1992 Tree Kira VTC 30 Too Much Voltage Problem

[colbyshaw]

I'm looking at buying a 1992 Tree Kira VTC 30. The current owner says there's a fault on the machine and won't run. He also said that when he got the machine he rented a 3 phase generator to power it on and accidently powered it with 480 volts and the VTC 30 runs on 220 volts. He wants $4000 for the machine, but how much damage can running 480 volts through a 220 volt machine do. Does anyone think it would be worth $3000.

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[joeavaerage]

Hi,
a lot of damage could have been done putting 400V plus on a 220V machine. Commonly electronic devices have MOS varistors at the input, and while they smoke up and go bang, they
often protect stuff downstream, so you might get lucky and find not too much wrong,....BUT all the electronics could be toast to. Not really anyway to tell short of pulling it to bits.

I'm not familiar with the make and model of the machine. Lets imagine for instance that ALL the electronics are toast then ask yourself.... 'are the mechanical parts of the machine in good enough order
to command the asking price?'

With a machine of that age it is highly likely that you would have to up-date the controller, possibly the servos and other electronics anyway. There are plenty of posts on this forum
of guys whom have bought a good (mechanically) machine but have to provide a complete set of controls/electronics. Its not a cheap or easy exercise, but most end up with
outstandingly good machines at a small fraction of trying to but new or even secondhand in working condition.

Just as a pure ball park figure, lets say that you buy a controller solution like Mach4/ESS, or UC300/UCCNC, or a Centroid Acorn, or LinuxCNC/Mesa.....and you had to buy
three new servos and drives, you could spend anywhere from $1500 to $3000.

Now ask yourself...'is this machine investment what I wanted and does it represent good value to me for $4000 for the machine and another $3000 to get it going really well?'.

Craig

[colbyshaw]

Thanks for the feedback. I forgot to say that he he did replace a fanuc power board and has the machine on. It does have an error though and he can't get the machine to run

[joeavaerage]

Hi,
I have a look at a few similar machines on-line, and they look to be very good and rigid machines.

Fanuc have a reputation for being expensive. They also have proprietary protocols which can make hard if not impossible to fix without genuine Fanuc parts.

It comes back to the same question....'if I strip off the Fanuc controller and servos would this machine still be worth $4000'.

I'm not suggesting you have to or even want to strip off all Fanuc parts, but many guys have come to the conclusion that the older control systems, Fanuc in particular,
are a bit of a black art and they have no choice but to strip them off and replace them with something they can understand and buy off-the-shelf.

Craig

[Jim Dawson]

I agree with Craig, who knows what damage was done with that amount of high energy overvoltage. If the machine is mechanically sound then it is probably a good investment. Given that what the seller has there right now is a boat anchor, that brings the price down to about scrap price. Get it as cheap as you can. Maybe just offer to haul it off for him for proper disposal. I like to buy mechanically sound machines that have toasted controls. The controls are the cheap part today.

I have a very low tolerance for antique controls, and especially antique Fanuc controls. There are many modern options available at reasonable prices.

[joeavaerage]

Hi,

There are many modern options available at reasonable prices.

Double and triple that recommendation.

A control solution like Mach4/ESS or UCCNC/UC300 etc can be had for $1000 or less including a PC, so really the control part is pretty cheap.
Servos and matching drives are where the money goes...and often that's where guys try to retain the old servos and waste a lot of time.

Get yourself some good quality, well supported AC servos like DMM and Delta at very fair prices, way cheaper than Yaskawa/Siemens/Mitsubishi/Allen Bradley/Baldor....etc.

Craig