Keep your power supply clean!!!

[dirk]

I thought I'd pass this along as it was a simple solution to a strange problem.
Another Shopbotter was having trouble with his PRT machine. After cutting about 20 minutes He would experience eratic behavior. The Z would loose position, his motors were skipping steps and even one of his X motors ran backwards and derailed the Gantry. It all boiled down to his power supply over heating. Over the years the Power supply had collected so much dirt that it didn't allow enough air to cool it. He blew the dust out and he hasn't had any problems.

[gerald_d]

Been there (http://www.talkshopbot.com/forum/show.cgi?tpc=26&post=17512#POST17512)..

We regularly blew out the PRT box with 100psi compressed air, but one was alway nervous about overspeeding a fan. That MeanWell supply has tiny channels inside and you might want to take the cover off to clean it properly.

Snag is, a "switch mode" supply like this (http://www.taiwan-control.com.tw/products/pow/sp-300/spec.pdf) Meanwell protects itself by dropping its voltage when it gets hot (70C) - when you get in there to troubleshoot, it has probably cooled and is back up to full voltage.

We have since replaced ours with an "unregulated linear supply" that is much more tolerant of dust and occasional overload. Very easy to keep clean too.