[sagada]

Martin
something came through my mind about your init.... if you look inside the tool changer you will see a stepper motor just like the axes that use the same driver card as the axes it is located at the right side of the card edge in the control panel if you look at it it has a letter B on the cable this is the driver board for the tool changer rotation maybe it is out of order why don't you try to exange it with a U board for the 4 axes or any one and see you will see the A and C board those board are for the tool changer dc motor to go under the spindle... also you can check if there is any voltage going to that stepper motor ..
Rejean

[olfoundryman]

Rejean,
It woulde nice if I had a "U" card to swap for the "B" card. I would just love a rotary table - don't happen to have a spare one do you? (grin). Seriously though I can easily try your idea out as I have 4 spare axes cards - I bought them from someone doing a conversion a month or two back. However at the moment I can not try anything as some capacitors were replaced on my control module card - its the small card in the control consel that the removable plastic thingie (the controller) plugs into. This was done by someone much more knowledgable about electronics that I. However when I fitted the card to the machine and switched on a pronounced whistle came from the card sort of like a mosquito buzzing but louder, and nothing appeared on the display at all! Help! I am going backwards! This machine is Jinxed! Something is clearly wrong with the work that has been done on this card but untill its fixed I can't try anything.

Ormstrup,
Yes, the manuals are the same. Have not yet been able to try sensors - see above! 2 am wow - my bed calls me wayyyyy before that - you must be a lot younger than I! I am interested to hear what you make of those two sensors in the photos.

Regards,
Martin

[Ormstrup]

Martin

Two sensors hided behind a cover, yes also DYNA has forgotten thise two sensors in there trobelshooting manual. :-)

I thing the two sensors are for tool number, meaning they helps the carusell to pick the right tool number. Dont know haw it works yet.

Dont think these two sensors are related to start up initilaise.

Have looked to the Yahoo tread you sugested, long and heavy, but it seams sombody have worked a lot with this problem, I tray to e-mail the people, as it seams some of the old software link are lost. Thank you.

Best regards
Ormstrup

[ckm]

- a Pogo and a proximity sensor, both located next to each other on the front of the carosel housing and just above the carosel itself, does anyone know what these last two do? And how they should be adjusted?

AFAIK, those sense the lateral position of the arm. The pogo one hits the metal plate on the side of the head, telling the system it's in position for a toolchange.

The other tells it it is full retracted.

When your machine powers up, it should rotate the carousel to check the position of the tool changer. Mine went back and forth, IRC, and I think the arm moved as well.

Chris.

[olfoundryman]

Chris,
The two sensors that I am curious about are not those that sense the lateral position of the tool changer. Rather they seem associated with the vertical position of the tool carousel i.e. the bit that rotates and carries the 10 tools. It seems to be able to move up and down a little as it looks to be mounted on a stack of belvile washers (take the upside down top hat shaped cover off the bottom of the carousel section of the tool changer and you will see these washers) I can not see why up and down movement - even if only a little - is necessecary for the carousel to preform its function - any one got any ideas. (Is it some safety thing in case the head pushes down too far during a tool change or just some come and go with sensors to detect when the head has picked up the tool and lifted off the carousel with the tool??)Please see post #119 for two photos of these two sensors.

Now for a further update on my machine trials and tribulations - the 5 volt bit of the +5V, +12V, and -12V power supply has now decided that 1 volt is all its going to bother putting out! This is a new fault as I checked this power supply just a few days ago and it was working ok. What next - can't I even get one fault fixed before the next occurs? mutter mumble!
Regards,
Martin

[sagada]

martin

hee hee don't forget those power supply has been there giving each day the goodies to the machine for the last 20 years , why don't you do like me just replace them... the 48 volts one and the 5/12/12 one and have a fresh start.

Rejean

[olfoundryman]

Rejean,
No it wasn't the power supply!
I took the +5 +/-12 power supply out of the machine. Took the cover off it and everything looked ok. So I connected it up to mains power while it was out of the machine - put a load (a 12 volt 40 watt light globe) on the +5 volt output and switched on. The power supply worked perfectly all voltages correct. So I put it back in the machine, connected it up, and switched it on. As before the +5 volt was not working properly just +1 volt coming out.
A couple of electronicly more savy friends explained that power supplies like these often have a safety feature built in such that if they are exposed to a load greater than that for which then are designed they either turn off completely or down to a much lower voltage eg 1 volt instead of 5. So I figured a short somewhere in one of the places that this +5 volts goes to from this power supply. This is all ther electronics in the machine except the console which generates its own 5 volts internaly. One at a time I pulled out plugs to isolate each electronics card. It did not take long to narrow the problem down to the tool changer arm motor area. It seems that in my urge to clean all contacts I had put one of the wires back wrongly on the 15 pin plug. I had the ground wire going to pin 11 instead of pin 12. I am very carefull to get things like this right but this time I think that my ageing eyesight let me down. With this problem corrected the power supply worked properly and so did the whole machine - I had fixed it - it responded to all commands, it initilized and everything - well it did so after first overrunning the Z pogo - I had broken a wire in it when cleaning it but a few minutes with a soldering iron fixed that and then OH JOY of JOYS it all worked! I bounded inside to a good meal and an evening of some relaxing TV. But as I sat there watching some mindless drivell it occured to me that I had checked the power supply out weeks ago and found it to be OK even when the machine would not respond. Suddenly I had my doubts and felt most uneasy about having solved the problem. Sure enough next morning when I switched the machine on it would not respond - I had NOT fixed it at all.....Oh Gawd......
To be continued

Rgds,
Martin (not giving up just feeling sick)

[sagada]

ormstrup
sorry for beiing so long to answer you
i did try to start the old puter in dos mode but i think it gave up
right now i am using DNC4U software to download in the machine with a new pentium but you have to reajust the software to reduce the speed right now i am filling the 900 lines input and the dripping mode for large program i haven't played with it.....
so procomm i cannot give you the setting but i can give the one for DNC4U wich you can download from www.dnc4u.com and is in trial mode for 60 days
com 2
baud 9600
data bit 8
parity none
stop bit 1
cnc setting, send, delay : 350
char delay 25

try this it is a start to communicate with the dm4400, the procomm program is about the same setting you have to slow it down because the dm4400 cannot digest the speed of new computer...

Martin
mosussssssssss a wrong wire connected at the wrong place... since am 58 i did change my glasses 3 months ago to see clearly why don't you do the same....heee heee..
you will see that this machine has old broken wire here and there be carefull when you play with them they are fragile....
as for the power supplys juste be carefull they are old it would be a good idea to replace them espcialy the 48 volts one because when it become defective it will give you headache like it happened to me whrn it blow up it blow up the fuse inside the spindle power supply giving me a grounf fault on top of the power supply one since i have 2 of those machine i keep one in stock just in case.....
have a nice day
Rejean

[olfoundryman]

Rejean,
58 - you are only a young lad! - I am a little older than that. I do have new reading glasses but don't use them in the garage where the DM is, instead I use ones with a longer focal length to suit working at a bench while standing up. These are not good for realy close work and the wires concerned are in a difficult to see position - still it was a silly mistake to make (but one easily rectified.)
Re that 48 volt power supply - it actually puts out 55 volts - well mine does and that's what the wiring diagram is labeled so I guess it is meant to. I too had the ground fault, it seems to be a very common problem. It is not in the power supply at all, it is in the motor - well mine was. I fixed mine and will do a post with photos etc about it as soon as I can manage after my coming weekend away at a steam rally in central Victoria. It will be a long post.
The machine actually responded correctly first thing this morning - I am getting close, honest, I am - I can feel it.

Regards,
Martin

[dmauch]

[
I was wondering if you can scan the manul for the sd3060. I need just the page that shows the terminals for the the spindle motor.

TIA
Dan Mauch
QUOTE=olfoundryman;493767]Ormstrup,
I am desperastly trying to get some passion for the DM 4400 - if I could just get the beast going - mmmmmm.
I am just about to go out and check those sensors out (its 9.30 am here)
The other two sensors that I was asking about are just out of frame in the third photo that you posted, They are just below the middle of the bottom of the photo they are covered by a little cover that is held on with two small screws - do you know what these two do? (I will take a photo later today and post it)
I have the following manuals
1: DM4000 / 4400 Maintenance and service manual
2: Series SD 3060 Manual (spindle power supply)
3: DM 4000 /4400 Operating and Programing Manual
(a very poor copy - unreadable in places)
If you have any manuals different from these I would be very interested in getting a copy.

Regards,
Martin

PS how is the weather in Denmark[/QUOTE]

[olfoundryman]

Dan,
My copy of the manual is just that - a copy. At least it is readable - unlike the other manual copy that I have. Unfortunately the idiot moron etc who copied it forgot to fold out the circuit diagram page so I did not get all that page, fortunately he then seems to have had another go with the copier on "reduce" and we have it all on an A4 page but its a bit hard to read! I have scanned all the relevant connection pages and I hope that this will be enough information for you. Perhaps someone else out there has a better copy of these pages that they could scan and post.

Regards,
From Sunny Melbourne Australia (Damn! we sure could use some rain)
Martin

[sagada]

hey hey everybody
i guess all the dm are working properly there is no more post to read...
i had an order of 500 pieces and the dm4000 just run like a cat and did all of it.. i did blown up the little fuse for the auxiliary voltage on the right side the one for the pump as i look on the dm4400 that i just finish to repair i saw it is blown too it is a 5 amps circuit fuse i will buy a few of those replace the one and keep some in stock..
right now i am looking for a mini mill body so i can install my mach3 system on it anyone has a place ........
Sag

[sagada]

MMMMMM
I did 500 pieces with the dm4000 2 weeks ago , i did load the program with a pc in the cnc, this week i did try to load another but niet i did try for about 3-4 hours i almost took an axe to destroy the crt, i decide to try on the dm4400 that i just finis to repair it was a niet to... i did contact mechtronic and i was told that the battery are dead or so it will not load in the machine, there is 2 of those guys in the machine one is located inside the console under the spindle function and the other is under the emergency switch... this little board is the interface in betwwen the crt and apu board at the back of the machine
..............change those battery if you want to load the machine.............

R

many thanks to Roberto from mechtronics

[olfoundryman]

Hi to all,
This is a post for those of you curious about whether I managed to get my DM4400 to respond reliably, thus it is a continuation from post #127.
The short answer is that No I haven’t - but the machine is working. This apparent contradiction is explained by the weather here in Melbourne getting warmer as summer approaches. Right from the start of my troubles it was noticeable that on the cold mornings (in June and July) the machine would not respond but that by say lunchtime on all but the coldest days it would respond. Now with temperatures at least 10 deg C higher most mornings it responds every time. I have though located the source of this problem, it is definitely associated with the two sensors located on the front of the tool changer please see post #119 for photos of these sensors. One of these is a standard pogo limit switch and if it activates (by slight upward movement of the tool carrousel) the machine locks up and will not respond. The other is a proximity sensor and presumably activates by slight downward movement of the tool carrousel again causing the machine to freeze and go into a non responsive mode. The proximity sensor on my machine was faulty and I have replaced it. But this still did not completely solve the problem. Both these sensors are mounted on a plate that can be positioned up or down via slotted bolt holes. I believe that the position is quite critical to get it so that neither sensor activates under normal conditions. To make this adjustment I need the machine to go non-responsive again, no doubt in the depths of next winter on the cold mornings it will, and then I will be able to adjust the position of the sensors properly and finally solve this problem! Yippee! (I live in hope anyway)
Considering that the tool carrousel does not normally move vertically at all one can only wonder what these sensors are actually for. My guess is that they are safety devices to prevent severe damage to the tool changer if things go wrong during a tool change.
The tool carrousel can actually move slightly up and down as it is mounted on a stack of belville washers (these are under the upside down top hat on the underside of the tool changer) Consider what would happen if when the spindle came down to pick up a tool it failed to stop when it contacted the tool. Clearly the tool changing arm and/or the spindle would be badly and almost certainly irreparably damaged. My guess is that under these circumstances the first (slight) downward movement of the carrousel would activate the proximity sensor which would freeze the machine and prevent the damage. Similarly if the spindle tried to go back up after picking up the new tool before the tool changer arm had swung away, severe damage would also result. Here the pogo would pick up the (slight) upward movement of the carrousel and activate, freeze the machine and thus prevent the damage. Presumably one would recover from these situations by hand cranking the tool arm away from under the spindle. As I said this is only a guess but it seems logical, and certainly if either of these sensors activates the machine will freeze and be non responsive until the sensor deactivates. If anyone out there has a more accurate explanation I would be most pleased to hear it.
Even though the machine now responds as it should I still cannot use it as a new set of problems have become apparent - more about these in another post!

Regards to all
Martin

[olfoundryman]

I got a copy of the DM4000 / DM4400 Operating and Programming Manual
with my machine. However it was a very poor photo copy. It was so hard to read that one had to put all ones effort into simply reading it leaving no effort available for understanding it. In addition the top part of many pages was totally unreadable. After repeated unsuccessful attempts to contact Dyna to try and purchase a new copy I gave up on them and got a friend on another forum to scan and convert the manual to a huge (48 Mb!) PDF file that I was able to download from his server. His copy was also rather poor but between the two I have been able to decipher and retype almost all of the important sections, saving each as a separate word.doc file, (so far sections 4 through to 11 are done). I was able to lift and clean up the diagrams from the PDF copy – they are not perfect but they will do. I am currently working on section 12. However our two sections 12 differ in that the PDF copy ends at page 12-16 while my copy goes to page 12-18 and my page 12-16 is different. Is there someone out there who has a copy that, like mine, goes to page 12-18 who could scan pages 12-16, 12-17, and 12-18 and send them to me attached to an email. (address is [email protected]). I would be most grateful.

Thanks,
Martin

[wrep]

Hello everybody!

We have reasently bought a used DM4400 with the DYNA 44M controller.

Now I want to upload and download programs to/from a PC.
I have downloaded the DNC4U-program but I cant get it working

The DNC4U program shows only a square when uploading from controller.

I have also tried to upload from the controler to a program of my own design (copied from the manual), but all I get are these hex characters: 0x16, 0x16, 0x16, 0x16, 0x0d, 0x0a. I toggle RTS for each received character. The controller says "Sending prog". No timeout on the controller. What am I doing wrong? How should I set up the program?

How should the file be formatted if i want to upload to the controler?

// Per W Stockholm

[sagada]

hey hey wrep

here is the set up to communicate with the dm4400 with dnc4u
right now i am using DNC4U software to download in the machine with a new pentium but you have to reajust the software to reduce the speed right now i am filling the 900 lines input,,, and the dripping mode for large program i haven't played with it.....
so procomm i cannot give you the setting but i can give the one for DNC4U wich you can download from www.dnc4u.com and is in trial mode for 60 days
com 2 or com1
baud 9600
data bit 8
parity none
stop bit 1
cnc setting, send, delay : 350
char delay 25

try this it is a start to communicate with the dm4400,
-------------ONE MORE THING------------------------
you have to change the battery they are BCX72
the battery are dead or so it will not load in the machine, there is 2 of those guys in the machine one is located inside the console under the spindle function and the other is under the emergency switch... this little board is the interface in betwwen the crt and apu board at the back of the machine
..............change those battery if you want to load the machine.............

hope this will help
Rejean

[wrep]

Thank you for the info

How shuld I set the flowcontrol? None? Hardware?
There is a box for "method used"?
Also there are checkboxes for
"Enable DTR"
"Enable RTS"

See picture attached

I think we need to check up those batterys as well! I will try to meassure the voltage asap.

// Per

[sagada]

hey hey wrep
you are getting there
flow control should be xonxoff
for the batteries look at the date of manufacturing around or on top of it
it is a life time of 10 years on the shelf so if they were working....
voltage should be between 3.6 to 3.9 if not replace them at same time replace the capacitor it is a 1000uf 50 volts

Rejean
p.s. burger is on you

[wrep]

I have now meassured the voltage.
It was 3.55 volt on the battery under the emergency stop.
And 3.66 volt on the one in the controler.
It doesnt seem too bad but I will replace them anyway to see if it helps

// Per