[masspfei]

I found and corrected my axis limit error, and am now confronted with a new one.

When enabling the axises, it get error 4000. Looked it up in the book and it requires a field technician.

I hear the motors turn on, when I look inside the cabinet, x & y fan is going on top of the driver, but the z fan is not. Could this be the problem?

Was to late last night to do much research, but will get to it tonight. Any ideas?

TIA

Steven

[machintek]

An Error 4000 Is A Axis Drive Fault. Check The Drives In The Black Cabinet On The Right Side Of The Machine. Each Has A Red Led To Indicate A Fault Or That The Drives Are Off. Have Someone Enable The Drives And See Which Leds Go Off And Which Stays On. You Will Have About Half A Second. The Drive With The Led That Stays On Is The One With The Fault. Remember That It Can Be The Motor Or Drive Or Cable. The Drives Slide Out. Exchange Two And See If It Follows The Drive Or Stays In The Same Axis. If It Follows The Drive, It Is The Drive. They Are Fragile Electronically.

George

[masspfei]

Sorry, I should have been more specific in my post. All of the drives (3) have the red fault led on.

There is no A-Axis.

Steven

[machintek]

Sorry, I capitalized the "a". Perhaps it should state "an" axis drive fault. Yes, I expect that the LEDs are on. Watch them carefully and see if when someone turns the drives on, that two of the three go off. If none go off, then there is an immediate error. I have to look at the prints to find the fault lines and see how to fool the control to keep the drives on to see which axis is at fault and which can move.

George

[masspfei]

I am in the middle of hooking up the fist monitor. Will this help in this situation? I also replaced the fan that was not working. Luckly, had another bridgeport here to rob off of. It was broke...

Keep on sending suggestions, I have my pc up and making noise when I get messages.

Thanks,

Steven

[machintek]

It may show you which axis is actually sending the fault. I have to read my notes.

George

[masspfei]

I messed with the cabel half the day today, with no luck. The fault is instant.
Can I disconnect the cables off of each motor at a time to see which motor, cable is at fault?

Steven

[machintek]

You cannot disconnect the motor cable(s). The axis drive board monitors the motor and this will create a fault. This will make the proverbial water more muddy.
According to the wiring schematics the axis drive gets 15VDC from the DLI board. On the X axis,it comes in on terminal 20 (wire 382). The axis drive outputs a fault at terminal 17 (wire 360). I do not know if the fault signal is high or low. Meaning that either 15VDC at wire 360 creates a fault or the lack of 15VDC creates a fault. The same terminals apply to the Y and Z axis. You can try pulling the wire off of each drive to see what happens or try jumping 17 to 20 on each drive one at a time to isolate which drive is at fault. I noted that there are seperate inputs to the FMDC which means the fist event monitor can indicate on which axis the fault lies.

George

[HuFlungDung]

Wouldn't it be funny if all it was, was the E-Stop button was locked in?

[eman5oh]

E-stop stuck in? Been thier and done that. Funny thinking back on it but not at the time.

[machintek]

I wish it could be that simple. Unfortunately the 2 line LCD display can tell you that. If the control says error 4000, then unfortunately it is error 4 in the first set that translates to an axis drive fault. Seen it many times and it usually meant I had to slide in a new drive. Trouble is, this drive is obsolete. Maybe EMI has a replacement. It was also used on the BTC-1 machine. The next machine, the BOSS 9 used drives designed by Jack Lawler of Bridgeport Controls in Horsheim PA and built by Bridgeport.

George

George

[masspfei]

BTW, Checked the e-stop. Been burned before on a fanuc....

Steven

[HuFlungDung]

Say, have you checked all the wiring to and from the E-stop switch? If you have an open, maybe its shutting off the drives. Could be a seperate (good) circuit on the Estop is used to monitor the state of the switch, and the PLC doesn't see the condition.

[masspfei]

When you push "axis drive enable" the three sping loaded thingys go cachunk. If you push the estop button they go cachunk the other way. Sorry for all the technical data, but its the only way I know how to explain it...

Steven

[machintek]

If the E-stop was pushed in, the control would not attempt to enable the drives. What is happening is that the drives are in a fault state (red LED ON) before the enable. When you enable the drives one small relay enables 3 larger contactors, then the control looks for the lack of a fault signal or the inverse - a ready signal. If all is OK then all stays enabled. If not, the drives are shut down. This is done in less than a second by the FMDC board and is called the ZAP string. The fist monitor will even say that it was shut down due to ZAP. In this less than a second, it is possible to see which LEDs shut off and which one stays on. This gives you an idea as to which axis may be at fault. Then this drive is exchanged with a good drive. If the problem moves, it is the drive board. If it does not, it may be motor or cable related. The control can be fooled by either removing fault lines one at a time, or jumpering 15VDC to each fault line one at a time. I do not remember if the fault is high or low. The faults go to the FMDC through the DLI on individual lines thus the fist monitor should identify which drive is bad as well.

George

[HuFlungDung]

Steven,
If the machine is older and been moved, I would look for the least glamourous problem first: simple old bad connections. With the power off (perhaps for several minutes to allow capacitors and stuff to discharge), go around and pull on every connection. Crimped connections are very suspect after a few years. Then tighten all screw terminals, too.

Use caution around large capacitors. Use pliers with insulated grips to test connections, and keep one hand in your pocket (meant as a principle to prevent current flow through your chest).

Good luck.

[masspfei]

Well, I tried jumpering them with no luck. I am now trying to disconnect wire 17 on each of them to see if that helps.

Steven