Totally lost

[kubotaman]

For some reason last night my PRS Alpha wouldn't run correctly when I did a C3 command. I've tried all day but to no avail. Maybe getting old has something to do with it. My proximity switches all light up and when I put a metal piece next to them they turn off but the carriage still goes by them. I cant get the first step of the C3 command to work other than to pass the proximity switch and then stop at the safety block which then drops the Z axis and turns off. It seems to me the switches are turned off? Can someone tell me if its possible and if so how do I turn them on? I don't think its possible but I thought Id ask. Thanks in advance!

[jerry_stanek]

I had that happen to me I had to go back to 3.6.46 to fix it. Don't know why.

[bill.young]

Assuming you haven't made any big mods to your tool (like changing motors so that your unit values are non-default), the first thing I would try is to do a reset to reload the default configuration. You'll find it in the menu under Utilities Reset. Make sure you select the correct tool when you are asked to select the tool you have.

Bill

[kubotaman]

My problem happened all within ten minutes. I never changed a thing machine nor program. I’ll try resetting utilities as you suggest to see if that clears up the problem. If not all I can think of is re-install 3.4.44 since that is the update I was running under. Thank you!

[coryatjohn]

>> My problem happened all within ten minutes.

I suspect you've had a hardware failure in the control box. You should probably contact Shopbot for debugging.

[bill.young]

It could indeed be a hardware problem, but the ShopBot software backs up settings...location etc...and occasionally something can happen in Windows that can corrupt a backup. When that happens you can get unexpected behaviors because parameters are missing or in the wrong spot in the file.

Doing a software reset to put the config file back to default is an easy process and is quick. If it doesn't help then tech support is your next step.

[coryatjohn]

Oops, sorry Bill, didn't notice you already had joined the conversation.

[bill.young]

No problem at all. In reality you're more likely to be right than me, but I'm always suspicious of corruption when zeroing gets wonky. There are a couple of values that determine which inputs are tested during zeroing and how they work..normally open, normally closed, etc...and if they get set the wrong way they can cause the switch to not trigger. A Reset is just a quick way to check that.

[chiloquinruss]

I found something worse than a faulty connection! We just had a thunderstorm and according to the news that baby had over 150 lightning strikes stored up in it. Not related to the topic under discussion but it sure made my Bot do weird things. ;) Back to the regular broadcast! Sorry for the interruption! Russ

[Rtibbs]

I found something worse than a faulty connection! We just had a thunderstorm and according to the news that baby had over 150 lightning strikes stored up in it. Not related to the topic under discussion but it sure made my Bot do weird things. ;) Back to the regular broadcast! Sorry for the interruption! Russ

You should live in Florida. Every afternoon during the summer months we receive thousands of lightning strikes around here. I believe that’s why we have the dubious “honor” of be called the Lightning Capitol of the US”
I do believe however, you can encounter issues caused by lightning. So far good grounding and a UPS on my machine have averted any issues for me.

Ron