$119 sounds a bit expensive to me, you should be able to just replace the coil on it's own if your lucky?
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$119 sounds a bit expensive to me, you should be able to just replace the coil on it's own if your lucky?
Point well taken. And well I was thinking the same thing thou I wish I would have seen that before I replaced the rectifier.Quote:
Originally Posted by irving2008
Short of removing the PCB and looking at the back for burn marks or incomplete paths, everything looked ok.
Just wondering if there's a chance it'll still run with that one cracked as bad as it is, or if it's a must replace to keep testing.
Or just recommend an electronics update. I've looked into gecko stuff and thou its more of a top end product (I'm assuming) I've looked at xories stuff and thou its cheaper I've read good reviews. But it may be just hit or miss. Don't think the software would be a prob cause he mentioned that before I had a chance too.
For what its worth I have a crappy net connection, tethering through a G network sux wouldn't be bad if it was 3G, so researching some things take forever. But reading forums ain't bad cause its mostly text. But when I can I go to a friends and use his net...
Anyways Thx any and all info is greatly appreciated.
Greg
Sadly cracks like that are a result of vapourised internals so will need replacing, no option I'm afraid...Quote:
Originally Posted by great-dragon
I'm guess by that you mean a repair kit. I did see that as an option at one site.Quote:
Originally Posted by Swarfing
Understood. Guess I'm heading back to the supply house. LOL I so need a fuel efficient vehicle.Quote:
Originally Posted by irving2008
Like Irving has said a failure like that could have caused all sorts of other damage, if your still thinking about a complete change out then why not sit down & work out the cost & put that to the owner as an option, you will need a BOB, 3 x drivers, power supply, software licence for mach3 that you already know of then a small safety type circuit, got the layout for mine from on the forum & didn't cost much to build, few relays an estop & some wiring basically. You could use the machines existing estop for this so that helps reduce the bill, I built my control box before I got the gerber for something else I had started before it came up & it was all built into an old computer case.
Original motors are superior electrics slo syn can't remember model but they are 1.8v, 4.7A 6 wire nema 34. If you intend to use the original mators then you need a 36v power supply & drivers to match. I will eventually fit nema 23 motors that will handle a higher voltage so the drivers I have fitted are wasted just now as they are capable of a lot more but until I can make some adapter plates for the motors I'm limited to 36v.
If your looking for info on step & direction then I would need to double check this & my notebook is at the unit but I think it goes
Green A
Blue A-
red B
Org B-
Black & white are centre taps, black for red, red/white & white for green, green/white
Like I say don't take that as written & go applying any external power but should be ok for testing.
will update that latter after I have been up at the unit. Might not be the best idea to buy the cheapest drivers you can find, remember this will be a production machine for a business if plans go well & could be doing a lot of hours running.
They may do a repair kit? The energiser coil is where you apply power to the contactor and it closes it, so that your mains power then runs through the unit. Most contactors allow this to be swapped out as it wears out quicker than the unit. A good one will work at a much lower voltage, you could try a 12v supply just to see if the contactor moves? no guaranteesQuote:
I'm guess by that you mean a repair kit
I don't want to put a jinx on myself but things seem to be going pretty well just now, got the electronics all hooked up & the gantry moving about, was going to do a little video but wasn't sure how to put my camera into video mode lol.
Not quite sure what to do long term at the moment, I was going to put all the new electronics in the old control box with connections running out for things like power, parallel cable, usb cable etc but now I am thinking that the box is quite big so might be just as easy to fit a motherboard & hard drive in there as well so it is pretty much a self contained unit, Sure there would be somewhere it wouldn't be to difficult to fit a small flat screen monitor
Hi everyone this is my first post on mycncuk.
I have really enjoyed reading the posts on this thread
I really wish I had seen this thread a few years ago. I have been running an old gerber system 48 / ar400 for about 5 years.. In that time I have spent many a frustrated hour testing and diagnosing electrical problems, replacing resister packs, and trying source obsolete transistors etc etc...
Anyway, I now have use of two all singing and dancing axyz's
The little gerber is gathering dust in the corner and looking for a good home if anyone's interested... I am about to put a post in the for sale section of the forum but thought I'd say hello in here first.
I have no idea what these machines are worth these days...
After reading the previous posts I'm almost inspired to keep the gerber and refit her with new electronics but I am so pushed for space...
Being pretty new to all this CNC stuff I wish I had bought a machine to refit or built my own machine 5 years ago, well longer than that really lol. I've got an industrial unit so I have placed it in a spot where I can get round it & it has enough space to allow me to fit a full size sheet on for cutting should I need to because it's not going to get moved about lol
I can see from the solid construction of my machine why people in the sign industry thought they were so good, don't think the machine I bought originally to try & repair had done a great deal of work in it's life to be honest, it really was in good condition but then maybe the layers of caked on cutting fluid mixed with aluminium swarf & sawdust helped protect it lol.
Having read your post about the time spent diagnosing & fixing electrical problems maybe it is just as well I couldn't find any technical info on the machine & was talked into refitting it. My only concern is that the gantry height might be a bit low & if this were the case then I would look at ways to raise it a bit rather than part with the machine.
Still has the original motors fitted at the moment but I have some nema 23 3.1nm motors that will get fitted once it is up & running, need the machine to make the adapter plate so the motors fit as originals are nema 34 & frame size is different. Once the motors are fitted then the 70v power supply will go in & I will then get much better performance from the AM882 drivers that are fitted.
I had the electronics already because I was collecting parts to build a machine when this one came up but I would probably have got round to fitting something like that anyway, might just have taken a bit longer lol. The porter cable spindle was suppose to work when I got it but it didn't & when I stripped it it was pretty bad. With spares for it being almost impossible to obtain the machine now has a Chinese 2.2kw spindle fitted which will be quieter than the porter cable if nothing else lol.
YawString have you come up with a price? Cause i'd be interested but probably can't afford, and it depends on where your at.
Well still haven't figured out how to use my camera to do video, must find the manual for it lol.
Shame really because I wanted a bit of film of it actually cutting something, nothing complicated, just started with a rectangle in a bit of scrap plywood to make sure it was doing what it was suppose to. Can see I have a lot to learn using mach3 as I had all sorts of problems trying to use soft limits, need to spend time on the mach forum I think.
Also need to spend some time figuring out how the spindle is controlled, it's not being done by mach3 just manually so need to sort out how to change the speed.
The other important thing I have learnt today is that if you don't start the spindle before hitting start in mach3 the cutter breaks lol, lucky for me I was just trying with an old 3mm bit just in case.
Still got some tidying up to do but at least the machine is running & I now need to learn how to use it. Once I have had a play & feel a bit more confident then I will make the adapters for the nema 23 motors so I can fit them.
Should just be a icon that looks like a camcorder, flip it and push button to record. My best guess.I'd use my phone myself.
I was also trying to run around in mach3 with the manual as it tries to explain things but it don't like Vista. It says to try things with out a machine connected but doesn't act like the manual says.
Think I need to select video mode in one of the menu's, never thought about using my phone lol, might try that next time I am up there. I read somewhere that mach3 doesn't like vista (who does) so it is running on a machine with xp pro. The machine is never going to be connected to the net so I'm not bothered about support for xp ending.
Not got a lot of software installed on that machine, was just going to install mach3 & use it purely to drive the router but have ended up putting the cam software on it plus a vector based program for designing. Also got the drivers for my plotter installed so it will drive the plotter as well as the router.
Having tested the machine & got it all working pretty well except for the VFD plugin which I will get round to sorting but doesn't stop me using the machine I thought it was time to tidy things up a bit, I wanted it to be a self contained unit when I started so having made sure everything was working OK it was time to put everything inside the original control box.
Sorted out an old motherboard (pentium 4) Installed Mach3 & deleted pretty much everything else, mounted the motherboard in the old box & connected it all back up only to find it now doesn't work at all. Have run the driver test for mach3 & there doesn't seem to be any pulse signal at all so I am guessing that the PP is defective in some way. Get no movement at all either from the machine or on the screen when I try to move an axis. Mach3 is set up exactly the same way it is on the other computer & will load & reset. If I run the driver test for mach3 it tells me it has successfully taken over the poet but I get no pulse line on the screen.
Progressing slowly as & when I get time, the old control box for the machine now houses the computer, power supplies, drivers etc. The VFD is mounted on one of the machine legs, thought it best not to try & fit this in the control box with the other electronics. Bought an old flat screen monitor which I still need to fit to the side of the machine but once that is done it will be pretty much stand alone. Will do all the design work on another machine & just upload the gcode to it via usb. Only program installed is mach3 keeping everything to a minimum having read that mach3 likes it best that way.
One thing that did confuse me though was that when I tried to cut text it was cutting backwards, quick look at the mach support forum told me I had to reverse which ever axis was cutting the wrong way. I expected to have to reverse both the X & Y axis but only had to reverse one of them. Not sure if I have everything set up right now but it seems to work ok, is it usual to have to reverse just one axis ?
Hi, I am a new member and could use some help please.Quote:
Originally Posted by martin54
I have a Gerber system 48 plus router which was running off of my Gateway 2000 466 computer for over 25years.
Well, the computer crashed and because of the Dongle and it's card
I was old to have this dinosaur rebuilt.
So I did. I have the Graphic Advantage CD installed using windows 95 as my operating system.
I am able to use the composer program, however, when I try to use the Artpath program I get an error message
(Router not connected). Can you help me?
Ok so what exactly have you had done? Did you get the router rebuilt & if you did is it now running upto date drivers & motors? If that's the case then you can chuck your gerber software in the bucket as it won't work anymore. If the machine has been rebuilt then the old gerber control system will have gone which is probably why you are getting a "Router not connected message"
I replaced all the original electronics & now run the machine using mach3 for the control software.
If the router was working fine & you were happy with it then your best bet would have been to source a really old computer & just reinstalled all the programs you had on your old machine on that. Would probably have cost you next to nothing to pick up a computer that old.
No problem with the router, just had the PC rebuilt and know i have a problem communicating with the router.Quote:
Originally Posted by martin54
Do you have your old software for installation?
I have no problem with the router it was the PC that crashed.Quote:
Originally Posted by martin54
I installed the latest disk I have and the composer and other programs work. When I try to open Artpath I receive an error message stating " no router installed use GSP setup.
I go to GSP setup and follow the install. Yet, when i go to Artpath I get the same message. I reboot the computer to help.
No luck.
Sorry picked you up wrongly, thought you meant that when the computer died you got the router upgraded, lets face it they are old lol.
So what is the spec of the computer you have it running on now?
How have you got the router connected to the computer & how have you got the dongle connected?
Think I still have the manuals for the system 48 at the unit somewhere, will have a hunt for them.
I am running windows 95 the same as the before the crash.Quote:
Originally Posted by martin54
I have the dongles in place and the router cable is connected to Com port 1 exactly the same as before.
The CD with GA release 6.0- Rev.E was installed and all the programs are working. I design on composer then send to Artpath. Instantly I receive an error message-No Router installed, use GSP Setup.
I do that and still the same reply.
I can not get my router installed. Gerber tells me they don't support this product any more. I asked for software help.
I figured that should be in their library. Yet, no help at all.
I have a ton of work backed up and I am at wits end.
Perhaps the software is looking at Com 2 instead of Com 1. Sorry can't help more that that. Clive
No problem, I thank you for your feedback and concern.Quote:
Originally Posted by Clive S
I am speaking with a gentleman from The plotter Doctor in California and he said he has my solution. Thanks again.
Hope he has, nothing worse than having work piling up because of machinery problems. Have you checked that the com port is set up correctly?
Unfortunately I never ran the machine as it was intended for use as it had a faulty motherboard when I bought it.
If the guy in the states can't help then hopefully the manual will have some troubleshooting info.
I had the same problem with Gerber to be honest, like you I was looking for a bit of info as originally I was going to see if I could fix the machine rather than just rip out all the original electronics. Absolutely no help what so ever which has now put me off ever buying anything with their name on it.
It was so easy to rectify, when you know what to do. I had installed the router as SYSTEM 48 plus. When actually, it should be entered as AR-400 because we up graded in 1997 to be able to run the router from our PC instead of the 48 system.Quote:
Originally Posted by martin54
Hi Poppa,Quote:
Originally Posted by poppa jock
I have the same issue. PC went pop, replaced it and now I get the "no router installed" problem. Is the AR-400 solution a general fix or was it just for your machine? I would really appreciate any help you could give me. Many Thanks.
The diode pic posted earlier in this thread is a general purpose 400v 35A diode so anything with 35A or more current rating will be fine, (I don't think you need 400v as its a 35v power supply so 100v rating should be fine, 400v are just more common) I think I still have them in my PSU which is still running my machine :-)
Regards
Stuart