[slowtwitch]

Hello folks, In a past post I stated that I re-flowed my main board to solve an issue with my front display. Everything was working great... That is ...until I installed my probe setup and had to remove the front panel.

Then the disappearing display reared it's ugly head again. Apparently, when I did the re-flow and installed the panel, I inadvertently applied pressure to a certain spot and created a good connection. I thought all was good. Till, I had to remove the front panel. It took a few days for the problem to arise, but, it did come back

I really don't care about the front display, as I do all my machining through Mach3. The big problem was that every time the display would disappear, Mach would go into an E-stop situation. Kind of a pain, especially in the middle of a part.

Anyway, I loosened the front panel and hooked it up to a separate 5 volt dc supply and began tapping the front panel. The screen would start disappearing at one particular spot. This was in the area of the ltp-1 port. I then wiggled the ltp-1 cable and the screen would disappear. I quickly assumed it may be a bad parallel cable. Fortunately, I had some cable ends and made up a new cable, using ribbon wire...

I connected the new cable , but, the problem was still there. I would give the cable a small wiggle and the screen would disappear. This kinda told me that there is a problem on the board. When I did the re-flow, I only worked on the circuit board under the main board...

Anyway, I removed the top board and thanks to my bench mounted magnifying glass and a bit of luck...I wiggled each pin on port 1 and found one of the pins moving from the backside. I re-soldered all the pins on port 1and hooked the panel to some 5 volts...wiggled the cable and this time no disappearing display

I reinstalled the panel on my mill and ran it over the past 5 days and the display has not disappeared and Mach3 has not gone into an E-Stop situation.

It's back to making parts

[mcphill]

Congrats on the fix. BOO to Phil for yet another electrical problem on an "industrial" machine... He has told me several times that his primary customer base is not the hobbits and that his industrial users have zero complaints. I sur don't buy it!

[MIKINI MECH]

Here's a great example of an inaccurate statement. We've been requested, directly, by this user, in public forum, to correct such statements, so here it is.

We have never stated that our "industrial users have zero complaints"

In fact, we just posted, as the top line of a previous post "We're not perfect".

We do, quite frankly, segment review (not provision of) our warranty and service support time and costs, per machine, on an annual basis, by machines delivered to commercial and residential addresses.

The numbers show, year after year, that the same machines, shipped to residential addresses, have greater warranty costs, and more frequent support requests, to a significant degree. We support and honor claims identically, but on review split the numbers. It's not a fluke, it's a very significant trend. In specifics, over voltage events and physical damage are the leading causes of claims on residential shipment machines. Wear related issues are nearly non existent however for residential shipment machines, and load related issues are a wash over 4 years.

(See our request for input on bearing life of a machine we're considering for 2013)

--

this thread is regards an issue that is noted below, by the original customer, to seem to have been directly caused by a removal of a component. It's not a frequent failure mode we have documentation of, but if it is, we're happy to address it.

Quote "Everything was working great... That is ...until I installed my probe setup and had to remove the front panel. Then the disappearing display reared it's ugly head again"

automated machine tools are complex devices. We're here to build, service and support best in class solutions. We're here to help, when things cause un-intended results.

--

Lastly an editorial comment - What's with the hostility ? We ask for our users to remain as professional as possible. Love us, hate us, indifferent, we have no issue with any of the above - just do so in a respectful manner. If this is not going to be the case on this forum site, we'll respectfully decline to participate.

Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

Congrats on the fix. BOO to Phil for yet another electrical problem on an "industrial" machine... He has told me several times that his primary customer base is not the hobbits and that his industrial users have zero complaints. I sur don't buy it!

[mcphill]

I don't see it as hostility, I see it as exasperation. Once again you post a lengthy response to a post, and once again you fail to provide even one shred of useful information that can help with regards to the issue in the thread.

Several people on this forum have stated that they won't be calling Mikini any more for support for the same reason. The caller gets TONS of talking to, but very little or no useful information that can actually solve the issue that was the reason for the call in the first place. If the amount of effort expended to create lengthy responses that don't supply any real information could instead be directed to creating usable information that could be disseminated to many over the website or this forum, the whole situation could be MUCH better for all of us.

[MIKINI MECH]

Once again you fail to provide even one shred of useful information that can help with regards to the issue in the thread.

What information in specific would you be looking for here ? The original post encompassed a problem, reason for the problem, and solution.

This particular issue appears to be resolved, unless we're missing something.

Additionally, no request for support of this problem has been logged (either in this case, or previously). We'll add it to the database if this user chooses to contact us. We can only fix what we know about.

The take away here, in our opinion, is to use care when moving cabling, removing components and servicing systems (true for any device of this nature).


Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

[slowtwitch]

Quote "Everything was working great... That is ...until I installed my probe setup and had to remove the front panel. Then the disappearing display reared it's ugly head again"

Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

If you read any of my threads, I had the disappearing display problem long before I installed the probe( read my re-flow adventure). If you would like I can show you how to install the probe in these complicated systems

[slowtwitch]

What information in specific would you be looking for here ? The original post encompassed a problem, reason for the problem, and solution.

This particular issue appears to be resolved, unless we're missing something.

Additionally, no request for support of this problem has been logged (either in this case, or previously). We'll add it to the database if this user chooses to contact us. We can only fix what we know about.

The take away here, in our opinion, is to use care when moving cabling, removing components and servicing systems (true for any device of this nature).


Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

Just to clear things up. The board mentioned in this thread was a replacement board supposedly repaired by Mikini. When I received the panel, the circuit board was encrusted with soldering paste..apparently they tried a re-flow of the board and didn't clean up afterwards and for that matter weren't to successful in their attempt. So please Mikini, do not bend my statements to make it look like it's my fault. This seems to be your tactic, as I have found out in the months and months of dealing with you guys through emails and phone calls.

look, enough of the blame game. Mikini, you have to learn to be humble. Stop with the condescending rebuttals. You have a problem with your boards..admit it.

As I have mentioned before these are very good machines...mechanically. But, the electronics can be greatly improved on.

[MIKINI MECH]

So please Mikini, do not bend my statements to make it look like it's my fault.

Our great apologies. We've very recently opened a post with "we're not perfect". We're not trying to bend anyone's statements, just trying to offer helpful general information regarding a situation, at another user's request.

look, enough of the blame game. Mikini, you have to learn to be humble. Stop with the condescending rebuttals. You have a problem with your boards..admit it.

We're only here (on this forum) to help, and will gladly excuse ourselves if requested, as offered prior. To restate, the issue of display brightness control due to soldering of a pin is not known to be a consistent problem, either in our records, or as documented on any public forum, this or otherwise.

We're not blaming anyone, just responding to what appeared to be a comprehensive and very well presented write-up of an issue - "I did this, This happened, so I did this, and it's fixed". If it's a more wide spread issue, we'll gladly, promptly, and openly resolve it as we are working on to do so with limit switches

We would also like to compliment your accurate troubleshooting, resolution, and clear technical documentation of an issue. Very helpful for us, and the user community. We greatly encourage documentation of this standard

As I have mentioned before these are very good machines...mechanically. But, the electronics can be greatly improved on.

Thanks for the compliment ... mechanically, and again to re-iterate, we're strongly committed to improvement. We welcome and encourage you to contact us to at very least document what issues you have had and resolved so we can use the information to improve our products in the future. We've also made this request directly to your user name regarding limit switch details. If we don't know about an issue, we can't do anything about it.

Lastly, another request to post more comprehensive details regarding a situation for all users reference, be it a positive, negative, or indifferent, as slowtwitch did regarding his particular issue. More machine details and history would also likely be helpful for other users (and us, if we're to be able to log and accurately respond to issues generated and detailed here that are not being directly communicated to us). We'll suggest perhaps some of this detail could be added to a user's signature ?

Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

[slowtwitch]

We've also made this request directly to your user name regarding limit switch details. If we don't know about an issue, we can't do anything about it.

Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

I mentioned this to your folks about 7 months ago, when i bought the very expensive switch

[MIKINI MECH]

Thanks for the reply. Can you either send us an email, PM, or post your machine serial or details so we can investigate ? Even an accurate date of communication should do the trick.

Were details of the switch you've had good luck with shared ?

Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

I mentioned this to your folks about 7 months ago, when i bought the very expensive switch

[slowtwitch]

Thanks for the reply. Can you either send us an email, PM, or post your machine serial or details so we can investigate ?
Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

Look...please understand...... I had some bad experience with your so called expert repairs and vowed to never contact you guys again. If any exchange is going to be made, it will be on this public forum.

When I have the time to remove and get the info for the switches, I'll post them after you post the pin out for the db 9 connector

[MIKINI MECH]

We greatly apologize if you've had a bad experience with our service and/or support. We're here to help, if you wish to contact us. If you prefer not to deal with us, we fully respect that as well.

Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

Look...please understand...... I had some bad experience with your so called expert repairs and vowed to never contact you guys again. If any exchange is going to be made, it will be on this public forum.

When I have the time to remove and get the info for the switches, I'll post them after you post the pin out for the db 9 connector

[amishx64]

Look...please understand...... I had some bad experience with your so called expert repairs and vowed to never contact you guys again. If any exchange is going to be made, it will be on this public forum.

When I have the time to remove and get the info for the switches, I'll post them after you post the pin out for the db 9 connector

Hey, I've got an idea. You could get a big list of emails of some users here on the Zone. Then proceed to email Mikini Mechatronics here with all of us CC'd on the emails. :devious: Nothing wrong with public exposure.

[slowtwitch]

We greatly apologize if you've had a bad experience with our service and/or support. We're here to help, if you wish to contact us. If you prefer not to deal with us, we fully respect that as well.

Mikini Mechatronics, LLC

I am contacting you, it's here on these public forums

[slowtwitch]

Hey, I've got an idea. You could get a big list of emails of some users here on the Zone. Then proceed to email Mikini Mechatronics here with all of us CC'd on the emails. :devious: Nothing wrong with public exposure.

that would be something...lol

[allenj20]

Hello folks, In a past post I stated that I re-flowed my main board to solve an issue with my front display. Everything was working great... That is ...until I installed my probe setup and had to remove the front panel.

Then the disappearing display reared it's ugly head again. Apparently, when I did the re-flow and installed the panel, I inadvertently applied pressure to a certain spot and created a good connection. I thought all was good. Till, I had to remove the front panel. It took a few days for the problem to arise, but, it did come back

I really don't care about the front display, as I do all my machining through Mach3. The big problem was that every time the display would disappear, Mach would go into an E-stop situation. Kind of a pain, especially in the middle of a part.

Anyway, I loosened the front panel and hooked it up to a separate 5 volt dc supply and began tapping the front panel. The screen would start disappearing at one particular spot. This was in the area of the ltp-1 port. I then wiggled the ltp-1 cable and the screen would disappear. I quickly assumed it may be a bad parallel cable. Fortunately, I had some cable ends and made up a new cable, using ribbon wire...

I connected the new cable , but, the problem was still there. I would give the cable a small wiggle and the screen would disappear. This kinda told me that there is a problem on the board. When I did the re-flow, I only worked on the circuit board under the main board...

Anyway, I removed the top board and thanks to my bench mounted magnifying glass and a bit of luck...I wiggled each pin on port 1 and found one of the pins moving from the backside. I re-soldered all the pins on port 1and hooked the panel to some 5 volts...wiggled the cable and this time no disappearing display

I reinstalled the panel on my mill and ran it over the past 5 days and the display has not disappeared and Mach3 has not gone into an E-Stop situation.

It's back to making parts

This is very interesting Pete thanks for sharing the information. I am now wondering if I got lucky when I put my front panel back on. Like you I have seen the disappearing display trick though not recently. And have seen the estop out of the blue in Mach3 too. I.E not cutting anything and estop for no reason. And the spindle dip at low speed. I may take my board out and do as you did and wiggle the connectors to see if I can reproduce.

:cheers: