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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Cincinnati CNC > Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    1765

    Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    We will donate our A2100 CNC, pendant, & io board to a local 2yr community college if no one else wants it; on ebay, down to last price for 1 week @ $543.21.

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/234068398493

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Posts
    53

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    You wouldn't happen to have a door switch, would you?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    25

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    I purchased this setup and was able to hook it up to my arrow 1000 that was defunct in an attempt to get it running. I was pleased to see that everything powers up but I can't seem to get it to enable to move the axises. The z axis says "not ready" but there aren't any trouble codes. Is there a good place for me to continue troubleshooting? During diagnostics it says that the keyboard/touchscreen is missing I have the card for that out of my other controller, is there a special way(ie drivers) to install the card to enable the touchscreen/console? Sorry about the noob questions, this is my first VMC. I really like the A2100 user interface and am excited to get it fully functional. Any help is much appreciated.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
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    1765

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    Quote Originally Posted by Burf86 View Post
    You wouldn't happen to have a door switch, would you?
    Sorry, no - just now seeing this comment. Burf, have you had a chance to measure voltages yet? Congrats again on new little tike Lenny!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    1765

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    Hods1222, I can try to help with the servos, but afraid not much help for the a2100 side of it. There are some really sharp a2100 wizards on here; hope one sees this can help you! You also have access to the OEM, Fives Group, @ 800-934-0735

    Z axis says "not ready?" How do you know that? What is the indication? Are your drives black or blue?

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    25

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    So the drives are black vickers bds4 drives and the servos are vickers as well. When i fire it up and everything passes diagnostics the pendant shows X position,Y position,Z axis says "not ready" and the pendant has the z axis light on. I probably need to do some reading into the manuals to see if I am doing something wrong. I have attached some photos of what I am seeing.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Posts
    460

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    Way too many possibilities to lost everything, but you obviously have compatibility issues.
    The Cincinnati and A2100 product lines went through major revisions over the years and a lot of items were not compatible from one to the next. It looks like you bought a later generation control and put it on an early gen machine.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    1765

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    Maver1ck, sounds like he is good to go except for 2 issues: touchscreen/keypad device not being seen, and a problem with his Z axis. Doesn't sound toooooo bad?

    For Z axis issue, what do the LEDs on the Z look like? How do they compare to the good X & Y LEDS? They give a good clue to what issue exists on the axes. You are doing good with attaching pictures, how about a shot of the 3 drives so we can see the LEDs at different times? I suspect they change based on just power up, first green button push, second green button push...

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    1765

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    Quote Originally Posted by maver1ck View Post
    Way too many possibilities to lost everything, but you obviously have compatibility issues.
    The Cincinnati and A2100 product lines went through major revisions over the years and a lot of items were not compatible from one to the next. It looks like you bought a later generation control and put it on an early gen machine.
    If this is the a2100 we sold, then yes, it is a fairly new one: it had our blue servostar drives (private labeled Vickers AS10300, and even newest spindle VSA not VFS5). But I would not think that would have much effect on the drive interfacing as the wiring was all the same?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    460

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    At a minimum, I would assume based on the writeup and pictures he has a hard drive from a different machine. This means many of the parameters are likely not correct (some of which I believe could cause a runaway axis depending on model and option differences). I only know of one release 3 MAI that was compatible with the BDS4 drives, and Cincinnati never applied that (although I believe I know of one customer who did it on their own).

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    25

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    Quote Originally Posted by maver1ck View Post
    At a minimum, I would assume based on the writeup and pictures he has a hard drive from a different machine. This means many of the parameters are likely not correct (some of which I believe could cause a runaway axis depending on model and option differences). I only know of one release 3 MAI that was compatible with the BDS4 drives, and Cincinnati never applied that (although I believe I know of one customer who did it on their own).
    I do have the hard drive from my previous A2100. I attempted the swap but I got an error that it was missing a source file and said that it could be restored from a floppy/CD. I have the floppy that came with this machine. Could it be as easy as a HDD swap/source file load to get the parameters right to get the machine to play?

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    460

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    Not that simple. The floppy would only have the machine dependent data, but does not contain any system files. Depending on what files are missing from your original hard drive a Windows recovery disk "may" be able to repair the missing/corrupted files but that was not provided with the machines.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
    Posts
    25

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    Quote Originally Posted by maver1ck View Post
    Not that simple. The floppy would only have the machine dependent data, but does not contain any system files. Depending on what files are missing from your original hard drive a Windows recovery disk "may" be able to repair the missing/corrupted files but that was not provided with the machines.
    Where would I get such a disk. Here is a photo of the screen. It looks like the file is /WINNT/SYSTEM32/CONFIG/SYSTEM.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
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    25

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    I am probably showing my ignorance here but could the parameters be hand jammed based on the data on the disk that came with the machine(servo tuning etc.) To overcome the version differences?

    Another thought, is there a way to send out the HDD to have it recovered?

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
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    25

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    I was poking around in the service menu and seen a menu for drive setup. I hit verify drive parameters and I got "error-unable to connect to drive" on all the drives. Also I had my daughter hit the enable button and I watched the drives. There are currently 2 led illuminated. Control volts and under volts warning. When she hit the machine enable the undervolts cleared but the drives never illuminated enabled. Then the contactor released and everything was back to before.

    Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
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    460

    Re: Last offer on A2100 CNC pendant, & io board

    As I mentioned above, there were different software versions for different vintage machines, and most are not interchangeable.

    It sounds like you are now also dealing with the fact that you installed a full CNC from a different machine, so not only does the hard drive have the wrong software version, all configuration items are for the other machine and all software/hardware options authorized are for the other machine as well.
    IF (and that is a big IF) you have a compatible software version, yes, the settings likely could be overcome by manually entering them, but the options content will still cause you issues.

    Regarding restoring your original hard drive, a good PC tech may be able to if the only missing/corrupted files are Windows items (and not A2100 files). Cincinnati and Siemens both used to offer a service to restore your hard drive but I have not asked either for several years so am not sure if they still do. I can also restore most hard drives as long as it is not a mechanical issue with the drive but no two are ever the same so can take several hours to complete.

    And finally, regarding your drive setup question, the screen you posted a picture of is only compatible with the later drive versions (a symptom of having the wrong software). The BDS4 drives on your machine have no serial communication and all setup is done on the drive, not using a software config.

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