[CarveOne]

Now you got me wanting one of them damn cameras!
Dag Nabbit!

Coveting is hard work! :cheers:

I reckon I should call up GoPro and demand some kickback for the huge spike in sales this month from CNC Zoners.

If I get the 3D adapter, my friend will add one of his cameras and we'll post a CNC video made with it. Can't do it this month though. All tapped out from my own excessive coveting.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

And now some bad news.

While messing with this machine yesterday evening I discovered that if the gantry is at extreme rearward travel, just before end of travel physical stop, the lead screw adapters bind against the inside of the gantry riser plates. It wouldn't back out of it on one side. I powered down the G540 and manually rotated the stuck screw to get it free of binding again. Had to loosen the bearing plate screws to turn the lead screw.

The G540 no longer causes the motors (any of them) to clunk when it is turned on, and no response to pressing the jog keys. Following the setup instruction sheets from Gecko site, I have a brief red light, then a green light at power up. If I set the charge pump switch to ON there are all red lights. Same indications if no motor cables are attached.

I assume that the fuses (or driver boards) are blown, since it will display a green light with the charge pump set to OFF. Question is why would a stall condition on two motors blow the fuses for all four motors? There is 48vdc at the G540 input pins. Could this not be enough margin since the fuses blow at 50vdc? Maybe my line voltage went up yesterday.

Looks like I need to go visit the Gecko forum for a while today. I'll fix the binding probleml

And while this machine is DOA I may spend some time changing out some of my dust collector 4" pvc pipe to 6" steel pipe. I'll make a 6" dual blast gate for it soon. The flex hose will remain 4" from the ceiling to the dust shoe of each machine.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

Double post.

[Mountaincraft]

Well that sucks!

I bought the 203V's because I'm paranoid and envisioned the same thing happening to me with the 201's.. and not being able to afford to replace them... Does the 540 have any internal protection at all? Or are there totally vulnerable like the 201's?

[CarveOne]

Well that sucks!

I bought the 203V's because I'm paranoid and envisioned the same thing happening to me with the 201's.. and not being able to afford to replace them... Does the 540 have any internal protection at all? Or are there totally vulnerable like the 201's?

The G540 has four individual G251 boards in it. Might be G250 boards, I don't remember which they are for sure. There is some over voltage protection (output fuse) but they are not as "unkillable" as the G203V. I have four G203Vs in my big machine. They have 80v input and I run them with a 72vdc linear PSU. 2v of input margin (48v vs 50v) seems kinda close to me, but it is a regulated 48vdc.

CarveOne

[PaulRowntree]

There is a single, socketed input power fuse (7A I think) that you can see when you open up the chassis; it is green, looks like a molded resistor. It is easily pulled out and tested. Maris sent several out free of charge. What a company! He also gave DigiKey part numbers, which I can dig out if you would like.

Good luck!

[CarveOne]

There is a single, socketed input power fuse (7A I think) that you can see when you open up the chassis; it is green, looks like a molded resistor. It is easily pulled out and tested. Maris sent several out free of charge. What a company! He also gave DigiKey part numbers, which I can dig out if you would like.

Good luck!

Thanks, I already saw that and saved the info where I can find it again, and bookmarked it.

If it is in the 48vdc input there would be no LEDs lit at all. Even without the computer turned on the motors always thumped when the G540 was turned on, so that eliminates the XML file getting corrupted. The thumps aren't happening now but the green light is on. I can remove the connector covers on my cables at the G540 and see what voltage is going to the motor windings. I won't do that until I do some reading. A DMM has high enough impedance that it shouldn't hurt the driver (unless I slip and short out the pins).

CarveOne

[.xXACEXx.]

carveone , man say it aint so?...when things are going good thats when i really want to get my build started ,then when there is a problem i back up and think .hmmm do i really need that i hope ya get it figured out soon ,

Mariss can prolly tell ya what is wrong with that thing with both hands tied behind his back ,a blind fold,and both ears plugged seems every time someone is having a problem he has no trouble what so ever, im sure you will post the fix when ya "get er done" , again good luck!

[CarveOne]

I'm afraid that it is so. I backed off of it for a short while so I can get the dust collector upgrade completed. I have another carbon plate cutting job to do this week. I'll get back to the G540 problem by the weekend.

My friends Jeff and Cyrus did the skydiving show at 8pm this evening and the fireworks at 9pm were much better this year than in the past. Cyrus nailed his landing right where he said he would and the weather was perfect this time (other than needing to be 20 degrees cooler). Jeff did a near tree top fly-by for the crowd.

Hopefully the home central air conditioner compressor will be fixed tomorrow morning.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

For you guys who are into R/C flying and vintage aircraft here is a link to the flyinggiants site where there is a very good photo of Jeff Foley and his Stearman biplane.

When we were mounting GoPro cameras on the wing I asked Jeff "How the heck do you tune the needle valve on that danged engine?".

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

Aahhhh, the house is cool again! The compressor was replaced before noon today.

I discovered that the lightning strike last Monday evening also damaged the phone line from the house to the work shop. The red and green pair is fused together somewhere in the underground phone line. I rewired the outlet and the wiring at the demarcation box and switched to the black and yellow pair in the cable and the phone in the shop is back in operation. The phone had a blinking light saying the line was in use. After rewiring, the light is not lit anymore and the phone is working normally. Makes me wonder what else the strike did.

I spent some time joining some more dust collector pipes with sealant and installing some short sheet metal screws in the joints. I'll hang the longest (6 feet +) pipe assembly that goes to the big machine tomorrow morning, then join the shorter assembly that goes to this machine. When this is finished the dust collector can be switched between either machine with full suction, or used with both of the machines at once but with reduced suction.

CarveOne

[spyderxxx]

C1

I go on holiday and you manage to finish and then blowup your machine in less than 2 weeks. You are good.

Ed

[CarveOne]

C1

I go on holiday and you manage to finish and then blowup your machine in less than 2 weeks. You are good.

Ed

Dont'cha just know it? I'll pick up a surge protected power strip for it today while I am in town for other things. I have another parallel port card I can try, and I can put another computer on the setup temporarily. I'll get back to working on the problem by the weekend.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

Some news on the G540 situation. I messed with it a while this evening and found that although I could not hear a thump when the PSU is turned on, the four motors do actually lock up. Once I moved the lead screws by hand a little they thumped when I turned on the PSU and I can't budge the lead screws by hand. The G540 is likely to be ok after all.

I replaced the parallel port card, then I replaced the cable. No movement using the jog keys though. At this point I don't know if the step and direction pins have a signal on them at the G540. Tomorrow I'll look for a 25F to 25M adapter I made that will let me get access to the pins to see if there are proper signal levels on the pins.

There is a new surge protector feeding the monitor, cpu, and control box now.

CarveOne

[Mountaincraft]

Think maybe the BOB took the hit?

[CarveOne]

Think maybe the BOB took the hit?

That would be inside the G540 if it has signals getting to it's pport input connector.

I fired up the #1 machine and the X and Z axis runs but not the Y axis. The Xylotex controller board may have a dead driver chip. This one has no surge protector either.

I'll see if the big machine has any problems tomorrow. It has a surge protector feeding all of the equipment.

This may get expensive. !!!!

CarveOne

[PaulRowntree]

I am sorry you are having these troubles C1. Good luck!

I think I see a surge protector in my future.

[CarveOne]

I am sorry you are having these troubles C1. Good luck!

I think I see a surge protector in my future.

I think I see another one for the breaker panel being purchased today.

I was not at home when the strike happened. It must have been a really good one. The only damage has been in the work shop as far as I can tell. There is a ground rod at the underground power entrance to the breaker panel on the inside wall. The wall outlets powering the three work tables and the big machine have GFCI outlets on the three wiring branches. I guess that is not enough protection.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

The big CNC machine runs normally. It is the only one of three computers in the work shop that was plugged into a surge arrestor. All of the TVs and computer equipment in the house have surge arrestors as well as a "whole house" surge arrestor in the breaker box outside. I never installed the "whole house" type in the work shop breaker panel. I thought it was protected by the one at the house where power for the work shop was taken from, but that is clearly not the case.

The "whole house" type won't protect anything from a direct hit.

CarveOne

[CarveOne]

Worked on the 6" pipe some more today. Will start work on the double barrel blast gate next.

I will be working on a CNC job for the big R/C model project tomorrow. The material for some ribs and closeouts will be delivered sometime this evening. The rib jig pieces I cut in 1/8" birch plywood a week or so ago fit into pockets in the mold perfectly.

When this cut job is completed I'll set the big machine computer for the G540 and configure Mach3 for running the #3 machine to see if the G540 is ok or the computer is at fault.

Picked up a surge arrestor for the breaker panel today, and another surge arrestor for the work table that doesn't have one yet.

The GoPro camera and accessories will be delivered on Tuesday of next week.

CarveOne