[RoboFutbol]

I know Practical CNC is out of business and service was always a problem. My router plunged into the table the other day and now will not move. I replaced the 8/10 amp fuse and still nothing. You can't hear the motors even engage when turning power on to them.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[RoboFutbol]

Looking like the controller is bad. Who offers a compatible replacement?

[cut more]

RoboFutbol,
What makes you say the controller is bad? I have a 2005 vintage practical router. On mine the "control" is just a box with 3 IMS stepperdrives, a power supply, and a board that connects the cable connectors to the drives.

I am not sure if yours is servo or stepper.

Cutmore

[RoboFutbol]

We have a servo unit. Normally when you turn on power you could hear the motors faintly. Now - nothing. I replaced the 8/10 amp fuse and it blows again even with motor disconnected.

[Dustin407]

Just to clarify some questions, is the router and bit still plunged stuck into the table? WHat type of router is it? This may sound wierd but this happened to my work associate, he owns a shop sabre. He had the same problem and he took the motor brushes out of the router sanded them smooth on the ends and stuck them back in... it worked. But it sounds like to me your router is working but none of your axis motors? If you could give more input on your situation it may help for others to give ideas on the problem...

[RoboFutbol]

Yes, the router turns on and runs with no problem. The unit just won't move in any direction (X, Y or Z).

[Dustin407]

Well it doesnt sound like a mechanicle problem. You have a fuse out or controller problem somewhere, and im the wrong person to talk to about that... sorry

[RoboFutbol]

Thanks anyway. Looking for a new controller now.

[Torchhead]

Most often when a drive (those are Rutex) goes bad it shorts one side of the H bridge and sends the motor off screaming until it crashes. They (against the advice of the Rutex vendor) did not fuse the drives individually and daisy chained the motor DC from drive to drive. Even if you could find a replacement drive you would be stuck with a way to tune it through the Rutex software (which won't work with the PCNC "motherboard" for the drives. Typically fuses blow right after the expensive components!. A 10A fuse takes about 100A of overload to blow almost instantly. FET's will blow in 100 to 200 microseconds. The PCNC servo controller is a truly wretched excuse for a design. They don't even have screw terminals inside for the heavy wires and just soldered and taped them together in big wads.

Their stepper controller design is a little better but still has little protection. Those drives are knock-offs of an early Gecko 201. The true Gecko G203's are a lot better drive. There is a whole story about why they quit using Gecko Drives and did not use MACH software but there is not space here to tell it!

I have a complete controller that will use the existing servo motors. See www.CandCNC.com/RouterPakPriceChart.htm and the RouterPak3. The pricing on the web includes the servomotors but call me and I can price one keeping your current motors. We have reto-fitted several dozen PCNC tables with full controls and even more with a THC that really works.

One PCNC router table I retrofitted had a nice commercial spindle but the VFD was not the right type, and they had no provisions for spindle speed control from the software even if it had been the correct version. It didn't even have a knob on the VFD to manually set the speed! When he asked about controlling the speed the customer was told by PCNC support that "oh, just run it at full RPM, that's what everybody does"

The PCNC machine is controlled by a WINCNC card and software. Upgrading to MACH3 is not that hard. You might even be able to get a few bucks for the WINCNC card and software :banana:

TOM Caudle
www.CandCNC.com