E Stop Help This is crazy

[Ken Sully]

I have a 2009 PRS Alpha with an Estop issue. First the symptom
Turn on unit and get input#4 I hit the reset and hear the contractors engage. #4 still flashing. Talked to tech support and removed the estop wires and installed jumpers to eliminate switches.
The strange part is I can be just looking at the input #4 and all of a sudden it goes green with out me doing anything this can be 30 seconds to 6 minutes. One time it "fixed itself" and all of a sudden #4 went red again for 30 seconds and back to green. All of the above happens with estop jumped out or with the pendents hooked up.

Anyone had this happen? I think it may be something on the main board.
But at 525.00 for new or 100.00/hour for repair would like to be sure.
Wouldn't take long under repair where I have 1/2 the price invested in repair that could have bought a new board.
My board is version 0.8

[Gary Campbell]

Ken...
You may have a quirky contactor. With the door open and power on, if you experience an estop trigger, use an insulated probe and give a push/release on the contactor actuator (in the center) to see if you can get back to normal operation mode.

[Ken Sully]

Thanks Gary,
I did replace one of them (the one that powers the spindle). I will push on the second one tomorrow and see what happens.

[curtiss]

Which should be used first ... hitting the space bar or hitting the E Stop switch ?

Does hitting the space bar ever fail ? Does not seem too...

[Kyle Stapleton]

Space bar=pause and you can restart your file easily.
E-stop=kill switch

[Gary Campbell]

+1 to what Kyle says:
Space Bar = Pause or stop machine
Estop = Only if pause doesn't work, to save human injury right before you dial 911

[Ken Sully]

Gary,
Pressed on contacts with no luck.
Couple of questions
Could this be a communications issue with the software? Bad USB cable tried the connection speed and it was 76.8. I do get some false limit switch errors (I am no where near the limits. The 2 small LED's on the main board are on next to the 2 small relays. I assume this means they are getting signal.
Should I try a new HSB cable or could I have a problem on the daughter board that hooks up to the USB cable?

[Gary Campbell]

Ken...
Anything is possible. 76.8% is OK in my book. How about PC setting for USB suspend? Is it disabled?

This time of year static is always in play. Grounded dust collector? Using a vacuum to clean the table?

[Ken Sully]

Gary,
Checked USB suspend and it is disabled. Humidity in my shop is 38%. This problem happens when I start the system. Today I started it and #4 was flashing after about 5 min it went out and about 10-15 min later came back on and off again. I am not doing anything with the system its just setting idle.
I am worried it will stop in the middle of a cut on its own. The estop switches are removed and jumped. I never head main contactors drop out. Also there are 2 relays on the main board with an LED next to them those are always lit. Not sure what to do next... Shopbot will sell me a new main board for 525.00 or work on mine
for 100.00/ hour. Could the daughter board be flakey? I plan on purchasing a new USB cable maybe new hub before spending $$$$. I don't mind the expense if i was sure it would do the trick. The intermittent thing is the killer, there have been a couple of times on start up everything is fine.
One other thing i get random limit switch errors when i am no where near a limit. Not sure if this helps. At any rate THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

[milton]

Ken. you are experiencing exactly the same thing as I have been for several weeks, intermittent input 4 changing for no apparent reason. I have spent much time trying to track this down and last week decided to send the circuit board back for testing. Ill let you know what I hear from ShopBot. I have a 2008 Alpha 32 Buddy

[Ken Sully]

May have located the problem. The ribbon cable that connects to the control board seems to be intermittent. I applied force to the connectors on the cable and things worked normal. At any rate ordered a new cable. Still could be a solder joint for that connector. I will keep you posted

[Ken Sully]

Not real clear
Ribbon cable connects main board to control board (where USB cable plugs in) is the ribbon cable I am talking about