MILLTRONICS CENTURION IV LOST PARAMETERS (PLEASE HELP)

DEAD BATTERY HAS CAUSED LOSS OF PARAMETERS, I FOUND 1 SHEET AND ENTERED THEM IN, BATTERY IS HOLDING CHARGE FOR THE MOMENT, THIS IS A KNEE MILL AND I"M NOT SURE IF I ENTERED ALL NEEDED PARAMETERS, BECAUSE UPON TRYING TO GRID MACHINE IT GOES INTO ALARM IMMEDIATELY EITHER E-STOP CONDITION OR OVER TRAVEL, IF I TRY AND JOG IT MOVES ON SCREEN FOR A COUPLE THOU, THEN GOES INTO ALARM! NO SERVOS ARE NOT MOVING, AND I CAN HEAR THE RELAY TURN ON UPON PRESSING RESET, BUT NO POWER TO SERVOS?? LOST HERE.

SERVO AMP?

ANYONE??

THANKS IN ADVANCE!

You will need to get a repairman in there now. Youll need to find your local milltronics reseller

Don't fool with parameters until you get the battery replaced, you will just lose them the next time the voltage drops.

Here is a Generic Parameter list if you don't have the one from your machine:

Also, here is a copy of the Cent4 Trouble Shooting Guide:

You will probably have trouble finding a service tech with Cent4 experience.

Good Luck with it.

Mr ZZZZ,

Thank you kindly, battery is on its way and i found this page in the manual, guess i did not realize there is so few parameters.

Again Thank you for the list, and troubleshooting guide. Much appreciated!

Update! after getting battery replaced and parameters back in machine, tracing wires..relays..again and again for 12 hours yesterday, we found something is causing the disable drives function along with spindle and coolant not operable, "VOL" is lit on the servo dynamic amps. seems to be something to do with computer mother or daughter board. beyond our capabilities at this point. machine is 90% ready to run it would be sad at this point to scrap the old computer and drives for retrofit. Last attempt to grind this problem. Any last ideas anyone? Thanks.

And yes we got all voltages right on the money! FYI.... If no reply's we will have some good parts from this machine soon. we are big on support and this company no longer supports the electronics, kind of understanding but we have older vintage machine tools that are still supported. so we will not be a returning customer. yes we have three of these machines. Special thanks to ZZZZ for the help.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vegastony12

And yes we got all voltages right on the money! FYI.... If no reply's we will have some good parts from this machine soon. we are big on support and this company no longer supports the electronics, kind of understanding but we have older vintage machine tools that are still supported. so we will not be a returning customer. yes we have three of these machines. Special thanks to ZZZZ for the help.

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Don't blame Milltronics. I don't know why anyone should expect a 25+year old machine to still have parts available. 25 years in electronics may as well be 100 years. Try to find parts for that Sony Walkman or better yet ask yourself is all this worth the trouble. I bet you wish you had that 12 hours back. Fix one thing and another system will fail and you're still in the same sinking boat. Like the Walkman, there are better ways of doing things electronically today. Almost any upgrade would be better, faster, and last longer than that old Centurion IV. Tread water or swim out of trouble, it's your choice how you spend your money and time. The one thing I do like about Milltronics is that they do use modern day electronics.

Was that an insult? your comparing an industrial machine to a walkman? Yes my walkman still works. as does many of my other cnc machines that are older than this particular machine. and still are serviceable and supported. as is my 40 year old Mercedes Benz free roadside assistance as long as the car is on the road! yes daily driver! If i was ranting, it was about support! not about any company if they are still in business, They built a decent machine with Taiwan castings. no complaints here. I would have considered buying a new machine from them but the support was a deal breaker. can't wait to Frankenstein this mill with your "modern" electronics which by the way i will be using 90% of what is already there. do some research my friend and you will find the very first computer built 100 years ago is still running to this day. yes it was a team in England that built it. most "modern" electronics are made in china and have a very short life span! including the one I'm typing on! this milltronics mill has lasted 30 years! try doing that with your modern day haas. i much rather would have stayed with the machine in its current state! yes i will upgrade to American made! with a company that has been in business for 100 years cause i know i will get the support for my 7k upgrade! By the way whats better and faster on this type of machine?? C'mon! its like putting a corvette engine in a Ford Pinto! Cool! :\

Also @ MOLDCORE, our 12 hours spent on the machine was not a waste of time at all! it was time spent on figuring how the new drivers will sit using the original parts. you probably think a Harbor Freight lathe and mill is powerhouse! and you run your business with them right? or maybe that grizzly Lathe in your garage is your business? I'm new here but i think this site is for hobbyist not machinists? but i could be wrong! no disrespect to anyone either! well except Moldycheese. left a rancid stink on my modern computer.

Here is a copy of the Servo Dynamics card manual if you don't have it:

I would unplug the J1 connector from a SD card to see if the light goes away, if it doesn't, the problem isn't the computer.

ZZZZ! Thanks a bunch! unplugged J1, The vol lights on all three boards stayed on, actually 2 out of three until you hit reset than all three come on "VOL" same situation. so its not the computer i take it, Have a feeling the front panel has some shorts going on..sticky old buttons. maybe dead short on limit switches or somewhere in the wiring from front keyboard panel?? will study the manual. Thank you very much kind Sir! something is kicking the amps to disable mode! spindle, coolant pump and disable are in same series. it was intermittent for a day i could turn on spindle, now nothing. +/- 15v dead on as is the 100v uuugh!

PM me for more info on The C4 control, I have spare parts available.
When working with the SD drives, try running one drive at a time. completely disconnect to other 2 drives. try swapping one at a time. The SD drive have been known to "cascade" a problem from 1 drive to the others. I have rebuild drives.

If you do not have +/- 15 VDC the drives wont work. I have replacement power supplies as well.

Sportybob

Sportybob,

Looks like we have progress, one drive at a time works, well 2 out of three works got them to home. One drive for sure nothing. When i try the two that work at same time only one will apply torque not both at same time. So im wondering if maybe a power spike killed the drives and there really is only 1 good one left. Pm me on the refurbished drives. Thanks for your help.

As per your PM. you said you only have 72VDC at the blue Cap. this is not enough voltage to drive 2 motors. The DC Buss caps should have a "peak" DC voltage coming from the bridge rectifier. AC in X 1.414 = DC peak. (110 VAC X 1.414 = 155.54 VDC at the caps) Check the 110 VAC at terminal blocks # 1 and 2. if low check the 220 to 110 transformer for the correct "tap" if OK then I suspect the bridge rectifier is bad. as 72VDC Peak) X .707 (ac RMS) = ~51VAC in to the bridge rectifier. ( peak X.707 = RMS)

While you are checking things, Check the Buss caps themselves. Remove the wires from the terminals and using an ohm meter on the highest scale, read across the cap terminals. You should "see" the meter clime at a steady rate until it goes open, reverse the leads and check again, it should "count down" go thru 0 and count back up to a open. If it counts a few times and goes to open, the cap is bad, if it stops counting and shows a resistance the cap is bad.

Sportybob

OK! Making progress, on this Mill does anyone own one of these machines? the one we have got is a partner 3. It did not come with the table extensions so we are missing a limit switch dog for the X axis. Does anyone have a picture they can post of the X Limit switch dogs?

Thanks in advance.

Attachment 260236Attachment 260238

Bob,

Here is the pics of the switches. missing homing and limit dogs.

Hi I know this an old thread but I also lost my parameters on a milltronics centurion iv after the battery went dead.
Do you still have a parameter list?
I appreciate any help I can get.

Thanks,