Ok so this week has been pretty aweful for the machines at our place. Unfortunately im the one left with the problem as the other operator is on holiday.

First of all let me say please do not say go to an enginner and have it done professionally. I know this is what really needs to be done, but the boss is an idiot and he just moans about stuff instead of getting it done. The workplace is on its last legs, they cant afford a professional and basically i wanna keep my job going for a while lol

So my main issues are with an ELU CNC 860 machine. small 860x860x90 entry level machine:

First off the console broke down, now when we plug it in and switch it on all the button lights stay on for 10 secs or so before going out and a continuous beep comes from the console until we cut the power. Any idea if its completely buggered or not (i.e. is there a way to flash the consoles firmware)

Second we have a second old elu console, its calibration stuff was messed up as it ignores the Z limit switch, and just drives the Z axis motor right to the top, which then means we have to mess around taking bits off to release the limit switch so we can move the router head down. Is there a way to fix it or is the op system buggered

In regards to the above, how is the best way to get that motor down, it looks like its just a plate fixed to the lead screw so is there a way to manually turn the lead screw. Ive tried manually calibrating the machine (basically holding the limit switch during calib so the console thinks its at its top lift wherever it is giving me the ability to press the Z-Down button), and then i press Z-Down but the motor just seems to turn 5 degrees then stops while the console displays that its still going down. its as if it has gone up that high that its gotten itself jammed. So really i need to manually send it down or dismantle the housing to a stage of which i can take off the plate and put it back on lower down.

Ok so thats pretty much the Elu issues (yes i know i cant explain stuff properly but i did try my best to give as much detail about it)

We also have a problem with the camtech routermaster2 machine we have. Basically when its travelling on the x axis, every now and again the gantry twists as if one motor locks for a few milliseconds or as if the motors are travelling at diff speeds. The motors are the same and pretty much brand new so we sent um out for repair thinking they had broken again already. But we had a phone call today telling us the motors have been tested and they were fine. Before sending the motors the big man had the idea of switching the control boards around, basically putting the z and y axis boards which we know work in the two x-axis slots and putting the x axis ones on the y and z slots. The problem still persisted so we imagine the boards are not at fault. Have you any ideas as to what else could be causing the problem ?

I apoligise if you dont understand anything and i'll try to explain more if you need to on anything. Id appreciate the help just to diagnose the issues and possibly fix them (if only temporary so we can some work out the door so we can afford to get the damn things fixed properly). I have already emailed centralcnc asking for a few prices on replacement consoles and hourly engineer rates e.c.t. so i'll be making sure the big man gets things done properly asap