Sony Magnescale Repair or Replace

I have a 17 X 40 lathe with a older Sony DRO setup. It's a LH42, two axis unit and it just decided to fizzle out. On start up it shows 'error' on both axis.

I have called and emailed several companies that say they repair these systems, but as typical...no one returns calls or emails. I don't understand how companies stay in business.

Does anyone have any recommendations or guidance on this dilemma? From a cost standpoint I would love to get this repaired versus buying new. I have a Bridgeport with newer Magnescales and they are flawless. Mitutoyo makes a magnetic system which is fairly reasonable..Acu-Rite is too much as is Newall or Fagor.

I'm afraid of the Chinese stuff although some of it looks pretty good!

Would it be unreasonable to think the LH42 control could be repaired? Who would do it?

Stuart

a friend of mine has two of these sonys, one his lathe and one on mill. The transformer in main display head would fail and not put out correct voltage. Factory was no real help. He got aftermarket transformers with correct voltage and they came back to life twice so far.

Try H&W Machine Repair in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jon is their electronics guy. Good man. They will return your phone call.

H&W Machine Repair & Rebuilding - Parts and Service for the Metalworking Industry

Tom

TDegenhart said:

Try H&W Machine Repair in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Jon is their electronics guy. Good man. They will return your phone call.

H&W Machine Repair & Rebuilding - Parts and Service for the Metalworking Industry

Tom

Click to expand...

Tom,

Sorry to say that those folks were one of the businesses I tried, although I emailed them as opposed to phoning, maybe that was the problem. I saw them recommended recently on this forum and their website lists an email address for their electronic repair department. No response in several days.

Stuart

fastone53w said:

a friend of mine has two of these sonys, one his lathe and one on mill. The transformer in main display head would fail and not put out correct voltage. Factory was no real help. He got aftermarket transformers with correct voltage and they came back to life twice so far.

Click to expand...

Thanks for that tip...I'm no electronics Guru but I'll take a peek inside the control.

Stuart

I have a read out and 1 good scale, if it is what you need I will sell it for a reasonable price. as far as I can tell their are no parts or service available for Magnescale products.

moonlight machine said:

I have a read out and 1 good scale, if it is what you need I will sell it for a reasonable price. as far as I can tell their are no parts or service available for Magnescale products.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the offer. I'll see what I can do with the existing unit first. The Sony stuff is top quality but support does seem to be scarce.

Stuart

Try H&W again. I spoke with them about an other issue and mentioned your comment.

Tom

@atomarc I just found this thread after Tom poked me about it when he called and spoke with me on Friday. I just wanted to apologize again. Phoning might have helped here, except they still would have waited for me to get back to get the answer from me that I just emailed you.

Im not trying to make excuses, just wanted to let you know.

The LH42 has a proprietary chip that is the normal culprit for errors on it. Unfortunately those cant be repaired. If you call Don at Measurement Technologies 313-640-8080 he is the Jedi Master for this. But a fair warning, he is also an on site service tech so he might not be in the shop.

Jon
H&W Machine Repair

Jon,

Thanks for getting back to me. I'll give that number a try.

Stuart