Fadal INV-0020 problem

I recently had the spindle drive go down on one of my Fadals.
Been through the troubleshooting list, none of my machines have the keypad for the Baldor drives. Makes troubleshooting tough.

Im getting error #10 when trying to start or orient the spindle.
Power into the drive is good, control card is good, getting command signal into the drive, just changed out the encoder to the new "accucoder" sealed unit.

Zero power out, load meter pegs, control errors out. I can reset with no issue, but same problem.

I tore the Baldor vector drive down today, could not find anything obviously cooked. The only thing I'm not sure of, looks like a big contactor in behind the front board.
I havnt had the opportunity to test it YET, but it seems strange to me. Why put that inside the drive? Is that normal?

I could only see the large 10amp slow blow for fuses, the IGBTs all looked ok. No cracking or fissile material surrounding them.

Anyone have any experience with fixing one of these?
Does anyone know what BALDOR model # it might be?
Seems they were in cahoots with Fadal to keep the ID of this drive under wraps.

macds said:

I recently had the spindle drive go down on one of my Fadals.
Been through the troubleshooting list, none of my machines have the keypad for the Baldor drives. Makes troubleshooting tough.

Im getting error #10 when trying to start or orient the spindle.
Power into the drive is good, control card is good, getting command signal into the drive, just changed out the encoder to the new "accucoder" sealed unit.

Zero power out, load meter pegs, control errors out. I can reset with no issue, but same problem.

I tore the Baldor vector drive down today, could not find anything obviously cooked. The only thing I'm not sure of, looks like a big contactor in behind the front board.
I havnt had the opportunity to test it YET, but it seems strange to me. Why put that inside the drive? Is that normal?

I could only see the large 10amp slow blow for fuses, the IGBTs all looked ok. No cracking or fissile material surrounding them.

Anyone have any experience with fixing one of these?
Does anyone know what BALDOR model # it might be?
Seems they were in cahoots with Fadal to keep the ID of this drive under wraps.

Click to expand...

I have 2 broken ones sitting in the shop. one works sometimes and sometimes not, the other had the regen resister blow on the soldered tab shorted up against the Contactor your talking about. look like a meteor hit it.
The contactor is normal on those older drives no one was in cahoots.

More than likely the transistors are bad.
theres a place in washington state that rebuilds them. BUTT its not cost justifiable, just buy a new replacement from the many places out there., sure you can go on ebay and buy a used one but is it worth it? week+ in downtime parts loading up then the posibility of it going bad because its OLD AS SHIT again is in the near future.

think about it your Fadal is OLD technology, sounds liek a early 90's maybe late 80's from what you described. it definitely got its life out of that drive. Replace it and never look back.
I replaced mine 2 years ago on a 1996, havent had a problem since

Hmmm..

Well, the regens ring out ok as well. Guess I should have mentioned that.
I agree, the down time is costing me, but I have a couple other machines I can transition into...

The machine is a 98 for reference.
There is no way this friggin thing should be difficult to repair, is all very basic components. Unfortunately, Im no electronics genius (does that make the previous statement an moron-oxy?)
Hell, I might just try replacing the igbt's for fun, and see if I can get it to roll again.
After I replace it.

In cahoots... as in theres no friggin model number on the drive. Just a serial number.
Ill call ABB\Baldor tomorrow and see if they can shed some light.

Might have to send a bouquet or two

macds said:

Hmmm..

Well, the regens ring out ok as well. Guess I should have mentioned that.
I agree, the down time is costing me, but I have a couple other machines I can transition into...

The machine is a 98 for reference.
There is no way this friggin thing should be difficult to repair, is all very basic components. Unfortunately, Im no electronics genius (does that make the previous statement an moron-oxy?)
Hell, I might just try replacing the igbt's for fun, and see if I can get it to roll again.
After I replace it.

In cahoots... as in theres no friggin model number on the drive. Just a serial number.
Ill call ABB\Baldor tomorrow and see if they can shed some light.

Might have to send a bouquet or two

Click to expand...

its a 98 with no kepad?, both mine have a key pad and both are 96's.
I got parts here if need be. just pay for shipping, otherwise I will toss them in the dumpster. both of these drives have rigid tap
one will need a contactor and new regen

There not difficult to repair, if and only if you have the equipment to test them and the patience and time.
My neighbor and friend of 30 years is a machine tech mainly in electronics. he and I regularly play with drives(usually my machines or a customers) but with out a schematic and the right equipment its hard to pin point. I have drives that if I can see a problem like a burnt part or cold solder joint I'm ok but the time invested just isnt worth it. its cheaper to send out or buy a new one.
we had one on an old lx1 yasnac control. spindle would jump and stutter. put a scope on it tuned the pots to running good a few weeks later it would be bad. got to the point over 4 years that I didnt need a scope. I could tune it by ear. about a year after that I had it . we figured the pot as bad. so I went to solder it in. worked real good for a long time 3-5 months. figured out it had to do with humidity and the multilayer boards in the spindle drive. sold it and bought another fadal

The guy who worked for him before he retired was a wiz. he could essentially look at it and go oh thats a bad so and so toss a scope on it verify and replace the part. sucked when he retired 10 years ago. he was one of those guys that just had a nack for drives and electronics. of for some odd reason he couldnt figure it out he would replace the drive take it to the shop and dick with it until he figured it out. The guy was so narrow minded on electronics he couldnt tie his own shoes LOL.

So, I took the drive to a shop in Toronto that specializes in repairing Baldor drives. Thought I might save some $$$.

Quote came back this morning, $2800 Canadian pesos. Holy chit.

I think I'll just buy one of the new ABB drives from ITS for a couple hundred extra bucks, and send the old one to Practec in Washington for repair.
Then Ill have a spare kicking around.

Anyone have one of the newer H3 ABB drives from ITS?