Weird Anomaly with my Helix

[David Rust]

There I was, on my 23rd bottle etching when I got the "X/Y Disabled X" code... of course in the middle of the job. I shut her down, the X and Y axis seemed to move nice, no lumps or bumps. I thought I smelled electrical smoke when I initially opened the cover (could be my imagination since I was expecting the worst). I noticed the X-axis motor is very hot, other than that everything looked good... Since I was under the X axis "hood" I cleaned and greased the rail and cleaned the encoding strip, it wasn't too dirty but I did it anyway. Started her back up and ran another bottle through without any problems.

I only ruined one bottle. I hope this problem doesn't randomly pop up or i'll be ruining more than one job...

Anyone have an "intermittent" problem with the "X/Y Disabled X" code? If so what was the problem?

Thanks,

Edit: I was running with the rotary attachment

[Braden Todd]

I have had that code a few times, for me it meant that my x motor was going out. I was told if you run a lot of rotary jobs it can wear the motor faster, especially if you have the speed to high for the engraving you're running. I found that I could drop my speed 20% or more and still get the same engraving time because the head couldn't fully ramp up to speed in the short distance.

Hope this helps, good luck!

[David Rust]

Good call Braden, I went from 100% speed to 80% and the total time job time did not change. I think I will creep the speed down until I see the job time change and then I'll have my target speed.

I wonder if the acceleration/deceleration algorithm is based on the speed you program in... If it is independent of the programmed speed the acceleration curve is constant and the time of acceleration is the variable, e.g. it accelerates at x inches per second until it reaches the programmed speed percent. If this is the case then the motor should have the same "wear and tear" whether I am at 100% or 80% speed if I see the same total job time. The only time that reducing the percent speed has less wear on the motor is when I reduce the speed enough so that I see an increase in the job time. An increase in the job time tells me I have stopped my acceleration and hit the programmed speed for a period of time before I start to decelerate. This does not hold true if the acceleration/deceleration rate of changes are based on the programmed speed.

Edit: added "curve" to acceleration, I am sure the acceleration is not constant however a predetermined "acceleration curve" is most likely followed.

[David Rust]

With the speed at 70% I only loose 3% of the job time. This must be the approximate point where the final programmed speed is reached for a small amount of time before deceleration starts.