Please

Don't know if this is the right place for questions about my custom built machine.

I built a CNC router mill for my guitar building business about 15 years ago. I relied heavily on this forum for ideas. But, now my mill has quit right in the middle of cutting a bridge.I am uploading some images of the components since I don't remember the models, etc.


Here are the components:

Campbell breakout board (CBB)
3-1100 in/oz servos
3-Viper drives Don't remember model The board shows Larken Viper 2007 I have an 80 volt power supply.
Mach3
The A-axis is rotational and uses a different servo and drive. I got them from DeskCNC.

I was in the middle of cutting a guitar bridge and it just stopped. Status line in Mach3 says External E-Stop Activated. I had just finished one operation and loaded the next G-code file, hit run and got the fault. I have been running this machine for 15 years. Now I can't reset it. I have found the "manuals" for the Viper and Campbell. They don't help me much.

With Mach3 running and the table power off Reset is flashing. The crawler next to the Reset button says "Press Reset!....Emergency Mode Active....". The Status window says "External EStop Requested". The EPO terminals of the CBB are connected to The NC pins of a relay.The coil of the relay is connected to a 5v (actually 3.7-3.8v) source on one end and the other end of the coil to pin 3 of the Warning and Fault terminal of the Viper drives. The pin is labeled Stop out in the manuel.

On the Mach3 Diagnostics page (No power yet to the table) all 9 home/limit boxes are lit yellow. When I turn the power on to the table all the home/limit switch boxes go out. When the switches on the table are depressed The corresponding boxes on the Diagnostics page light up. The Emergency box is flashing red. The Reset button is flashing.

When powering the table the red and green LED's on the Viper drives light up. The Green ones stay lit. The red ones about 5 times fast and then go out. Sometimes though the green ones won't light. This is intermittent and happens randomly on each drive.

On the CBB the green led is lit. The red LED's for the home/limit switches are lit. The red LED's for the X, Y and Z step/dir terminals are lit. When I try to reset the table in Mach3 a window pops up "Error On Reset" I click OK. I then disconnect the relay from the EPO terminals. The step/dir LED's go out. I hit Reset again. It resets and the Emergency box on the Mach3 Diagnostics page goes dark. The motors energize and hold station. Now I can jog the axes within Mach3. The DRO"s increment when the jog keys are pushed. The direction led on the CBB lights and goes out with change in direction. The step LED flickers dimly when jogging. The motors on X, Y and Z axes won't move. However, the A-axis which uses a DeskCNC drive does move.

I don't know what to look for to solve this. I hope it isn't something stupid that I did. Because it says an external request I haven't looked at software. Hope I explained everything well.

jdguitars

I just went to shut down my computer with Mach3 on it. I have Windows XP installed as a standard computer otherwise Mach3 won't work right. Since this has happened with my router mill XP doesn't want to shut down in a timely fashion. I end up having to press the power button for 5 sec to get it to shut off. It should reach a point when the screen says "It is now safe to turn off your computer". Don't know if that means anything.

So, I talked to Larken and it seems like the drives are OK since they hold position. It looks like the Campbell BB might have burned out a 7905 regulator.The com on the com step direction terminals isn't putting out 5 volts.
The two middle pins of the Viper drive needs 5v and that is where it gets it. Tomorrow I will put a 5 volt source on the com terminal and see if she flys.

jdguitars

Just wanted to say that I would not have discovered this on my own in a timely fashion. I have to thank Mr. Larken and his help.

jdguitars

Hope this was it.