This is my first post. Have to say I'm impressed by the number of users and the quality of your advice!
I have 3 MultiCams... an M Series 5' X 12' (around 2002), an older 6612 Plus (around 1996??) and an even older MC48 (around 1995) that isn't working.
Both of the working machines use Pacific Scientific (out of business) 6410-001-N-N-N stepper drives. I have scabbed these things together about as far as I can. If one goes bad now, I'm going to have to start finding replacements.
My questions are...What would be a good, compatible replacement board? Would I need to replace all at once?
Next, on the M Series, we are having a frustrating problem. The x-axis has started locking up at a few spots on the table. It does not lock up every time, but it is very consistent as far as where it jams (you can hear the stepper(s) squeal). We have taken the bearing cars out, rinsed them, made sure they were rolling freely and that grease was getting to all bearings. We have re-set the pinion gears. The rails and racks look fine.
The thing is that it almost never jams during a cut. Sometimes we can do a full-speed move through the area without a jam. But when it is running a file it will consistently jam at the same spot on the tool up moves. It seems that slowing down the up moves and reducing acceleration would at least help a little. I use EnRoute, and it is supposed to be able to set the tool up speeds - but it doesn't.
So, after all that, my question is... Does anyone know how to set the tool up speeds (and maybe the acceleration) on the machine itself? I imagine it involves "Motion Mechanic" or "Machine Parameters", but I have no idea what to do.
Thanks for patiently reading all this and for any advice you can give!!
Jeff