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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Cincinnati CNC > Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    57

    Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    My Hawk 150 with the A2100 control is having a problem that would only happen once in awhile but is now starting to become more common and troublesome. Recently it has begun shutting the machine down (control stays on), when the turret is in the middle of a cycle. It would happen most when the turret was rapiding to center for a drill. The last two days it has been stopping while running the cut-off tool. When the machine power cuts out there is no error message displayed at all. Machine will power back up, and align, then it'll power down again when you try to actually run the program. Sometimes it will happen right away, other times it will run a few parts before doing it again.

    After pushing the green button and getting machine power back, when trying to move the turret back to its homes position manually, it will often times throw this error message.



    Again, that message only comes up after the machine has shut itself down, then we power it back up and try to manually move the turret. There is a different error message that will pop up every once in awhile, but I didn't manage to get a picture of it yet.

    I'm fairly stumped as to why the machine just powers down on it's own in the middle of a program.

    Thanks for any help!!!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    57
    The machine started behaving normally all on it's own again....

    Something wonky in there for sure, not looking forward to when it rears it's ugly head again. Not even really sure how to go about diagnosing it when it does show up again.... SIGH....

  3. #3
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    Sep 2010
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    1765
    in preparation to help when it comes back, plse list the motors and drives you have and if you have linear scale feedback on any axes.

    - - - Updated - - -

    in preparation to help when it comes back, plse list the motors and drives you have and if you have linear scale feedback on any axes.

  4. #4
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    Aug 2009
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    Do these pictures help enough or do you need more information? I wasn't able to get to the motors yet, and to my knowledge I do not have scales on any axis.








  5. #5
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    Sep 2010
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    1765
    hmmm..... how does your machine run at all?..........

    pix 016 shows the 2 bds4 servo drives. one on right has the encoder equiv output white molex connector hooked up (to left most connector - also has little extra connector on it with blue jumper wire in it on same cable) - this is the 'Servo drive Fdbk signal.' that the control seems to be saying is missing.... if it is, you can see this on your cnc screen if you move motor by hand - the position feedback won't change on the axis when you move it....

    but the drive on the left has nothing plugged in?? sometimes scales are added to machines for better feedback; perhaps you DO have a scale on that axis? If not, see if that connector fell out? maybe it was loose, but if it fell out the machine would give this error none stop... so confusing.... but alt least you can start looking in te right places.

    also, when a fault happens you should always go look at the lights on the drives - jot down what is green and if any ore red, which one(s) - that helps folks diagnose your issue much faster... look b4 u power down and loose this valuable info.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Aug 2009
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    57

    Re: Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    To start, here are pictures of the X axis servo motor. The Z axis is way up under the machine behind the electrical cabinet where I couldn't get a picture or see the placard with the info. These are pretty terrible pictures but I thought I would post them up anyways.




    Quote Originally Posted by mike_Kilroy View Post
    hmmm..... how does your machine run at all?..........
    Good question!

    Quote Originally Posted by mike_Kilroy View Post
    pix 016 shows the 2 bds4 servo drives. one on right has the encoder equiv output white molex connector hooked up (to left most connector - also has little extra connector on it with blue jumper wire in it on same cable) - this is the 'Servo drive Fdbk signal.' that the control seems to be saying is missing.... if it is, you can see this on your cnc screen if you move motor by hand - the position feedback won't change on the axis when you move it....

    but the drive on the left has nothing plugged in?? sometimes scales are added to machines for better feedback; perhaps you DO have a scale on that axis? If not, see if that connector fell out? maybe it was loose, but if it fell out the machine would give this error none stop... so confusing.... but alt least you can start looking in te right places.
    After reading what you posted above, I took a closer look. The plug for the drive on the left is attached to the black wire running vertically in front of the drive in that picture. This led me to believe that it was indeed getting feedback from a glass scale. So I started looking at the machine closer and wouldn't you know it, I found a glass scale for the X axis!



    So, I assume that since this error is intermittent, the scale must be functioning properly for the most part. That is leading me to assume that maybe the scale had something on it that was causing things to act funny, somehow that cleared up causing the machine to begin functioning properly again. If that happened to be the case, and we see this issue again, what is the proper way to clean glass scales? Is it ok to just wipe the face (in this case the bottom) of the scale to clear it of foreign objects/oil/grease/etc.? Are there other things we should be checking the glass scale for?

    Quote Originally Posted by mike_Kilroy View Post
    also, when a fault happens you should always go look at the lights on the drives - jot down what is green and if any ore red, which one(s) - that helps folks diagnose your issue much faster... look b4 u power down and loose this valuable info.
    I talked with my machinist about this and he will make sure to do this from now on when he has an error pop up.

    He looked at them one time and is pretty sure the red lights were on for "undervoltage" and "overspeed". He will write them down from now on so that we can be sure though.

    Thank you for all the help!!!

  7. #7
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    Sep 2010
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    Re: Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    good sleuthing!

    You now know a lot more about your machine that will help you in the future keep 'er runnin' at peak gate!

    I would suggest googling 'cleaning glass encoder scales' to get feel for how folks do it. You of course have to be careful not to damage anything. what I am used to folks doing blowing off outside, cleaning those black viton sleaing lips with a nice cleaner - all to keep crap from falling inside when you poke in..... then use cuetip dipped in reg alcohol (not beer - keep that for after your success ) and stick it thru and run it along the glass from one end to the other. then repeat for the other side of the glass inside. careful not to poke around read head - it is mounted on very small springs to wheels that ride on glass edge - you dont want to break that sensative assembly.

    another clue for the operator: when he jots down the fault info, jot down WHERE it happened; if it is dirty scale, it often happens near same spot of crap on glass; ie, same spot on axis position - but not always - a generally dirty scale that blocks too much light might be covered all over inside so it appears random position....

  8. #8
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    Aug 2009
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    57

    Re: Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    Awesome! Thanks Mike. You have been most helpful! It appeared to happen at random times, but it did seem to happen in almost the same spot relative to the X-axis. We will make sure to keep track of that info. Hopefully this is all we are dealing with, alot less expensive than broken stuff

    Thanks again!

    Tom

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
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    584

    Re: Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    I have seen this problem often and Mike Kilroy is correct, the X axis scale is dirty. You should also check the cable going to the scale and make sure the insulation is not rubbed off and scale wires are exposed.

    Mike cncmachineservices (dot) com

  10. #10
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    Aug 2009
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    Re: Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    Thanks for the continued advice Mike. I will look over the cable in the morning and we will get the appropriate alcohol to clean the scale. This has been a great help!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
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    251

    Re: Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    I have the same machine as you,and im pretty sure some where in the control you can switch from scale feed back to encoder feed back I know I played with this years ago amongs a lot of other things and found the accuracy changes very little and if memory serves me right my machine is running on encoder feed back now.

  12. #12
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    Re: Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    as usual greg b your memory serves you well

  13. #13
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    Aug 2009
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    57

    Re: Hawk 150, A2100, machine power quits, no error message

    Finally think we have this figured out and thought I would update the thread for future searches. It looks like a couple of the wires broke in the cable just a couple inches before the servo motor connection. We stripped the wire back, soldered the broken wires and haven't had a problem since. We are really busy for the next month, once we slow down after that I will take the cable out and have it fixed more permanently. Thanks everyone for all the help!

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