My turn for HELP!!!

[Bruce Volden]

Sniff sniff.... I accidentally hit the "disable axis" option when I meant to reboot the machine. Machine went useless!! Powered down, carriage now slams to home and the keypad is useless??? Powered down again, carriage slams to home and now the LCD doesn't get past the Epilog startup/version screen. I let it sit while powered up and after a couple of minutes the carriage slammed itself forward??? Shut it off and sent the Epilog folks an email. Peck, are you out there?? Oh, by the way, it's an Epilog 24TT 25W machine

Bruce

[AL Ursich]

Do you have the focus plunger? Is it jammed?

AL

[Bruce Volden]

Al,, The auto focus plunger was taken off 1 week after I got the machine and auto focus will NEVER be an option I desire. I have a good working knowledge of this machine but can't seem to get 'er figgered out! Thanks for replying tho, I will keep everyone abreast of what's going on too.

Bruce

[Kim Vellore]

Al,, The auto focus plunger was taken off 1 week after I got the machine and auto focus will NEVER be an option I desire. I have a good working knowledge of this machine but can't seem to get 'er figgered out! Thanks for replying tho, I will keep everyone abreast of what's going on too.

Bruce

Bruce,
Looks like the signals from the encoder is nor getting to the controller. Check the ribbon cable or if there is a lot of dust on the encoder, that is, if the lens part of it is slamming if the whole carriage is slamming, might be the Y axis encoder. What are the chances of that happening when you just disable the axis.... May need the motor replaced since the encoder is a part of it in the Y axis or the cable.
Kim

[Rodne Gold]

I don't know epilog machines , but you might try this and it might help
Power off machine and move the x and y axis to the limits of their travel and power on from there and do the same after manually moving the x and y axis to home prior to powering up.
Most machines have a limit or a home sensor - you might be having an issue with one of these?

[Peck Sidara]

Bruce,

Sorry but didn't see your posting until now. Tech supports' open and I would follow up to your email with a phone call. They'll have you up and running very soon.

[Bruce Volden]

Well, so far after being in touch with tech support I have performed the following checks. Power up machine, SLAMS in the "Y" axis, LCD stays on the Epilog startup screen (needs input from "X" axis also). They have me t-shooting the "Y" axis. I have done a continuity check on all 15 pins of the ribbon cable (good), pulled 2 PC boards and done a visual inspection-looking for any burned lands (good), swapped the 15 pin ribbon cable end for end, so it's my luck I'll get to buy ANOTHER mother board. The motherboard went out last year too and this one is 6 weeks past warranty Well back to the phone!

Bruce

[Rodne Gold]

Is it not possible to repair the MB, surely the whole board cant have blown?
What does a MB cost? Do the mnfgrs have a refurbishment program for these?
Maybe its something simple like a motor driver IC?
Does the MB have an EPROM and Ram ? try unseating and reseating these? Is it possible to reflash the EPROM with firmware even if the machine won't boot?
Is there a limit switch or sensor on your machines?
On my GCC's if the lecd display is faulty , it also gives rise to issues like this.

[greg lindsey]

The exact same thing was happening to my 32ex, it was slamming home in the y, and I mean it was hittin hard, scared the hell outta me, for me it turned out that the white ribbon cable was just not plugged in all the way, next to the carriage arm. I would have sworn I checked it several times, it was difficult to replug in because of the angle, double and triple check that it is snapped in completely and correctly. After that my machine worked good as new agian, except that you will probably have to realign the beam, and check to see if the bearing on the left side has not popped out due to the slamming issue. Hope this helps.

[Bruce Volden]

Hooray Epilog!!! They are going to honor the motherboard!!!! I will be getting a new Y motor to install FIRST. Turn it on and holding the motor in my hand observe that it does not spin fast-that would mean SLAM time. If it SLAMS, install the new mobo and observe again. If all is well, put my old Y motor back in and observe again. These steps are needed to isolate the defective component, as well as save me some money!! I will report back when I get to the cause- probably Mon., until then I fall back to WIN 98 and the old LMI machines

Bruce

[Kim Vellore]

I'll be curious to find out why it happened, and how could it happen just by disabling the axis. Unless when you powered it on it blew the motor encoder or the MOBO, the odds of that happening just after you disabled the axis is less than that of winning the LOTO.

Kim

[Bruce Volden]

I'll be curious to find out why it happened, and how could it happen just by disabling the axis. Unless when you powered it on it blew the motor encoder or the MOBO, the odds of that happening just after you disabled the axis is less than that of winning the LOTO.

Kim

I better rush out and buy a ticket I've worked with electronics for many years and have yet to fully understand why what goes wrong?? Once I got hit by lightning-took out 2 tv's, microwave and 1 of the 4 computers....note this was "scattered" between my shop (50' away) and the house-both on seperate electrical services--go figger. Oh, and by the way the total damage was $1100-so much for saving money by having a $1000 deductible

Bruce

[Bill Cunningham]

I better rush out and buy a ticket I've worked with electronics for many years and have yet to fully understand why what goes wrong?? Once I got hit by lightning-took out 2 tv's, microwave and 1 of the 4 computers....note this was "scattered" between my shop (50' away) and the house-both on seperate electrical services--go figger. Oh, and by the way the total damage was $1100-so much for saving money by having a $1000 deductible

Bruce

We used to base things like that on the old 'holes and electrons' theory. The one that postulates that in a electronic circuit, the electrons travel one directions, and the holes travel the other. The main function of the holes is to contain the smoke necessary for dependable operation. Because, as the theory goes, in the event that some or all of the smoke escapes from the holes, the unit generally stops working. Mind you, it's just a theory..

[John Noell]

Is it not possible to repair the MB, surely the whole board cant have blown?

Well, when mine went it apparently was in a logic chip (in other words, PROPRIETARY). It was QUITE expensive. (Annoyingly so.)

[Bruce Volden]

Turned out to be the mobo. I just have to pay for shipping the old one back!!
Epilog------GREAT service and support, thanks to all who have followed this thread.

Bruce