[swhowardno1]

That's good news and your FDD worked after 25+yrs... Those 2 Files PLC/PAR were the only thing between a run-able machine and a boat anchor if, the battery went dead. Now, for the good/bad news that you need to know about IF...you can't find or get from the people you bought the machine from the CNC EXEC software FD's...see below photo is what they look like

Attachment 436816

...the good news is Dynapath is still around and I think for a price (not cheap I'll bet) they can send you the CNC EXE and Options Files
DynaPath

what is so special about the cnc exec disk??? what do i need it for, when will i need it?? i have found post processors, but i have never heard of cnc exec disks?? i was going to ask if anyone had an original dynapath disk image, even if its not for my serial number i would like to see the bootloader files/config.sys/autoexec.bat , even the formating could be usefull. if anyone has a original or a purchased option disk, i'd appriciate the oppertunity to check them out.. thank you

[machinehop5]

..more information for the back the future flux facts about 40/50/60 space in time

https://www.digikey.com/product-deta...1026-ND/512528

[swhowardno1]

i research the original cnc exe disk, its basicly the machine spacific Sram and board bias flash for the motherboard that tells the cpu how to boot. most people seem to think its a standard pc motherboard, but its definatly not. dynapath has put 30 years of R&D into making a reliable precise control that stands up to not only the test of time, but also the rigars of everyday use in an enviroment that most computer poeple would cringe at. Think about operating a computer in an inviroment that not only has heat, but oil, liquids, and conductive metal chips flying in all directions getting into every little crack and crevis. so if you feel they charge a little more than you would like, you should consider the productivity advancement it provides and it should pay for itself in the first few days of service. so let the chips fly and understand that the little more you pay today helps to ensure the company will probably still be there to help you tommarrow...

Thank you for the suggestion of a backup sram battery, but i already planned on putting a 3.7v 4000mah li-po battery. I have dozens laying around from other projects. So far the only thing i don't like about the design on this controller is the use of Sram instead of eeproms Sram has always been very dangerous and often disastrous, what is so secret that it would have to be protected to that extreme?? The only reason to use Sram is to secure the data against standard hardware manipulation. Srams render a chip empty and useless should anyone try to remove it from the board and read its contents.

thank you all your help, and I'm looking forward to fixing my z axis problem and cutting some chips. I swapped the bad board out and the z axis works fine, my problem is isolated to the sdfpo1525-17 board. I ordered most of the generic parts 100s of resistors & capacitors, 100's of to-92 transistors, dosens trim pots, half dozen 2sk1277 drivers, even half dozen of the main bus cap and an assortment of other parts, i probably didn't spend $60 on parts total. I should be able to replace components till I find the issue. The only thing a haven't got any spares of are zenier diodes, there a little fickle about being the correct replacement component and there's a lot of them on this board..

Thanks again, i hope to have this up and running in the next 2 weeks when my parts start pouring in..lol

[swhowardno1]

Do you know if a sdfpo1220-17 servo amp will work in this place, i found they are much cheaper sdfpo1520-17 $80-$100 vs $500-$1200 for the sdfpo1525-17. I couldn't find any lituracure on them anywhere, not even going back to servo dynamics. Its a very similar board, but i imagins its proprietery differences put it out of league with my application.

[swhowardno1]

Thank you for the suggestion of a backup sram battery, but i already planned on putting a 3.7v 4000mah li-po battery. I have dozens laying around from other projects. So far the only thing i don't like about the design on this controller is the use of Sram instead of eeproms Sram has always been very dangerous and often disastrous, what is so secret that it would have to be protected to that extreme?? The only reason to use Sram is to secure the data against standard hardware manipulation. Srams render a chip empty and useless should anyone try to remove it from the board and read its contents.

thank you all your help, and I'm looking forward to fixing my z axis problem and cutting some chips. I swapped the bad board out and the z axis works fine, my problem is isolated to the sdfpo1525-17 board. I ordered most of the generic parts 100s of resistors & capacitors, 100's of to-92 transistors, dosens trim pots, half dozen 2sk1277 drivers, even half dozen of the main bus cap and an assortment of other parts, i probably didn't spend $60 on parts total. I should be able to replace components till I find the issue. The only thing a haven't got any spares of are zenier diodes, there a little fickle about being the correct replacement component and there's a lot of them on this board..

Thanks again, i hope to have this up and running in the next 2 weeks when my parts start pouring in..lol

I got impatient this morning, i ordered a new servo dynamics amp off ebay, someone put one up $178 (said used working) so i'll give it a shot while i work on the original...just checked my savings, i"m tapped, hope i get this thing running soon...

[swhowardno1]

Did you know there are 2 seperate forums, guess one is the old version, i been inadvertatly crossing paths..

https://en.industryarena.com/forum/d...o--161248.html

https://www.cnczone.com/forums/dynap...-software.html

[swhowardno1]

I found another post that showed in the forum, that explains the card breakdown which chips were volital, and which chips were safely kept roms. The plc and parameters we just backed up should recover from a battery loss on sram board, as long as we have the ability to boot into bootloader we can recover the sram parameters. The machine bios tells the machine to load the sram board contents as boot drive, the critical part actually seems to be the motherboard bios, which we can theoretically backup with a dos boot disk and readily availible bios flashing tools.. i'm curious about tbe "drop to dos" from the bootloader start screen, can anyone access the autocon ramdisk at that point, or does it kill the drive on drop to dos??
.
This is where i found a lot of valuable information on dynapath controllers..

https://en.industryarena.com/forum/d...g--307982.html

[machinehop5]

.. i'm curious about tbe "drop to dos" from the bootloader start screen,

..the thread replies are back ... Great, and looks like you have been busy hunting rabbits. put this on your list. Then you can access bios like any PC.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/6-DIN5-AT-M...QAAOSwjKFZUDpu
Attachment 436944

...maybe you know this already.......you can add a HDD to your system some what easily with a standard IDE ribbon cable...but there are some limiting factors which you may understand better than me. One factor is the size of IDE HDD that will work with older x486

Attachment 436946

Attachment 436948

[machinehop5]

what is so special about the cnc exec disk??? what do i need it for, when will i need it??

...because they are special... one use was for me....was last year bought a 50MU cheap to try and swap out a fried 50MU for the easy plug n play was the plan....received replacement 50mu the hdd is dead and Low battery WARNING flag at startup and cannot read Cov Graphs files flag (dead hdd)...I checked the battery on Flash card...checks great 3.7v. ...hmmm not sure what the battery flag problem would be...so, replaced 270/540mb HDD found on fleabay 30 bucks...Started up system into bios and config system to see the drive at 540mb no problem... at that point I wanted to do fresh build before loading User Program file from old fried 50mu and the MTB Params file... all the warnings were gone when I restarted. I loaded the User program and MTB file...no problems so far with the HDD or Battery warning. Those Exe and Options disks were standard backup in those days...right. Maybe try calling Dynapath directly to see how much they want for the Files...I do know they will want to sell you a USB Floppy drive...$300 and they send Files with USB stick.

hope that makes sum sense to ya.
chat more soon,
DJ

[swhowardno1]

From reading another post i learned that the plc and par files should be whats on the exe and options disk, they are supposed to have an .OB extention or sothing like that. The hard drive option is not enabled on my machine. If i wasn't planning on kerpiing tge delta 40mu controller i would definatly be experamenting with the options and parameters in flash. I don't like having to purchase things i aleeady have already purchased...i know your disks won't work in my machine, but i'd still be intrested in looking at a copy. Maybe i can find enough about the OS that i can avoid some of the headaches most people seem to be facing..i have several of those tanitum batteries here somewhere, i'll plug on in in the next time i find one in passing. I have my first batch of parts, main bus caps and electrolytic cap kit, there were only 4 electrolytic caps. The tough ones are those little yellow squares( polystyrene audio capacitors) those buggers are expencive, and the stopped making them in 80's..there are 72 of them on my servo amps. looks like i'm on my way to buy vintage stereo equipment..lol. .i thaught the green light fading out was capacitors, but i realize a leaking transistor can also cause voltage to bleed out in a similar manner, i hope my transistors come in next week..

I pulled the 8" monitor out, figured if i'm changing csps i might as well do it too, they are the same age..do not do any monitor repairs yourself unless you know what your doing, tv's have killed many great people because they thaught they knew what they were doing.. 24,000 volts can really do a number some very important life support equipment like hearts and brains....

i'll keep you posted as i change out parts and try to post some of my findings..right after i get back from mexico monday..

[swhowardno1]

I finally got back on machine, started changing components, haven't found the issue yet, but most of my parts are coming out of chine , so this virus scare has the whole country screwed up. I had sbout half my order canceled for no reason, the other half are running about 2 week before they even bothered to ship them.I think the kill rate on the virus is like 1 out of 30,000 people it infects??? We probably lose more people to drunk driving accidents every day. But i guess thats beside the point.

While waiting for parts i switched my focus to my rotory phase converter, and remounting it to the wall, i accidently knocked a wire off basicly disconnectibg 1/2 of my start capacitors, motor stalled and tripped the 30amp breaker out behind shop, no correction the breaker didnt trip, it was full of 50yrs worth sand and mud, and the 50yr old sylvania breaker melted into the panel.. so i spent the rest of the day removing the 50yr old sylvania box and upgrading to a brand new state of the art square D metered distribution panel.. and had to order two new start capacitors to replace the ones that blew smoke from both ends.

Yes, i'm doing the 1 step foward 2 steps back dance, but i can honestly say i know just about every inch of this machine inside and out in a very intimate way...

I did find plans on the internet for a homemade mosfet tester that serms to work pretty decent, its only about 4-5 parts total at a cost of about $0.30), and its making trouble shooting easier..i'd say its well worth the investment so far..the super simple version is npn, for pnp you just reverse the input, how simple is that..not sure who to credit the tester too, but i still have the link. https://www.homemade-circuits.com/ho...g-digital/amp/

[machinehop5]

..before you spend more money...you may want to go a different way for your 3ph Spindle motor...read more here
http://www.hitachi-america.us/ice/si...ngle-Phase.pdf
price varies from 250usd up for WJ300 3.7k unit
thx for update,
DJ

[swhowardno1]

I have a 2.2kw VFD for my manual mills spindle, unfortunately my CNC has a 5hp spindle, i built a 10hp rotorybphase converter for around $140. So far only the spindle is 3ph,, the rest of the mavhine runs fine on 1ph.

I found my first failed component this afternoon, it was labeled Q14 on the sdfpo1525-17 turned out to be a n channel mosfet part# 2sk903 (someone tried to make it a non-replacable part by obscuring the part number). That should have been my first clue about its failure rate. As a technician i used to see that all the time, but not so much these days...The mosfet tester found it bad right away. I suspected that it was part of my issue when i first stared troubleshooting, but it was impossible to test on my standard multimeter. Pulled it out and plugged it into the mosfet tester it failed right away. I had already ordered that part last week, should arrive in another 6-10 days... Will continue to trouble shoot once i get Q14 replaced..apperently from my readings, when a mosfet fails it sends high power thru the circuit to the next component, unless its bleed thru a resistor which would probable act like a fuse going open to save the rest of the curcuit, or a zenier diode to clamp the power and prevent further damage, my servo amps seem to use the zenier, so hopefully replacing 2sk903 will fix it.. it is a well disigned servo amp, and i figure even if i upgrade the cpu im still gonna need these high power analog servo amps to run my machine, so fixing was the only real option for me..

thanks for your input on the phase converter, but i should have it covered at 10hp..i'm tweeking it a little from most plans i've seen, but just to relay the start caps differently. When i started the rotory phase converter the first time i couldn't shut it down, because removing one input leg would cause the start capacitors to re-engage, and the phase converer would literally just start right back up again..lol

My $18 floppy emulator came in today, its the upgraded one that has the 8 segment led displays to tell you which floppy partition your on. Should have it installed soon, but i found a usb floppy drive to.plug into my desktop that works great for loading code, maybe i should remake the cable to a two drive cable and keep both drives..a true floppy and a floppy emulator..

[swhowardno1]

One more question, does anyone know if the phase converer would balance better if i used a rv style line stabilizeing
autotransformer on the ghost leg. I have one of those 30amp autotransformers around here somewhere. Appearently they were popular in curtain rv parks, they would filter out high and automaticly boost the lows to provide constant power from the haywire mains somev rv parks. Anyone experiment with them for this aplication..

[machinehop5]

My $18 floppy emulator came in today, its the upgraded one that has the 8 segment led displays to tell you which floppy partition your on. Should have it installed soon, but i found a usb floppy drive to.plug into my desktop that works great for loading code, maybe i should remake the cable to a two drive cable and keep both drives..a true floppy and a floppy emulator..

....yes, that is one good way to upgrade the 40MU for easy Transfer/Receiving/Buffered Input operations. Also, using the 40MU's DB9 RS232C port (Comm 1) is another way. Depending want desktopPC you have available with some software or MS hyperterminal and a Null modem Cable. Dynapath's website has more information.
DynaPath

Good to see you have made progress with Z drive and thanks for the updates of your adventure.

[swhowardno1]

[/QUOTE]I found my first failed component this afternoon, it was labeled Q14 on the sdfpo1525-17 turned out to be a n channel mosfet part# 2sk903 (someone tried to make it a non-replacable part by obscuring the part number). That should have been my first clue about its failure rate. As a technician i used to see that all the time, but not so much these days...The mosfet tester found it bad right away. I suspected that it was part of my issue when i first stared troubleshooting, but it was impossible to test on my standard multimeter. Pulled it out and plugged it into the mosfet tester it failed right away. I had already ordered that part last week, should arrive in another 6-10 days... Will continue to trouble shoot once i get Q14 replaced..apperently from my readings, when a mosfet fails it sends high power thru the circuit to the next component, unless its bleed thru a resistor which would probable act like a fuse going open to save the rest of the curcuit, or a zenier diode to clamp the power and prevent further damage, my servo amps seem to use the zenier, so hopefully replacing Q14 fixes the problem...[/QUOTE]


I must have been really tired when i posted that, i identified the wrong bosrd possition, its Q17 that was found to be damaged(Not Q14). Q17 is one of the mosfets thats mounted on the back of the board, mine was covered in a black self leveling compound Which filled in the part number makeing it almost illegible..

sorry, there's nothing worse than identifying the wrong part location or part numbers when trying to help someone else figure out whats wrong with thier board..

[machinehop5]

its Q17 that was found to be damaged(Not Q14). Q17 is one of the mosfets thats mounted on the back of the board, mine was covered in a black self leveling compound Which filled in the part number making it almost illegible..

...interesting and good to know. I dont think you ever posted what DC Voltage/Amps 1525-17 system is?....the reason I ask is there was another Company in Chatsworth,CA called WestAmp used by MTB's in the time period 80's. I wonder if there boards are interchange able.

Attachment 438224

[swhowardno1]

My boards are servo dynamics, i have calked for technical support and emailed several times with very simple questiins about wireing and interchangeability, still havn't heard anything back from them. I have pretty mjch given up on them for support. My machine is a 1994 falcon chavelier fm63u with the dynapath 40mu controller.

I have been seeing many boards for sale that look alot like my servo amp, but i still don't know what the differences are. I have seen fet moduals, fenner, fet offline, 1525-br, 815 series. They all have about the same specs, and pinouts, but i have no idea how comapatible they really are. There's just not enough information on the various modifications of the same board. I read once where xxxxx1525-xx were the same board with machine specific modifications, basicly changing a resistor can modify torque, tach, voltage, and surge to match whatever controller motor configuration you need, but what about changing to a xxxx1520xxx, i guessing from my research that sd stand for servo driver, f probably fenner, po is connector configuration, 15 is a value the board is capable of handling(maybe input voltage, not sure), 25 i believe is the max amp output rating, -17 is the signal/tach/surge modification, xxx is the machine it was designed to fit..

Meanwhile i've been dropping more and more money repairing this one board, and its still not fixed....its all very frustrating to me, i remember 20yrs ago i could pickup a cpu and troubleshoot down to the exact chip, and change a 600pin surfacemount processor without batting an eye, now this which should be easy is kicking my ass..lol guess i'm just getting old, i seem to be learning circuit trouble shooting all over again..

[swhowardno1]

Thanks for the brochure, it was good reading, its yet anouther incarnation of the board. I guess there was an early attempt to make everything interchangable. Imagine how nice that would have been. It did have a great trouble shooting section in your manual, but the only thing that looked compatible is the I/O, they used a totally different system to create the outputs they needed..i am sti waiting for a few parts , but i was reading the schematic for my board, and i noticed that the schematic list one chip in U1(mc34879), but my board has a totally defferent chip in its place (mc34084) that makes me.go crazy, the two chips aren't even close to the same function, i think one was a mosfet driver, and the other octal seriel switch??again, the number has been painted so its black on black, i had to use special light magnifiers just to read the number off the chip..

[machinehop5]

...feel your pain of the cost involved repairing machines. May have to just bite the bullet and buy a driver board. I see someone on ebay has 3 of your type (I think) boards and I'll bet if you offer them maybe 200-250 they might take it.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/MINT-CONDIT...d/183854698552

good luck,
DJ