Older PRT 96 that has been ungraded to 4G box shuttering issues

[bryan]

I've been noticing on my X axis that going one direction it's very smooth while the opposite direction there is a growing shuttering in the moves.

I've checked all cables to both of the x drives, they appear ok with no broken wires.

Looked at the rails and wheels and so no issues, there.

Tried the moves at 50% of the speed I was cutting at and still was present so I don't think that is an issue.

I'm guessing now that my baby is 15 plus years old that I may finally be having one of the x drives on the Shopbot going bad, tomorrow I'm going to switch the x cables on the box to see if I notice the shuttering moving to the back x drive vs the front x drive.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe time to reach out to Campbell and get that upgrade to prt that I saw a while back, that's all I really need to do now spend more money..

[jerry_stanek]

When you say drive do you mean the Gecko drive. When I talked to them they told me I could send it in and they would repair it free

[bryan]

yes Gecko Drives, sorry it was really late last night when I called it a night.

[Tom Bachman]

I had the same type of problem when I just tried to upgrade to a 4g controller on my PRT, I just gave up and went back to the old box... Brady thinks my problem was USB problems.

[robtown]

I've been noticing on my X axis that going one direction it's very smooth while the opposite direction there is a growing shuttering in the moves.

I've checked all cables to both of the x drives, they appear ok with no broken wires.

Looked at the rails and wheels and so no issues, there.

Tried the moves at 50% of the speed I was cutting at and still was present so I don't think that is an issue.

I'm guessing now that my baby is 15 plus years old that I may finally be having one of the x drives on the Shopbot going bad, tomorrow I'm going to switch the x cables on the box to see if I notice the shuttering moving to the back x drive vs the front x drive.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Maybe time to reach out to Campbell and get that upgrade to prt that I saw a while back, that's all I really need to do now spend more money..

ive had the same problem with my old prt96 (4g upgrade) for a while now.
Noticable stuttering moving in one direction in x.
i posted about it a while back, but didn’t really get much in response.
since my machine is a hobby machine now and doesn’t really get used for much but cutting foam for donated theatre sets, I just never really looked into it much further.
Ill be interested to see what you come up with.
The Rezerection upgrade offered by a regular here looks interesting, but I haven’t looked into it for a while.

[bryan]

When I first upgraded I didn't notice it but that was 3 or 4 years ago and now I'm doing some wood sheaths for a local knife maker and I can really tell it on them vs the 3d Carving,
actually, the sheaths are 3d too, matching the taper of the blade in both directions, I've reached out to Gary Campbell on e Rezurrection upgrade to see if it can handle my indexer also, just need to find time today to call him back.

Will be reaching out to Shopbot today also as time allows, this hobby it starting to be a full time job, but that's what I wanted ;-)

[tomhartnett]

Do you think that it started happening 4 years ago when you first got it?

I would first suspect that the resistors for the drivers may be the incorrect specification for your motor amperage, these resistors should be installed on the drivers themselves but may also be soldered onto the control board.

The Gecko Drivers also have the resistance chart on them for how much resistance should be provided for a certain amperage. Your motors will have the amperage rating on the nameplate.

When you did the V4G upgrade did anything else change at the same time?

All this info will be helpful for support to help determine the issue.

-Tom

[bryan]

Approx a year or so after getting the 4G upgrade, I did replace both of my window XP boxes with newer window 7 boxes, yes I have two shopbots one a buddy prs/prt no one at Shopbot really can put a finger on what it is, got it used for small carving. then the old PRT 96 was new from Shopbot.
At one point I was having an issue with the buddy which still pop up every now and then.
Switched both computers but that didn't fix the buddy's issue so they switched back after a month or so.
During that time the PRT 96 run fine kicking out 3d carving and 2d cut out or v carving.
Everything else is still the same except maybe there is more sawdust as the work doesn't stop

[robtown]

Do you think that it started happening 4 years ago when you first got it?

I would first suspect that the resistors for the drivers may be the incorrect specification for your motor amperage, these resistors should be installed on the drivers themselves but may also be soldered onto the control board.

The Gecko Drivers also have the resistance chart on them for how much resistance should be provided for a certain amperage. Your motors will have the amperage rating on the nameplate.

When you did the V4G upgrade did anything else change at the same time?

All this info will be helpful for support to help determine the issue.

-Tom

For me, upgrading to the 4g included updating the case power supply and dialing in something with it... can't really remember what...

[bryan]

Have found my problem after a much closer inspection of the x geko drive the gear and the drive bar have worn and not seating correctly..... just like it I'm worn out.

[pro70z28]

I had the same problem after upgrading the control board & a new windows computer. Mine turned out to be the USB cable.