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View Full Version : Lost registration after pause - ruined $$ material



johnm
05-17-2006, 12:18 AM
Folks -

Rose and I have been having 2 kinds of luck, slim and none.

We got a job cutting some prototypes out of plastic - I went and got the material and boy... Well, rather than a pity party, I'll just focus on the immediate problem:

Our spindle was running on the warm side - over 145 degrees, so I hit pause as it was in between cuts so that it could cool down. I was an hour into a 13,000 line file and the computer locked up. Not responsive to the keyboard at all. I ctrl alt del to close SB and make note of my XYZ location, line location, and runtime before I close out.

When I relaunch SB, my coordinates are far different than what I had when I tried to pause. Mind you, the gantry hasn't moved one iota. I then open up the SB control console and used the VA command to enter my XYZ coordinates prior to the crash. Then I ran the file from the last code line and off I went.

The problem? My registration was off by about 1/4" of an inch, ruining the entire workpiece! Why, if I reset the exact cordinates where I left off, and the gantry hadn't moved, did the registration go out? I can't describe how, um, angry, I am.....

I had a similar problem a couple of weeks ago when we had the power go off momentarily. The spindle powered down, but the control computer stayed up as it's on a UPS. We reset the coordinates and ran from the last code line and it was off a bit too...

HELP!

John Moorhead

elcruisr
05-17-2006, 06:00 AM
John, are you running a 5 hp Colombo spindle? If you are the factory rep tells me temp limits are 140 during idle periods and 160 during cutting. Watch your cooling fan during cutting. If it slows down then Colombo gave you a sleeve bearing fan. You'll need to replace it with a ball bearing fan. I know there have been some issues between Shopbot and PDS about supplying the right fans and you can't tell just by looking at them. The sleeve bearing fans have a bad habit of slowing down RPMs when subjected to cutting vibrations. The sad part is there is only a few dollars difference between the two. The good news is they are cheap to replace.

As for your registration issue I'd start with Shopbot tech help, they may well have seen this issue before and have an answer.

Eric