No power to servos - DC310B

[calebkullman]

Good morning,
I am in the middle of trying to get an older mill retrofitted with Centroid controls. I bought the mill from an individual who had started the retrofit but then abandoned the project and let the machine sit for 10 years unfinished. It is equipped with a DC310B and an MPU11 with a jog panel. When I first powered the machine up, the computer it came with was running Mach3 as the control software. I could get movement out of all 3 axes, but the servos were moving with a jittery action. I replaced the ethernet cable with a shielded ethernet cable and also decided to upgrade the computer, which was old and slow. Now the machine has a newer, faster computer, and I have installed CNC12 v4.20 as my control software. I am using the free version at the moment. The computer is communicating with the MPU11 - when I move the axes manually the DRO/encoders update position. However, I cannot get power to the servos anymore. When I try to jog with the jog panel, nothing happens. In the "plcmsg" text file in the report, I am getting a communication fault error message and am wondering what this is? Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Caleb

[centroid467]

Good morning,

Are you seeing the error code "9015 Axis 3 Communication Out Fault" in the message window in the upper right quadrant of the screen? It seems like the Drive Fault LED on the DC3IOB is not lit up. Please double check the drive fiber connections (fibers 4 and 5).

Is the PLC working? If you trip a limit switch, does it show in the PLC diagnostics screen (ALT + i on your keyboard)?

[cncsnw]

It appears from the message log that you have a spindle drive fault condition ("9030 SPINDLE FAULT!").

You will not be able to move any axes until you clear that.

To clear the spindle fault, you will either have to wire a closed circuit (e.g. a normally-closed fault relay on a VFD) between INP25 and input common ("logic ground", 0VDC on the upper PLC input plug H20); or you will need to invert INP25 using Ctrl-Alt-i on the PLC Diagnostic screen. Then you will need to press and release Emergency Stop to reset the fault condition.

[calebkullman]

Thank you both for the reply. I will work on those items.
As far as the drive fault LED goes, do I need to have the drive fault circuit wired through the e-stop to light the LED up?

I don't have anything connected to the spindle I/O at the moment - I'm waiting on a VFD to arrive. Will a jumper between INP25 and the logic ground be the same as a normally closed relay?

[cncsnw]

Yes, you can just install a jumper from INP25 to input common (logic ground).

Drive fault detection on the DC3IOB is internal. I do not know why you are not seeing servo drive faults in the message log, given that the drive fault LED (really a "not fault" LED) is not lit. Perhaps the servo drive fault will only be reported once you fix the spindle drive fault and try to enable one or more axes for movement (i.e. by jogging). If there is a servo drive fault condition, it is more likely to be related to fibers #4 and #5 than to any of the copper wiring.

[wpaddock]

Good morning,

Are you seeing the error code "9015 Axis 3 Communication Out Fault" in the message window in the upper right quadrant of the screen? It seems like the Drive Fault LED on the DC3IOB is not lit up. Please double check the drive fiber connections (fibers 4 and 5).

Is the PLC working? If you trip a limit switch, does it show in the PLC diagnostics screen (ALT + i on your keyboard)?

Yes, we are seeing the "9015" error. Checked the fibers, (un plug and replug and change polarity). No Change, DF LED is still dark.

Limit switches are recognized by the controller, indicating "X+ axis tripped", "X+ axis cleared". For all connected axes, x, y, z.

[calebkullman]

As Will replied earlier, we have jumpered the spindle fault I/O and cleared the spindle fault error code. We are still getting the message "axis 3 communication out fault". What would be the next step in diagnosing what we are assuming is a problem with the fiber cables or related parts of the board?
Thanks,
Caleb

[cncsnw]

You could swap your 1&3 fiber pair with your 4&5 fiber pair, at both ends. If you then get a PLC communication error, then you have a faulty fiber. If the problem remains "9015 Axis 3 Communication Out Fault" then there may be a problem with the DC3IOB unit. You could send the DC3IOB plus your MPU11 board to Centroid for evaluation, and repair if needed.

[calebkullman]

Thank you. We did swap the fiber cables and got the same axis 3 communication out fault. I guess we will talk to Centroid and see what needs to be done. We appreciate your time and help - it's quite a learning curve for me as I have very little experience with this sort of thing.

[centroid467]

We're happy to help!

If you do send your system in, we'll do our best to figure out the problem and get it back to you. It sounds like it might be a problem in the fiber optic TX/RX circuits which is usually not very difficult to diagnose and fix.