Hi everyone. I have recently gotten a 1990 Triac ATC. It is in beautiful condition and seems to be in very good machanical shape. I am having a problem with it though and was hoping someone could help.
When I power it up after it has been sitting for a few hours it starts up and homes out just fine. I can do MDI tool changes with no problem. The problem start after the machine has been powered up for around 5 minutes. I hear a small click come from somewhere inside the rear ATC control box. The only thing I can figure it would be is from one of the relays inside. After that click, whenever I try to re-home out the machine, or do a tool change I receive a "TOOL CHANGE ERROR" alarm and can not get past it. If I power the machine down for a few hours and power it back up, the alarm will have gone away, but only for the few minutes before it happens all over again.
I am no electronics expert, so I was hoping someone could help me. Would the small click indicate that a relay has tripped and is no longer functioning properly? Would this cause the alarm? Is there a way of testing them to see if they are faulty? If someone could shed some light on the subject it would be very greatly appreaciated. Thanks
Triac ATC "Tool Change Error"
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I don't have the schematics to hand, but some general thoughts (guesses):
It could be a thermal which is tripping and once cooled down, works ok again. Not sure what or where the thermal would be though..maybe there is a transformer thermal ?
You're going to have to get it to happen with the electrical box open.
It could also be a bad joint problem, where a relay (soldered pins) or connector is loosing contact through warming up and expanding - again it would fit why it works OK after a couple of hours cooling.
It could be a thermal which is tripping and once cooled down, works ok again. Not sure what or where the thermal would be though..maybe there is a transformer thermal ?
You're going to have to get it to happen with the electrical box open.
It could also be a bad joint problem, where a relay (soldered pins) or connector is loosing contact through warming up and expanding - again it would fit why it works OK after a couple of hours cooling.
Sounds like a PNC3 controller!
The box on the back contains the ATC control pcb. This has an 'atc healthy' relay giving a signal back to the cnc control that all is Ok. If this relay is de-energising (which it sounds like) then sugest...
The power supply for this pcb is overheating and shutting down. there is a small 3-pin regulator chip bolted to the door of the atc control box with 3x wires going to the pcb. Make sure this is bolted to the door (i think there should be an insulating washer between it and the door to keep it elecically isolated from the metalwork).
if this is ok and the atc box has power when faulty then there is a red LED on the pcb that flashes. A regular 'heart beat' 1 second on-off for healthy, or an intermittent number of flashes for faulty. the number of flashes will indicate the error code.
The box on the back contains the ATC control pcb. This has an 'atc healthy' relay giving a signal back to the cnc control that all is Ok. If this relay is de-energising (which it sounds like) then sugest...
The power supply for this pcb is overheating and shutting down. there is a small 3-pin regulator chip bolted to the door of the atc control box with 3x wires going to the pcb. Make sure this is bolted to the door (i think there should be an insulating washer between it and the door to keep it elecically isolated from the metalwork).
if this is ok and the atc box has power when faulty then there is a red LED on the pcb that flashes. A regular 'heart beat' 1 second on-off for healthy, or an intermittent number of flashes for faulty. the number of flashes will indicate the error code.
I checked and the 3 wired as you described are there with a small plastic washer inbetween the connector and the door. It still lookes to be in good shape. As before the machine worked ok for the first few minutes, the small red LED had a steady flash, about every half second. After the small click that can be heard, there was no change in the flash. It continues to blink in a steady flash, still about a half second apart.
With the machine power there is a (I call it a transformer box, but I don't know if that is the proper term for it) box that from what I have been told, will convert power from a 110v house current to a 220v. The place that I got the machine from had the machine hooked up from a 220v outlet, into the box, and then to the machine. If the machine requires 220v and you have a 220v outlet, is the box still needed?
This is the setup I have now, a 220v outlet, into the box, then out to the machine. I figured it worked for them, I wasn't going to change it. But just out of curiousity before I plugged it in, I tested what voltage the box was putting out. To my suprise it was putting out 270v! Could this be a cause? If too much voltage is being applied, things could be heating up?
Would it be a bad Idea to bypass the box, and just run power from the wall straight to the machine? I was too chicken to try it without some better understanding of what the box was for.
With the machine power there is a (I call it a transformer box, but I don't know if that is the proper term for it) box that from what I have been told, will convert power from a 110v house current to a 220v. The place that I got the machine from had the machine hooked up from a 220v outlet, into the box, and then to the machine. If the machine requires 220v and you have a 220v outlet, is the box still needed?
This is the setup I have now, a 220v outlet, into the box, then out to the machine. I figured it worked for them, I wasn't going to change it. But just out of curiousity before I plugged it in, I tested what voltage the box was putting out. To my suprise it was putting out 270v! Could this be a cause? If too much voltage is being applied, things could be heating up?
Would it be a bad Idea to bypass the box, and just run power from the wall straight to the machine? I was too chicken to try it without some better understanding of what the box was for.
I don't quite understand if you have a 110v or 220v outlet in your house?
High voltage could be the problem (and a good chance it could destroy the machine so I wouldn't conenct it up until you sort this out).
It's possible the transformer box has a number of terminals inside that allow you to alter the input and output voltages to suit your situation. The machine requires 220 to 240v supply but I'd consult an electrician to check what terminals should be used inside the transformer box based on your supply.
High voltage could be the problem (and a good chance it could destroy the machine so I wouldn't conenct it up until you sort this out).
It's possible the transformer box has a number of terminals inside that allow you to alter the input and output voltages to suit your situation. The machine requires 220 to 240v supply but I'd consult an electrician to check what terminals should be used inside the transformer box based on your supply.
Sorry for the late reply Boris (I've got PC Problems 
)
You should be OK to supply the machine with 220v.
The only problems I've known with slightly low volts on the supply are the Z axis tending to stall when moving uphill at rapid. If you get this then you may need to get a transformer to take you from 220v to 240v. The transformer you have may have the necessary tappings on it to do this (this may be why it's there in the first place ??)- - you brother should be able to help with this.
BTW, I've seen plenty of spindle drives blow up when they get over-voltage applied to them so I wouldn't recommend going above 240v (I pushed it to 250v at the absolute Max but it's at your own risk! )
)You should be OK to supply the machine with 220v.
The only problems I've known with slightly low volts on the supply are the Z axis tending to stall when moving uphill at rapid. If you get this then you may need to get a transformer to take you from 220v to 240v. The transformer you have may have the necessary tappings on it to do this (this may be why it's there in the first place ??)- - you brother should be able to help with this.
BTW, I've seen plenty of spindle drives blow up when they get over-voltage applied to them so I wouldn't recommend going above 240v (I pushed it to 250v at the absolute Max but it's at your own risk! )
Still no luck. I rewired the machine so that it is receiving the required 240v and no more. The error still came up.
After some digging through the manual I found just what I needed. The "TOOL CHANGER ERROR" is caused normally thru either a low air pressure or from a faulty micro switch. I know that I have the required air pressure, so I'm assuming that the problem is the micro switch.
I'm not 100% positive what I'm looking for. Can someone give me a description of what the micro switch is, and is there a way of determining if it is really faulty. Thanks again.
After some digging through the manual I found just what I needed. The "TOOL CHANGER ERROR" is caused normally thru either a low air pressure or from a faulty micro switch. I know that I have the required air pressure, so I'm assuming that the problem is the micro switch.
I'm not 100% positive what I'm looking for. Can someone give me a description of what the micro switch is, and is there a way of determining if it is really faulty. Thanks again.
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