Brain teaser for those with diagnostic skills!

[Bob Eustace]

OK we completely lost coms - heres the time lime
Buddy 12 months old worked fine on small run work never MDF
Got our first long run job.
Instaled a Jet Vortex dust collection with earth in ducting right to DC
Installed a Kent dust shoe
Started machining MDF worked fine - very pleased - done 60 bed heads
Vacuumed the floor during cutting - may have touched the SB
10 minutes later Y stops about 12 inches from one side - cutting a big arc
No dramas, rebooted the lot and re-ran the file (cos we dont know how to restart from a specific line!)
Did three more perfectly then it stopped in the same place
Ha, ha we thought must be cables.
Rebooted about 6 times but "tool not located"
Referred to Brady and Garys notes
Totally sterilised the whole machine
Got into the box, 6 green lights, pulled the USB cable on and off many times
Plugged a jump drive into the IO hub - green light on and working fine
Blew the Kent shoe out with compressed air and computer and hub
Checked 5 volts present in the box
Put it all back together and dead as a dodo!
Panic sets in as job has to be finished on Thursday

So what do all you guys think the problem was?

[Brady Watson]

So what do all you guys think the problem was?

WAS or IS ?

Alpha or Standard BT48?

-B

[gene]

dust in the computer or keyboard ?:rolleyes:

[Brady Watson]

I would send an email to ShopBot Support (goto their support page on shopbottools.com & fill out the form) - and someone will get back to you ASAP.

-B

[Bob Eustace]

Sorry Brady - bog standard Buddy runningbFrom memory 3.61? The problem was solved same day hence why its a bain teaser. Yes Gene, the computer keyboard was blown out.

[myxpykalix]

Bob,
sounds to me like you have a blown out keyboard:rolleyes:

[gene]

Was it something with static electric .

[shilala]

I can help with the starting at a specific line, no clue on the problem.
File>Goto line/single step>in popup click start button> in new popup click "skip to" radio button, input the line number you'd like to start at, click "go" button, then "run from here" button.
I usually start a ways before the line where I stopped, just to make sure I'm back far enough.

[Bob Eustace]

Was it something with static electric .
Truth is Gene is I haven't a clue. The moral though is DONT do new things all at once and I have learnt a lesson here. But I do feel for guys in tech support as this one really threw me.

REPLACED THE IO GEAR HUB AND THE THING FINISHED THE JOB FLAWLESSLY AS USUAL.

Ended up using a Logitec 4 port powered and got 79 as compared to the old IO's 78. Chrissy will be scratching her head when she tries to fax and print in the office tough!

What is super, super weird is the hub will work fine with simple devices. Why on earth was it stopping in exactly the same place on the Y axis. That really has me stumped. As Jack said "I was blown away"!

[jTr]

Bob,

My theory is your hub is not an actual solution.

I've experienced the same scenario with my machine since new in February this year. A remedy is applied, things seem fine, only for lost comm issues to come up again - sometimes a few days, sometimes a few weeks, but eventually the lost comm rears it's ugly head. As steps are taken to eliminate, it seems to get worse, to the same point you reached - cannot even see the machine any longer. You then apply drastic measures by replacing hardware until you are operational, resulting in a false sense of success. In my case, this includes two new computers, with or without USB hub, re-examining ground connections - it was even suggested Sketchup drawings used to create vectors had some strange remnant confusing the system, and on and on.....

Yes, I had files that crashed in same place repeatedly - sent these files to SB support and they ran without incident on their in house machine, almost identical to my new 9660 Alpha w/2.25 HP spindle.

I was certain that my last "fix" was final. Ran machine all summer with flawless performance. Just this week - excessive episodes of lost comm - won't run through a full sheet of ply without comm loss and re-running files, several days in a row now.

Theory I'd like feedback on:
This pattern reads like some sort of capacitance is building in the system. As we apply a new "remedy", we are in reality just unwittingly discharging this static. Rate of re-charge is effected by each new combination of hardware, but will eventually build enough charge to be releasing static hits again - just enough to disrupt that data flow.

Thanks for sharing Bob, and I truely hope I'm wrong, for your sake!

Anyone else - tell me my real problem, shatter my theory and banish this string of lost comm issues for good.

Please!

jeff

[Bob Eustace]

Jeff, looking to the future one day perhaps we will see a bot with all the individual bits wirelessly connected as is already happening in so many fields. I really do wonder about static. It gets darn cold here in the mountains at Kinglake in Oz so we wear long Johns for about 9 months of the year. When I take these off at night the sparks really fly and I'm sure its not that I am excited to be back in the bedroom! Maybe some of us cause the bot problems just because we are walking clouds of static. I know when I solder up IC's I always wear an earth wrist band connected to a water pipe. Maybe we need to be tethered to earth around the bot?

Of course the new software could solve all the issues as NASA obviously would have had massive issues with the Shuttles and they must have solved these?

[jTr]

Bob -

That thought occurred to me as well - Wonder if having a universal ground post to "discharge" nearby is not a bad idea - In fact, I'm going to unplug entire system and see if this somehow re-sets a charge-free machine for a while prior to firing up next time.

I'm sure I saw a post by Gary C a while ago mentioning the comm issues do get worse in winter months for those of us in these climates. The implied notion was that this ultra-dry air is more prone to static charges, thereby creating more of this issue(?).

Shopbot software includes restart of file option for any number of reasons - I am only left to assume this type of problem is to be expected.

Message inferred: "If you can't fix it yourself, get used to dealing with it..."