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Bridgeport Interact 412 - Axis PSU Fault

LMM

Plastic
Joined
Jan 9, 2020
Location
Camas, Washington
Hello all. I'm hoping maybe someone here can provide some guidance.

We have a Bridgeport Interact 412 that we have been using successfully for about 6 months. It was previously in use at a local college. It's in great shape. It's actually extremely capable for what it is.

We have the machine running off a North American PL-15 rotary phase converter. About one month ago the machine started giving this Axis PSU Fault message occasionally during the initial referencing procedure after startup. Simply turning the machine off and back on would take care of it for the rest of the day. This past week it became progressively worse (more restarting to fix it) until yesterday it appears to continually have the issue.

The machine is using Bosch drives. When this error occurs, there is often a red light lit up on the unit containing the server amps, next to it is the text NF (the F is smaller)

The incoming voltages are 120, 120, 215 when measured to ground. 240,240,249 when measured across each other respectively. The generated (high) leg is not connected to the controls. If the generated leg is removed, the controls will function, though I still receive the fault condition. (this was done just to test)

I have taken out and inspected each of the axis cards, as well as the "PSU" card. The PSU card has some jumper wires that someone added to it and some traces that have been cut. I can't tell if this was the factory fixing mistakes or what. I don't see any overly bulging caps or burned/shorted areas that stand out.

I have moved each axis card to another axis, pulled them out one by one, etc. What I have found is this... The fault only occurs when all axis are enabled. (green lights on them) If one is taken out, any one of them, the fault does not occur. This tells me there is likely not an issue with any particular axis card. It appears that there is some type of overload that happens, or under-voltage possibly, when all 3 are enabled. This then trips "something" on the PSU card and in turn the Controls. Occasionally I can get it to run for a bit, but after 5 minutes of just moving around, it will throw the fault. As well, sometimes it will throw the error when none of the axis have been enabled at all, but power is has been applied to the PSU card.

I have also removed then entire "servo control unit" which houses the cards, etc. and inspected it as best I could. I did not see anything out of the ordinary, burnt, etc.

So... At this point I'm stuck... Thank you for reading.

Just too add: My gut, which of course could be wrong, tells me the board itself thinks there is an overcurrent condition when there is not, and shuts the cards down when this happens. I wish I knew what the NF light meant...
 
Hello LLM,

I have a Bridgeport Interact 720 and it has a separate power supply just for the low voltage, and when it failed I was getting axis errors.

Could you share some high-resolution pictures of the schematics, found in the maintenance manual.

Bryan
 
Thank you for responding. I just saw this. Unfortunately, I do not have the schematics, only the 412 manual I found online. I have manuals for the Heidenhain controls, and a version of the Bosch units, but nothing for the entire machine.

I should add. I purchased a replacement PSU card from Radwell for an arm and a leg... Didn't fix the issue. However, that's probably because the card they sent me, which I'd paid $200 to have "checked/verified" short notice, arrived DOA. Ridiculous.

I think it's the low voltage somewhere in there but haven't had to time to troubleshoot it. There's several bridge rectifiers, most of which I have checked. I have a feeling it's not the actual power supply and something else instead.
 
I had a similar problem with a TR15S drive unit, as more drive boards were plugged in the lower the +/- 15 Volt supply Voltage dropped. The answer to this was to change the two 47uF electrolytic reservoir capacitors on the PSU board. The PSU board design is an absolute dogs dinner and you can expect it to cause regular problems.
 








 
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