Unintentional upgrade...

[bobham]

Well, Duncan tried to warn me....

https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... highlight=

A week ago last Friday I managed to duplicate Duncan's experiment exploring the effects of a dead short on a DVR circuit board. Needless to say, my results were exactly similar to his and all the magic smoke got out. I managed to get a rush shipment of the replacement electronics and had the lathe back up and running on Friday of last week. It seems to be operating normally again so I just need to figure out how to use the new functionalities of the XP board.

Oh, well, at least my wallet is a lot easier to carry now....

Bob

 

[duncanh]

Really sorry to hear that Bob.
No doubt you got the same sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when it went wrong. At least you're not alone.

Did it happen the same way - were you cleaning out the sensor?

I think it's a bit of a design flaw to have a lathe which is susceptible to dust in such a way - surely they could have foreseen the problem.


On a plus not, you didn't have to wait over 6 weeks for a new board.
Also, the functionality of the new board, with it's pre-set speeds, is really useful.


On a different tack - someone contacted me recently asking for instructions on making a remote control. Apparently he'd asked Teknatool about it and they said they weren't planning one but suggested detaching the existing control box and fitting an extension cable so it could be placed anywhere. I hadn't thought of that.

Duncan

 

[wizer]

doh!

Interested to hear how you get on with the new controls. I always felt that the digital gadgetry would put me off.

 

[Blister]

doh!

Interested to hear how you get on with the new controls. I always felt that the digital gadgetry would put me off.

You cant beat a knob to play with :wink:

 

[bobham]

Hi, Duncan:
Yes & no. I had removed the indexing wheel and the small cover plate over the sensor circuit board (with the power off and the lathe unplugged) to allow me more access to blow dust out. I hadn't touched the circuit board itself. After giving it a good blast of compressed air and getting a considerable amount of dust out I plugged the lathe back in and started it up to see if I had cleared the RP errors. The lathe ran fine so I congratulated myself on a job well done and shut the lathe off at the control panel.

Being so busy patting myself on the back I overlooked the basic precaution of switching off the primary power switch and unplugging the lathe again before starting to replace the parts I had removed. When I went to put the small cover plate back over the sensor panel opening it slipped from my fingers and the edge of it crossed two contacts on the back of the circuit board. Big spark and wisps of smoke.... Bad words needed to be said, loudly and at length.

I really see no necessity for making this cover plate out of metal in the first place. It is not like it is going to be exposed to any abuse the way it is located back behind the indexing wheel and upper headstock cover plate. A plastic part would be sufficient there I would think.

I did see a discussion where the point was made that optical sensors are much more sensitive and accurate than any alternatives that might be used in this application. This is the first time in the five years I have had the lathe that I had gotten the RP status error messages so the optical sensors seem to be fairly reliable.

Wizer, I keep forgetting to take the manual out to the shop with me and I can't remember the steps for programming or selecting the pre-set speeds while I am at the lathe. I do intend to get there, though.

Bob