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Brother hs3100 Dead batteries

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Austiningalls92

Plastic
Joined
Sep 12, 2021
Hello all

I just purchased an old hs3100 for a song and a dance with very low hours and in excellent physical condition. I got it back to the shop hooked it up to power only to find that the batteries were dead.

If anyone could help me out with reloading all the control data and tuning the generator and servo drives I would be in your debt. A copy of the brocom software would be helpful too.

Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out.

Austin
 
Does anyone out there have a working hs3100 and do you mind sharing a copy of your parameters? Also if anyone has a copy of the service manual for this machine that they'd be willing to share that'd be great.

I know from looking at other threads there are a few people on here who really know what they're talking about when it comes to the brother EDMs. If one of you informed individuals could help me acquire the tools, point me in the right direction and answer the occasional question I'd appreciate it.
 
I don't see any reference to the BROTHER splash screen without an error code.
See if you can do a reset-clear. It's done by holding down the +Y and -Y keys while powering up.
 
Hey all. I'll be assisting Austin on-site with this machine. I've discovered we have the original factory test report with the spark compensation/gain and leadscrew comp values on paper in the cabinet.

I'll/we'll see about testing the reset-clear tomorrow. I still have the old batteries so maybe I'll throw a volt meter on them and see if they weren't 100% dead after all. They were Toshiba carbon/zinc batteries with all Japanese writing so they may have even been original from 1999. If the reset-clear doesn't work I'll get a picture of the screen and post that.

This machine came out of a vocational training center at a high school (New Bedford, MA, I think it was). We're pretty sure it sat for about 8 years after the last time it was powered off based on the "last power of" display and how it jumped ahead about that far between the first and second times we powered it on.

Thanks in advance for any and all help provided.
Jay
 
G'morning,
I had a few minutes in front of the WEDM already today and I have good news to report. The machine is alive. I did the reset-clear and the boot screen looked similar except without a "last powered off" time. I started pushing buttons and found the alarm page would come up. Then I looked through all the various informational pages. There are even a few NC programs loaded in the memory already.

We do still have two alarms remaining: 266 and 267. 266 is a power fail alarm and I'm not sure what 267 is. I was able to correct/release all the other alarms it had (emergency stop, -Y overtravel, etc.)

Thoughts on how to clear up the two remaining alarms?

Jay
 
266 is power fail. Possible 24V too low, Wire STD board or harness defective, connection to the water tank PCB
267 is fuse blown ( yeah, that's descriptive ) possible Wire STD board or harness to the water tank PCB defective, water tank PCB defective


So, I am guessing that checking and adjusting the 24V is step#1, then look at the circuit board on the water tank.
I do remember having to replace a fuse there once, but don't know if it was on this machine or the 50A, or if there were any error codes
other than shit not working.
The 24V does drift, so is the 5V. Both are adjustable. AVR1 is your 5V, and it should be 5 - 5.2V
AVR 2,3,5 and 6 are all 24V +/- 1V
 
Or y'know, maybe try plugging in the water tank? Asutin and I will give that a shot in a few minutes here. What an exciting day this has been.

Also found out this machine is incredibly low hours. The counter says it has only 216 cutting hours and 24,797 POH.

Thanks you very much for the alarm info too!

Jay
 
So, hooking up the water tank cleared the 266,267 alarms. Our next problem seems to be with the Y axis. It seems to be hunting and then alarms out with a error. I'll have to get the exact error but it was something about a following error. We're investigating to make sure the scales and motors are connected with no problems in the wires.
~edit~
The error code is 322 Servo Deviation Y.
The operator manual says it's probably because there is some sort of interference or binding in the axis. The axis and ballscrew move freely though.
~edit~
Jay
 
Last edited:
ADjust the servo-gain

For the X/Y axis, set the "jog speed" to 4
Go to the [ALARM] - [DIAG] screen and find the deviation display
Jog the Y axis and ajust the VR4 pot ( servo boards are on the right side ) to the following:
ROM Version 1.00 - 1.07 - deviation 398 - 402
ROM version 1.08 and above - 645-649

at the same time VR3 is the X axis pot.
 
To diagnose the Y axis issue we swapped the Y axis servo and scale to the X axis inputs and vise versa to narrow down if it was an issue with the control/servo card or the motor/ scale. If the X axis started hunting then it's a control/ servo card problem if the Y axis continued hunting it would be a servo or scale issue. The issue stayed with the Y axis so we took all the covers off and noticed the y axis servo was pretty corroded. We pulled the motor and removed the resolver cover to find that the brushes were all seized up and not making good contact with the wheel. We took it all apart cleaned up the corrosion made sure everything was freed up and reassembled and reinstalled the motor. Voila everything works as it should again with no alarms.

Now to deal with all the damaged valves and who knows what else from water remaining in the system and being stored in a non climate controlled facility through 8 years of Massachusetts winters.

P.S. Split valve castings make a big mess in a hurry.
 
Nice!

The plumbing system in these things are pretty stupid simple.
Literally, most of it can be sourced from HD if you really need it.
Pumps OTOH .... Make sure you spin them by hand first before letting them rip at 3600RPM and destroy the cells.

As long as the machine was disconnected from the water tank during storage, all the damage will be restricted to the tank unit as
most of the water would have been evacuated from the machine side.
 
I'm hoping the damage is minimal. So far the only junk part is the horizontally oriented solenoid valve on the back of the dielectric tank. I'll probably rip into it this weekend and clean any remaining crud out.
 
We were able to braze the split valve and tidy up a few other issues with the machine between Friday and Saturday. Did a couple test burns Friday and Austin was actually able to type out a program and cut a part on Saturday.

Next step is learning the syntax for some of the more advanced G code (we don't have a code reference manual) and figuring out how to get a program in/out via RS232.

One small thing we haven't been able to figure out is how to send the machine to a position like MDI. Best we can figure is you have to write and save a small program with the command in it then reserve it for MDI and execute it. Seems a bit clunky though.

Thanks again for all the help. Looks like this machine is destined to cut some more parts instead of heading for the scrap yard.

Jay
 
Yeah, the MDI is retarded.

The machine does not really have a "work coordinate" system, so the best way to send it to a specific position is using the STEP function.
You type in the step amount, and press the axis which you want to move by that amount.

There is precious little in the way of programming instructions, but I will try to scan in the G-code card ( 2 pages ) and send it to Austin.

As far as the RS232, I've sent the COMS program with the cable pinout.
The COMMS program WILL NOT WORK with:
Win7 - 64 or above
Emulated COM port ( must have on-board, true UART or decent expansion card with drivers, typical chinese garbage won't work. )
Win XP or above: No other program must be allowed to access the port. If it does, you MUST reboot the PC! to regain access by the COMMS program.
 
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