Gerber system 48

[martin54]

Problem is that the gantry is already very low Geofrey, the bottom of the Z axis is only just over 50mm above the bed to start with. These machines were made to cut relatively thin substrates so no need for a high gantry. Have seen a clip on youtube where a guy had raised the gantry using a couple of aluminium blocks but it didn't look a great way to do it to me. First thing to do is get it up & running anyway, after that I can look at making changes if & when I need them.
Doubt it will get used a lot for any kind of signwork as I only work part time now & tend to do mostly vans these days.

[great-dragon]

I'm trying to fix this very same machine so I can get a job running it for a sign company. I've found a blown stud type diode/rectifier. When I get a chance to remove them I hope I can find a replacement and I believe it'll start running. But I was wondering if y'all could post a BOM of the electronics and any other specs you might have. The machine it's self is in great shape, very clean. At the moment out of the 4 LEDs only the 5vdc lights up, the other 3, 2 of which are 24vdc and mill have not lite once thou it worked about 3 yrs ago. And according to the controller station manual I should be able to return to x, y 0, 0 but with no power no go. Pics and links would be great.

If y'all can help it would be greatly appreciated.
Thx Greg

[martin54]

Greg, you won't find any help or support for these machines, when I bought mine it was spares or repair. Previous owner had spent quite a lot of money trying to fix it & had no joy. He had an engineer up looking at it but the guy was seriously struggling. After I bought it I spent quite a bit of time trying to find support for it, Spandex who sold & maintained them told me they had no technical documentation for them anymore even though I was prepared to buy it.
I'm sure it would have been a fairly simple fix as the machine was running properly on 2 axis but slowly on the third like it wasn't receiving enough power but with so little info it was just easier to remove all the electronics & replace them with modern day drivers & BOB.

Basically I've got no info on the machine at all but did take a lot of pictures before I ripped the controls out.

[martin54]

As I was feeling a bit guilty about the lack of progress on this I have started to do some work on refurbishing the machine, had it stripped right down with the intention of repainting the frame but not going to bother with that now as it doesn't really need it.
Took me a few hours to clean the frame though, it was absolutely caked in swarf (aluminium & sawdust) mixed with a dried cutting fluid which I thought was an oil based fluid but with it being so dry I'm not sure.
Frame is now nice & clean which is how I know it doesn't really need a repaint, also stripped the old acrylic strips off the the aluminium "T" slot table bits as it was non existent in parts & generally quite thin having been resurfaced a number of times acording to the previous owner. , scrubbed them ready for new acrylic strips.
Didn't take any pictures of it stripped down but will try to remember to take some as I build it back up.

[Swarfing]

Sugar soap works well on that type of stuff and does not damage the paint :-)

[martin54]

Sugar soap works well on that type of stuff and does not damage the paint :-)

Why couldn't you have told me that a couple of days ago lol, it's done now but I will keep that in mind for future reference thanks.

[martin54]

Got a bit more done today & probably be up there latter on in the day but took a few pictures, started to rebuild frame after cleaning, gantry is on & moving nice & freely. New acrylic strips have been fitted, looks pretty good & you can't read the menu that was on the acrylic previously lol.