Error Message: "Shopbot No Longer Being Recognized"

[chubb]

Hi all,

Shopbot PRS Alpha ~2012

So my shopbot has been throwing up an error message that reads "Shopbot No Longer being Recognized" non-stop.

What generally happens; machine will cut along happily and suddenly stop in motion, pause for a couple seconds, error message pops up on screen, spindle shutsdown shortly after. I could restart the file and it will do the same thing. It can happen as rarely as every 2-3 hours, and as frequently as 3-5 mins. There really is no predicting it and it will stop randomly anywhere on the same cut file.

I've unplugged and checked all cables, checked grounding, decluttered and optimized the control computer to no result.

I've noticed a couple of particular conditions for this to happen;

- It happens mostly (~99%) when cutting a 3D file.
- It mostly (~99.999%) happens when the machine is running in a raster pattern along the X axes.
- When the error message comes up and the spindle shutsdown, it does not lose location in any axes and can be restarted without resetting any axes.
- The X axes motors are super hot at shutdown.
- It can happen on a light cut or a heavy cut i.e load doesnt seem to be a factor

It's been manageable with smaller files (running for less than 30mins).

But I've been cutting a large panel in 3D. I always try to do the finishing pass along the grain of the wood just for a cleaner cut. Because of the size of the work, it can only fit along the X axis. Tried cutting it along the X and it stopped 13 times before it had completed even 30mm of a 1500x800mm panel.

I eventually had to cut it along the Y axis which took ~57 Hours. The finish quality is not great and probly looking at another day of hand finishing just to get it up to an acceptable finish.

I'm starting to think that it might be a bad motor on the X-axis but have no idea on how to check that (though i am finding an over voltage at the drivers of 4.6v and it draws power even when at standstill).

Would really appreciate any ideas of what the problem could be or any suggestions on how to figure out the problem. I can only think of it being down to bad motors but would love to hear other opinions.

I've attached photos of the work-in-progress and also of it finally finished.

Regards,

Mark