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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    5

    DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    I have a DYNA EM3116 Knee Mill that was donated to my high school. It is in great shape and I have seemed to get most everything figured out right up to getting the program I wrote to run. It starts and then it errors out with a E458 Soft Limits reached in positive direction. How to I view and edit my soft limits? Thanks in Advance!

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    4415

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    Rather than change your soft limits. Try moving your part in the coordinate system in the negative direction of the faulting axis. The fact that you have gotten this far is impressive enough.
    A lazy man does it twice.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    5

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by Fastest1 View Post
    Rather than change your soft limits. Try moving your part in the coordinate system in the negative direction of the faulting axis. The fact that you have gotten this far is impressive enough.
    Thanks, I got it figured out, I was looking in the wrong manual once I looked at the right one I figured out it was faulting on the z positive axis. My next problem is I cannot get the spindle to start up either manually or in the program. I am open to suggestions.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    7
    Hi, I recently acquired a Dyna EM-3116 mill. In checking out the spindle operation, I noticed that mine has old fashioned rpm control via a crank up on the mill head. The power to the motor, however, then is not connected through the speed control circuitry. It simply heads up to the motor through a "contactor" which you will see in the lower right side of your blue cabinet. The contactor is electrically controlled, on mine, by a 120 volt wire to pins 7 & 8 on the J15 bank of relay connectors (see page 32 of your EM-3116 Operation & Reference Manual). I presume this power enable to the motor contactor is fired up through a G-code motor-on command. Make sure your power switch is on and that you are in gear. Good Luck. Dyna Mechtronics said they could sell me a set of manuals for $140USD but I was able to purchase them from a fellow machine owner near Seattle.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    5

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    Thank you! It was a bonehead move on my part. The spindle has a separate forward/off/reverse switch up by the head, something I was not used to on past machines I have worked on. We have it up and running and drilled some holes. Just some programming glitches to work on and we will be up and running. Thanks again!

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr_Machine View Post
    Hi, I recently acquired a Dyna EM-3116 mill. In checking out the spindle operation, I noticed that mine has old fashioned rpm control via a crank up on the mill head. The power to the motor, however, then is not connected through the speed control circuitry. It simply heads up to the motor through a "contactor" which you will see in the lower right side of your blue cabinet. The contactor is electrically controlled, on mine, by a 120 volt wire to pins 7 & 8 on the J15 bank of relay connectors (see page 32 of your EM-3116 Operation & Reference Manual). I presume this power enable to the motor contactor is fired up through a G-code motor-on command. Make sure your power switch is on and that you are in gear. Good Luck. Dyna Mechtronics said they could sell me a set of manuals for $140USD but I was able to purchase them from a fellow machine owner near Seattle.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    7
    Glad you got your mill up and running. You will need that forward/reverse switch because the speed change gear works like the slow backgear on a lathe (turns backwards) so you will need to switch to reverse when using that slow range. By the way, I am looking for the old Dyna Mech computer control. When I bought my mill, it was missing. The mill, however, did have the rest of the controls and a pendant. Having no 3-phase, I had to rewire things so I'm operating on single phase 220v. As I mentioned, the motor came up OK through a solid state phase converter - 7.5hp motor, cat40 taper. For a thousand bucks, the old piece of iron looked promising. Am now working on bringing up the servos. The breaker to the servo power supply is popping when I press the power-on on the pendant. Of course there is no computer controller to power on (could be the source of the problem or some real issue with the power supply which is somewhat hard to get at to take off from the big blue box and seriously look at and test. Can't seem to find Dyna computer controller so am thinking of going with a Centroid All-in-one or Acorn - depending if I decide to or have to change out the servo's. Any and all input is welcome...

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    4415

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    Do not waste time on any Dyna controllers. If you have one fine. Stick with the Acorn.
    I just ordered one myself. Should be here Wed or Thurs.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    A lazy man does it twice.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    5717

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by Mr_Machine View Post
    Glad you got your mill up and running. You will need that forward/reverse switch because the speed change gear works like the slow backgear on a lathe (turns backwards) so you will need to switch to reverse when using that slow range. By the way, I am looking for the old Dyna Mech computer control. When I bought my mill, it was missing. The mill, however, did have the rest of the controls and a pendant. Having no 3-phase, I had to rewire things so I'm operating on single phase 220v. As I mentioned, the motor came up OK through a solid state phase converter - 7.5hp motor, cat40 taper. For a thousand bucks, the old piece of iron looked promising. Am now working on bringing up the servos. The breaker to the servo power supply is popping when I press the power-on on the pendant. Of course there is no computer controller to power on (could be the source of the problem or some real issue with the power supply which is somewhat hard to get at to take off from the big blue box and seriously look at and test. Can't seem to find Dyna computer controller so am thinking of going with a Centroid All-in-one or Acorn - depending if I decide to or have to change out the servo's. Any and all input is welcome...

    Those machines look pretty much like mine. Looks like a 4V size machine from the pictures I found. What servos does that machine have? If you need a hand, I'm local.
    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    5

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    Anyone had monitor issues on their Dyna Controller? I believe the monitor went out. We shut it down for the weekend, went to fire it back up and nothing on the monitor.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    7
    The machine is like an overgrown Bridgeport. About 3600 pounds rather than 2400. 4V is probably a pretty good guess. The spec seems to be hardened & ground square ways with Turcite. They look pretty good on my machine (in Portland, OR) (circa 1998-2001 based on part dates within - no mfg date tag on the iron). The Servos are DC Brushless QMC 2183-M3252 driven by Glentek SMA 8110-0445-013B-1 servo drivers. The position sensor/indicator mounted on the end of the servo motor is US Digital E2-500-250-IH. The Power Supply driving the servo setup is a 160 volt DC with a large resistor hanging from it. I don't yet understand the wiring to the one big resistor from 3 servo drivers. I guess they somehow know how to share the excess power/heat... Am looking into this but don't have a schematic. Am quite open to help & ideas to get this unit functional again. [email protected]

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    7
    Monitor issues apparently can occur. The fellow who sold me some EM3116 manuals had put a new monitor on his. I don't recall what he said the issue with the old monitor was but I think he mentioned just putting in a new video board & monitor (generic rather than "Dyna"). His monitor was flat screen and mounted just in front of the original monitor. Was done pretty cleanly. His EM3116 was circa 1998 and ran very well smoothly & quietly. All 3 axis were working nicely. I might have bought it from him but it was only an R8 rather than Cat40.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Posts
    7
    Quote Originally Posted by Fastest1 View Post
    Do not waste time on any Dyna controllers. If you have one fine. Stick with the Acorn.
    I just ordered one myself. Should be here Wed or Thurs.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    Hoping the Acorn works OK for you. Do you know if there is a way it can drive the old Brushless Servo's on the Dyna Mill? It looked to me that it really just wants to do step & direction kind of pulses. Am interested in how it works out for you. I'm at the crossroads of trying to work out how to best get the old EM3116 Mill working and determining how much of the old servo setup really still works. Still need to do some testing.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Sep 2012
    Posts
    106

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    bringing this post back since there are a few of you with Dyna Mills. I have a 3116 as well. Monitor was out, but its a simple VGA cable, so I bought a LCD panel off ebay. Machine worked for about a week after I bought it, and i tried to modify some tool offsets and work offsets, went to restart, and nothing. I had version 2.0 of the software. I bought another HDD from a guy parting out a dyna, it was V 1.46. Another member on here sent me 2.2, but the handles wont unlock in "manual mode". anyone have a machine running V2.0? I need to get a copy that isnt gonna cost me $500 from Dyna.....Thanks.

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    14

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    I have v2.21 on my Dyna EM3116

    I burned up my power supply and ended up buying a generic one from the internet. While I was in the machine I made copies of the hard drive using some retired drives from old computers I had. I also copied the files on a few portable drives as a precaution. I have had this machine since 2006 I think. I use Bobcad v23 and I think I modified the Haas post to work on the Dyna. I still manually edit the tool changes on the rare case I actually need to do it. I also had a friend install a relay to turn on the coolant. The board supported it but there was no wires hooked up. I also was forced to replace the LCD when mine stopped working. I can see the issue (missing / corroded contacts) I replaced the video card with one I had and mounted a conventional monitor on the side of the control box. Let me know if I can be of any help.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Posts
    15

    Re: DYNA EM3116 Mill Questions

    I just repaired and converted one of these to single phase. (I mean like today) The video went out due bad lvds chip(Low voltage differential switch and a bad brightness pot. Works like a charm! I also had to repair the PS due to a bad set of high speed diodes.
    Quote Originally Posted by Joe T. View Post
    I have v2.21 on my Dyna EM3116

    I burned up my power supply and ended up buying a generic one from the internet. While I was in the machine I made copies of the hard drive using some retired drives from old computers I had. I also copied the files on a few portable drives as a precaution. I have had this machine since 2006 I think. I use Bobcad v23 and I think I modified the Haas post to work on the Dyna. I still manually edit the tool changes on the rare case I actually need to do it. I also had a friend install a relay to turn on the coolant. The board supported it but there was no wires hooked up. I also was forced to replace the LCD when mine stopped working. I can see the issue (missing / corroded contacts) I replaced the video card with one I had and mounted a conventional monitor on the side of the control box. Let me know if I can be of any help.

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