and cant see any obvious caps blown or anything that looked broke .

The Controller will not come on but have power from other cabinet . Checked all power readings and seems I have all the right numbers . I am in middle of replacing a micro switch that is on the quill hook up . It's on the right side of casting . Noticed the wire is in a tube so as it doesn't snag or wear as it moves up and down with quill .

Thing is , the tube goes all the way down to where wires hook up in other cabinet and I could see OIL that fill the tube 8" from sensor . Thought maybe the switch went bad due to soaking in oil bath. (Prox switch ) thats what it is . Anyway no lite when it passes a metal object . No power readings from old one , probably due to no power to controller ..

All messed up , have purchased a new CRT , power supply , and few boards for cabinet but no luck . This is the only CNC I have and shop has been down now since DEC. This is and was a Great machine , hoping it something simple if anyone has any ideas ? Last resort is to send computer to Dynapath and they will take the last bit of money I have to Diagnosis . Tax time is here , sucks.....

Any One have any thoughts ?

Tony
A & M Machine
Middletown DE

[philserveng]

Tony,

you have my sympathy......faults like the one you have can be a real pain, it sounds like you have done all you can do.

You say this all started when the Z axis homed after a program finished, it doesn't sound like the problem is program related. If you are lucky it could be the 24vdc is being shorted by a proximity or other switch, the way to progress this fault is to try and get the nc to power up first. I would disconnect the external 24vdc power supply from the nc, this should eliminate all switches connected to it. If the nc comes on with a lot of errors then at least you know the problem is external to the nc.

Try this first and report back. (your comment about the oil in the switch, if it is neat oil this wont short out the switch, neat oil is non-conductive)

[ammach]

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the reply , I just got a proximity switch in but havn't installed. I can take the power supply off the computer rack . Your thinking maybe the power from the other cabinet will allow the CRT to at least fire up with some warnings? Will try this weekend. The new proximity switch doesn't have the RED L E D lite so will try and see if i get any voltage change when I pass a piece of metal in front of it.

Thanks again for your thoughts.'

Tony

[ammach]

Long story short, had to send unit to Dynapath, Ended up being the start up circuit on the Aux board was blown . I paid a small fortune , but when I got it back , installed ,it fired up and it was like hitting the lottery. so far it s running fine. Only kicked out one time since I had it back(reason unknown). But think it may need another fan in the cabinet. Time will tell.

Thanks again for all the input , this sure was a learning curve.

[ions82]

Is there anything indicating just what exactly "blown" means? If I ever have a problem in a control, the first thing I do is replace the old electrolytic capacitors that are probably all dried out. I don't know too much about electronics, but that is what I did with a non-working Tree Journeyman 330 that I recently purchased. Fifty cents in capacitors and some simple soldering, and it was back up and running. In older controls, it seems that capacitors are one of the most common culprits for troubles. In my experience, people in the CNC repair field won't hesitate to charge someone $2K for 30 min. worth of simple work and diagnosis. The way I see it, that is exploitation. If I would've sent the whole control in for repair, I probably would've been hit with an exorbitant bill.

Anyway, it's great that you got the machine back in order. It must feel good to be making chips again after that much down time. Next time, be sure to post some pictures of everything. It definitely helps to get an idea of everything that is going on. I often forget to do that. Good luck with that Tree!

[CNCZONERAMICO]

Originally Posted by ions82 Is there anything indicating just what exactly "blown" means? If I ever have a problem in a control, the first thing I do is replace the old electrolytic capacitors that are probably all dried out. I don't know too much about electronics, but that is what I did with a non-working Tree Journeyman 330 that I recently purchased. Fifty cents in capacitors and some simple soldering, and it was back up and running. In older controls, it seems that capacitors are one of the most common culprits for troubles. In my experience, people in the CNC repair field won't hesitate to charge someone $2K for 30 min. worth of simple work and diagnosis. The way I see it, that is exploitation. If I would've sent the whole control in for repair, I probably would've been hit with an exorbitant bill. Anyway, it's great that you got the machine back in order. It must feel good to be making chips again after that much down time. Next time, be sure to post some pictures of everything. It definitely helps to get an idea of everything that is going on. I often forget to do that. Good luck with that Tree!

Interesting post, I had a similar circumstance with an AC unit that runs my shop, this is not a window AC but a large unit that mainly needed a start up cap for the fan motor, to get up and running. But prior to doing this replacement myself, I had called a local AC company to come and check it out, they quoted me $600, and wanted to replace the motor, I was like, "What makes you think it is the motor" and the service man went on with the scare tactic that, if I didn't do what they were recommending, I would have possible problems with the unit in the future, he had not even tested the motors or cleaned it or try to oil it and see if it was maybe a stuck fan, but I also knew that caps went bad on these units from previous experience.

I got lazy and I called these AC guys thinking that they would be honest, but when I saw the guy, I had a suspicion he wanted to make a fast buck and was trying to rip me off because I look like a nice guy and was in a hurry to get the AC working. When he told me the price, and he said possibly replacing the CAP, as well, for an additional 200 bucks, I got fed up!, got on ebay the same moment and looked up the CAP Part number, found , what I thought was 1 unit for $6.50 plus shipping, I was the only bidder and so I got the part(s) when I received them there were 6!!! caps in a box and I got them all for under $15 inc shi. I've replaced the caps twice and still have some left just in case. Got lucky maybe. I simply don't trust anyone, period! which makes it hard for me to make some decision sometimes, especially when purchasing items, that I have not seen, touched, tried, smell, tasted, etc.

Makes me wonder how many people get ripped off by the simple fact that they don't know or are not trained in a specific area, or maybe don't ask the right questions.

I can also understand that in a working environment, sometimes you simply don't have the time to be chasing options and that is when you leave room for others to charge you whatever they feel like it. Forums like this one are great, but even with this great medium, I find that you have to dig and dig to get the right info, this can be time consuming and a bit frustrating, but in my opinion worth it, if you think it saves you considerable amount of money.

I am in a dimlema right now with a machine that I used for making parts in my small shop, a series of issues with it and with a PC that went bad has forced me to finally try Mach 3 , but I am having connectivity and proper functionality issues and I am running out of time, my shop is down, I have orderd a new machine but it wont be in my shop for another month, so I am hoping I can get the older machine working with Mach 3. Se my post on the MAXPATH Router. I think it is a machine configuration issue but after spending 3 days already on it, almost with no sleep, I am just too tired and frustrated to think clearly... PLease take a look at my thread, would appreciate any help if you can.

[warrenb]

I have an ANCIENT tree 300 (1979 to be specific). i was having a heck of a time tracing a problem. It was a faulty oil level sensor. It wouldn't let the machine run when it thought it was low on oil. Imagine that, now I have a 1979 controller that works like it's brand new...

Otherwise I'm not much help. If it's a production machine it might just be worth to call a repair shop and pay the $100 an hour. I like to start simple though. I'll always check limit switches first. I've never seen control computers dies, just a sensor they depend on.

Good luck.