X drive motor making noise

[jporter]

My x drive motor on my PRS Buddy started jerking and making noise. I had used the machine and everything worked well. I turned it off for a little while and started it up again and the x drive motor sounded awful. I checked the forum and used some ideas to investigate and found that the Gecko drive seems to be the culprit.
I know a lot has been written about this problem, and I have tried changing the wiring around, etc. A new driver is $147, and my warranty has just run out. Should I just go ahead and cough up the bucks and get a new one, or does anyone have any suggestions? I am mechanical, but not electrical. Any repair beyond plug and play will be out of my capabilities. Thanks, joe

[cabnet636]

when a gecko goes it sounds like a terrible grinding noise, ones first thought is it is the motor

jim

[dubliner]

Swap the driver from the Y, they have to slide sideways about 1/4 inch, the pull up. I had the same issue, turned out to be the board itself, but eliminate the driver first. This was on a standard btw.

[jporter]

James, you are so right; Neville, I did swap the plug-ins, I only have three because it is a Buddy. I tried the move arrow keys after each plug was removed and found the X drive plug. I then plugged the Y into the x drive plug and the X motor ran very quiet. I guess I will just replace the motor drive. Thanks for the replies, joe

[ken_rychlik]

Joseph,

There was a guy selling gecko 202's on ebay for pretty cheap. It would be worth a search to see if he still has some going if that is the ones that are on your board.

Kenneth

[jporter]

Thanks, Kenneth, I think mine are 203's, if that makes a difference, joe

[erik_f]

I would talk to Shopbot and Merris at gecko...you will find gecko to be run in a similar way to shopbot...I think they both may work with you since they both really stand behind and believe in their products. I would talk to someone before shelling out the cash. I had a bad driver on my z (Gecko 203) on my buddy. My was intermediate. I was within warranty but I don't think anyone ever even asked about how long I had had my machine.

[jporter]

Well, I went down this morning and tried the machine one last time and the x motor and everything else works perfectly. I went ahead and cut some pieces and it went fine. Whatever I did to it yesterday, I promise not to do again, and what I did today, I will continue.....Thanks, Erik, that is good news about Gecko.This may be an intermittant problem. By the way, Gecko has an excellent web site with lots of information and manuals to help. joe

[zeykr]

May be heat related. Expect it was hotter at 5pm last night in Georgia than it is this morning. If it occurs again, try placing a fan near the control box or adding a fan to the control box. I remember last summer, someone was turning their control box on its side so all the heat did not go up to the top gecko.

[jporter]

Thanks, Ken, joe

[erik_f]

My Z problem was intermittent. It was suggested that I try and wiggle the driver during a move...and this is when I was able to recreate the problem. This was not suggested by Shopbot...but by Merris (I don't think I'm spelling his name right) at Gecko.