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Milltronics Partner 1 issue. Drive Fault. Motor issue? bad wire?

rebelyell1191

Plastic
Joined
Mar 27, 2018
Hello, I own a Milltronics Partner 1 serial number 2387. was having trouble homing out first thing in the morning a few weeks ago. I would reset the drives and try again and it would work fine for the rest of the day. this went on for a few weeks until finally yesterday it stopped homing out. Just as it gets to the home position, an Error 449: (Emergency Stop; axis drive fault. reset servo drivers or power down) appears on screen.

I openned the back cabinet. homed it out, and noticed a red light. (third one from the left, marked LS ECB) comes on then turns off. I tried swapping the glentek boards X and Y and the light seems to stay where the x axis drive was. It does not follow the drive when i swap the boards. I now believe this may be a motor issue or some bad wiring.

can someone help? have any tips to guide me towards diagnosing the problem. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
 
I had a partner VI that had developed some :"ghost-in-the-machine" wiring issues.
My machine would error out 449 intermittently.
The 449 loop (e-stop, limit switches) are bundles together, so tracing the problem was a nightmare.
I was able to follow the circuit, and finally found the culprit. It was the wiring bundle going to the X axis motor.
The wiring loom (hanging beneath the left side of the table) had been contaminated by coolant. The soluble oil did a number on the wiring insulation, and turned it to a soft, gummy, goo. The conductor was semi-exposed to coolant, which shorted the circuit. (Just like hitting E-stop)

I found it the old school way.... Isolate each axis, each limit switch, etc, checking for leakage/continuity while having someone shake/pull/push on everything.


I replaced the entire wiring bundle for the X (and later on, the Z) axis, and had no more problems.

Of course, getting the old bundle out, was a NIGHTMARE! I ended up with microscopic, steel splinters all over my body!:(

Doug.
 
Just thought of something.
You say it alarms out "just as it gets to the home position" :scratchchin:
You might want to look at the "soft limit" switch that is positioned just before the "hard limit" switch.
Hard limit = switch at the ~very~ end of travel, that tells the controller to reverse direction, and look for the soft limit switch.

If it is bypassing the soft limit, it might get all the way to the hard limit, without the control looking for the reverse direction signal......
Just a thought.
 
You can tell if individual limit switches are working by going into the diagnostics page and then tripping each button with your fingers and watch the screen to change from 0 to 1. I've replaced/rebuilt the X axis lints switches on my Partner 4. I also had some homing issues with Y, it would home once at the right spot, then over travel .200" or so the next time. Had to take out the Y axis motor and clean the encoder on the end of it.
 








 
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