I burnt an X driver and motor...Bummer

[daniel]

Hey Guys, I cooked the X2 driver. I found a wire was rubbing and it rubbed through the insulation. I'm pretty sure thats what did it. I fixed the wire and switched to the A channel and got it to work. But now the X2 motor is very loud and crappy sounding compared to the others. Do you think I cooked the motor as well?

Does anyone have a used motor for a PRT standard, that they are willing to sell? I'm broke as a joke and not sure if I can afford a new one, however I will check tomorrow with shopbot. Maybe they dont cost as much as I think, but Im thinking they cost over 200 bucks.

Anyway, any help would be great!
Thanks Guys!

[daniel]

Well, Its not tommorow yet, its Two in the morning but here is what I think happened. This could be totally wrong but here it is.

(1) The wire that wore through and made contact to ground, cooked only part of the driver. The part that controls the pole that the worn wire was hooked to. (This is based on the observation that, when I drive the motor with the blown channel, It twitches back and forth, but never rotates.)

(2) Could that possibly cause the motor to cause resistance and eat up gears inside? It is very loud and bad sounding now.

Anyway, If someone does have a motor to sell, this is the model I need, A6497-9412KTG

Thanks

[daniel]

Well, No responses to my thread, but I still got through it. Let me at least post what I think is going on.

I definitly had a motor wire ground out and blow the X2 driver.

I repaired the wire.

I hooked that particular motor to the A driver. It rotated but made a teribble sound.

I eliminated the wiring and motors by switching them around and testing them. All motors just twiched back and forth on the X2 driver(blown), and they all rotated but made a terrible noise on the A driver.

So I guess my A driver is toast too, which is strange because I've never used it....

Any thoughts from anyone?

I have already ordered a new board.

[Towersonline]

Daniel, Instead of ordering a new board did you consider upgrading to the G3 BOARD from ShopBot? It does wonders for the PRT (I assume that is what you have)

As for the blown drivers its usually the TransZorb that fails. Clipping the top lead off the blown channel TransZorb will prove this out. If your handy with a soldering iorn the fix is quite easy. Parts cost is under $2.00

[daniel]

IT HAPPENED AGAIN! AHHhh!

I got a refurbished board from Shopbot to replace the old one. It had a bad driver so I immediatly hooked up to the A driver, I've ran the machine for over 50 hours on the new board with no problems. Then today BAMM! A driver goes bad!

I've checked all the wires, nothing is lose or rubbing on anything, all ground connections are good, I don't know what else to do....

I will call Shopbot tommorow, but I have no idea what they can do other than sell me a new board...

Need Advise!

[daniel]

Bill. I am handy with the iron! What is the TransZorb? Is it one of the capacitor looking things? How does cliiping the lead tell if its bad?

[Towersonline]

Daniel, I'm presently traveling, otherwise I would send you a photo. I'll try to describe it. Its a black small round device that is standing on end near the connector of the affected channel. just clip off the top lead. If its the transzorb the machine will run fine. If your not comfortable around electronics don't attempt this procedure and be sure to disconnect the power to the control box.

Looking at the specs for the device I found the transzorb was operating near its peak voltage. I lowered the supply woltage by 1.5 volts and never had another failure.

You might want to check your machine grounding. Searching this forun should supply plenty of helpful information. I think I posted some photos here about grounding.

You should be able to find the part number on the part. I got mine from Mouser. Do a google search for them.

[daniel]

Thanks for the input Bill. I have talked to Ryan at Shopbot, He says the reaccuring problem could be related to the fact that my dust collection hose has not been grounded. Hopefully this is the problem and I can keep it from happining again.

I do have some experince with electronics and since I have a new board on the way, I am feeling inclined to mess around with the broken one I have here. There appears to be two of the tanzorb per channel. Did yours have two per channel? How did you lower the supply voltage (A inline resistor?)

Thanks again!

[daniel]

Ok, I know what I' m looking at now. TransZorb is a transiet voltage suppressor (TVS). They are clearly marked on the circuit board, and Yes there are two of them per channel. So the questions of the day are (1) should I clip both of them? And (2) What should I expect if the tranzorb is the problem? (Will the driver operate smoothly again?)

[Towersonline]

Clip one then run the machine if is runs ok then thats the bad one. If not clip the next and repeat the process. IF still no better then there are other problems. I have fxed several machines using this method. In each case it was the transzorb.

There is a seperate 48 volt supply mounted behind the front panel. At one end of the supply where the wires attach you should find a control to adjust the voltage. Very carefully adjust it to reduce the voltage by 1.5 to 2 volts.

Hope this helps

[scott_smith]

I've always replaced both (3 times in the last 6 years). Hey they're like $0.70 each. Get a few extra and save shipping.
Scott

[daniel]

Hey Guys thanks for the help.

Bill, Thanks alot, You were right on target. The transZorb is the problem and I've got a handfull on the way!

Thanks again!