Ok, today I was milling some parts and just when I was going to go for a smoke, the machine made a loud buzzer like sound for about 2 seconds, and then all motion stopped.
So I reset the Viper 200 drives, ( 4 years old), and tried homing the machine and found it did it again, when trying to home the Z axis.
I checked the Z axis drive and the red LED was flashing slowly and trip the over current(I imagine).
So again, I reset the drive and this time I when up the stepladder and looked at the motor before the drive would shut off, and I could see the timing belt to the Z axis pulley, vibrating quite rapidly back and forth.
I don't get it. The machine has worked fine for 3 years and all of a sudden this crap.
Also, if I jog the axis down, it sounds like their is some squeaking happening just before the oscillations take place. If I jog fast enough, it seems to get past the point of oscillation and will move or rotate a few turns more before the squeaking sound and oscillation occurs again. This rapid oscillation is quite loud.
Also early during the day, I went past one of the limit switches on the Z axis,(override), and I think the ballscrew bottomed out before the drive tripped.
Could it be that I damaged the ballscrew. Is this an encoder problem? I'm stumped.
Anyone.
Oh, this is an old retrofitted Tree Journeyman 300. If needed, I can post a quick video.
Any ideas?