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Chris J Anderson
03-12-2015, 12:56 AM
Hi to All,

Wondering if somebody out there can do a test for me.

I've been having problems with my rotary attachment, where its been shrinking the image on the x axis.

So I've replaced the stepper motor with an aftermarket type, and still no change.

I'm at wits end and have just found that when the object is rotating, it actually occasionally steps back in the opposite direction, this is easily felt by gently holding the handle of a glass mug while running the job with the lid open. Its really obvious and inconsistent.

So I'm now convinced that its the driver chip on the epilog main board.
I now need to identify which chip is the stepper driver, and replace that.

>> Would somebody mind doing a check on their rotary just to check that it doesn't ever step backwards against the direction of rotation ?

And if anyone knows which chip it is on the board, it would be appreciated. Is there a basic layout diagram of the boards around ?

Cheers to All...
Chris

Kim Vellore
03-12-2015, 1:37 AM
Chris,
On the epilog legend the driver chip is LMD18245 and it is soldered on to the mother board. The Motor does not spin in the reverse for raster and it only spins reverse after the engraving is completed. This is just the driver chip and if it is gone bad the motor will not be moving backward, I feel it might be a corrupted file or some noise in the MOBO or the signals going to the driver chip being corrupted. If the driver chip is soldered on to the MOBO in your laser too it would not be a good idea to try to replace it unless you are 100% sure.

Kim

Chris J Anderson
03-12-2015, 4:11 AM
Thanks Kim,

I might just try replacing the driver chip first and go from there,
Thanks for the pointer to the part number...

Cheers,
Chris

Jeanette Brewer
03-12-2015, 2:21 PM
Chris,

I would strongly suggest checking in with tech support again (I'm presuming/hoping you've already talked with them about this).

(303)215-9171
tech@epiloglaser.com

https://www.epiloglaser.com/tech-support/technical-support.htm

Karl Ladin
03-12-2015, 4:17 PM
I don't believe that the LMD18245 chips drive the rotary. I believe the rotary is driven by a pair of Allegro A3953 chips. I used an ohmmeter to trace from the wiring harness. They are surface mounted ICs. They are tricky to remove and replace. They are in the upper left-hand corner of the board (looking at it in the machine). It sounds like it is "sort of" working. I'd check the molex connector and the control board connector (top-left) to make sure there are good connections.
It could also mean 1 of the chips is bad. A schematic would be a great help but when I asked for one form Epilog Support they told me they didn't have one and if they did they probably couldn't give it out.

Chris J Anderson
03-12-2015, 5:41 PM
Thank you Karl, I'll look at those...

Thank you Jeanette,
I have emailed Epilogs agent in Australia requesting a motherboard price - no reply.
I've done some pcb rework in a past life so changing a surface mount chip is not an issue, I don't care if I have to change a few to get to the right one.
Epilog support said the problem would be the stepper motor, so I changed that... and still have the same issue :(

The price of Epilog parts here in Australia is ridiculous, and local support is basically non existent now, hence we tend to try and help ourselves a bit before spending big on parts.
Recently it took me 4 weeks to get a laser tube from Alfex, thats just not acceptable, this is a business not a hobby, I don't want to risk waiting around that long again for lazy distributors to get back to me / supply me parts.

Sorry for negative talk- I'm pretty frustrated since Epilog changed distributors, as is every other Epilog owner I know - and theres plenty...

Cheers,
Chris

Karl Ladin
03-12-2015, 5:51 PM
If you aren't threatened by unsoldering and soldering surface mount chips you should be able to do it. I did. They don't make the A3953 chips anymore. The replacement is a A4973. Exact pinouts. I bought mine from Newark.

Epilog support also tried to sell me a replacement stepper motor.

Chris J Anderson
03-13-2015, 6:25 PM
Still no contact from Alfex, and we're now into the weekend, this is after I emailed both their sales email and their sales man directly 2 days ago.

Even a simple - 'Thanks for your email, we'll be in touch' would have sufficed, but this is just hopeless..

HOWEVER SOME GOOD NEWS- The original Epilog distributor (Now Trotec) has offered a second hand motherboard for me to borrow as a test part to confirm the fault - now thats service...
So now when I go into their building, and see all those shiny new Trotecs, I'll wish my machines were all red, not blue....

Epilog - are you watching ??
I will NEVER buy an Epilog again if you don't get your act together down here (I've purchased 2 new so far plus a s/h Trotec, which I had to while waiting 4 weeks for my bloody laser tube !).
You are making yourselves redundant in Australia, (but I guess the market is small here, so to you guys its no biggie)...

Sorry to forum members for the rant, but I'm over this...

Ray Scott
03-15-2015, 3:51 PM
If you are going to do any soldering... I recommend that you use a Dremel to cut the pins off the old chip(while soldered to the main board), then use a soldering iron to remove one pin at a time. This makes unsoldering the chip messy, destroys the chip, ... but saves most any possible damage to the board. You should then solder in a new DIP socket. Once you are done with the socket, just press the new chip into place.

Chris J Anderson
03-15-2015, 8:27 PM
Thanks for the great tip Ray,
These are surface mount, so can't add a socket unfortunately.

I've done plenty of pcb rework before so won't have a problem there.

Theres a product called something like 'chip magic' or similar for de-soldering, which is a gel flux that you run over the amt pins, and also over your de-soldering braid.
When you apply your iron, it really cleans up all of the solder - amazing stuff.
This helps in not overheating the board / tracks as well.

Thanks again...