New system hiccup

[56flh]

I had some strange things happen yesterday and I'm curious if anyone else has run into this.

I was manually adding a feature to a program that has successfully run for quite some time and found that once the feature was entered, the program would bomb giving me a "lag in y axis" error when doing a rapid movement to the feature. I removed the feature and move points that had been added, shut off the Sharpe32 controller and PC, and rebooted to find that when I tried to enter the feature again that the hits would register in the graphics display, but hitting "enter" on the keyboard of "done" on the jogbox did nothing. I could not enter the feature into the program and also at the same time, I could not enter a "move point" from the print key on the jogbox. After several attempts to resolve the problem I shut everything down and figured I'd work on it when I had more time.

Four hours later when I fired up the CMM again, I found that it had miraculously healed itself and I could now enter the feature and move points and the program executed flawlessly.

We are running 3.5mr2 on a new computer that has more than enough memory and graphics, but we switched from Windows NT to XP Pro. Is it possible that XP is the culprit?

[Wes Cisco]

I would suspect Pc-Dmis first and formost! I have had similar problems, both when I was using 3.5MR2 and now that I use 3.7MR3. I seem to mostly have these problems when I am altering a program that was created in an older version of the software. Do you know what version the program was written in? If is was priop to 3.5MR2, I would expect that to be problem. The only workaround I know is close out shut down and try again when the software is in a better mood! HTH

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

I would bet it was the controller. I have found that when it has been on for quite some time, it needs to be turned off for 5 minutes or so, then re-booted (PC too) to clear and remove some of those annoying problems. Lucky for me, this does not happen very often because the controller is turned off at night and gets to 'rest' for 4 hours or so every night. However, if I am doing a lot of RUNNING, PROGRAMMING, IN-AND-OUT of Pcdmis, this problem will show up towards the ends of the day. It is like it can not clear it's own internal memory very well and gets constipated.

[tking]

Matt,

I've heard the demon described as "cranky" but constipated is a new one for me. Man, I'm still chuckling

TK

[#2#]

I have had a similar problem with the print and done keys not working. On my machine to end a learned feature with the keyboard I hit the end key. Ctrl+m enters a move point.

I have found that shutting down and giving time for the electrons to drain works every time.

[dwade]

I would bet it was the controller. I have found that when it has been on for quite some time, it needs to be turned off for 5 minutes or so, then re-booted (PC too) to clear and remove some of those annoying problems. Lucky for me, this does not happen very often because the controller is turned off at night and gets to 'rest' for 4 hours or so every night. However, if I am doing a lot of RUNNING, PROGRAMMING, IN-AND-OUT of Pcdmis, this problem will show up towards the ends of the day. It is like it can not clear it's own internal memory very well and gets constipated.

Are you saying that the controllers should be shut down to rest regularly? I am not familiar withe B&S controllers on our PFx's. We run at a minimum of 24/5 but next week we will be starting to run 16/5 and 16/6. Should I ask second shift to shut the controllers down each nite or just over the weekends?

[Matthew D. Hoedeman]

I would shut them down each night, of course there are some who say that leaving electronics on (PC's) all the time is 'easier' on them then off, on, off, on, mainly on the fans and hard drives. It's is harder to start a hard drive spinning than it is to keep it going, easier on the motor. However, I do not think there is any kind of a hard drive in the Sharpe32 controller. For 6 (7, 8 maybe?) years since we have had the Sharpe32 controller this is what we have done, off at night, on in the morning. The PC stays on 24-7 (except long holidays). AND, so far (!?!) we have not had a single problem with the controller, EXCEPT for the fact that B&S, when they built it, they had the cooling fan for the box blowing IN, not out, and the 'filter' was on the vents on the OTHER side of the box. So, it was pulling IN dirty air and was trapping the dirt on the INSIDE of the filter on the opposite side of the box.

[Tested]

I've had the same thing. I think it's a ghost point in the regestery or something. I was able to get past this "after a long time of trying" by hitting " ALT - " over and over again.

I would have thought it was just something I missed, but it has happened a few times and the " ALT - " has seemed to work each time after finding this. I would think it would have created some off the wall feature from my points and the ghost feature but it didn't. You might give it a try if you come across it again. Hope it works for you.

[T Miller]

Have had no problems yet.. onlt shut it off on weekends

[dccfreak]

Yes! Most definitely shut the controllers off for at least a couple of hours daily. We have been doing this for quite some time, mostly because we have the ancient B&S Controller that takes up a small apartment with the jogbox the size of an old pong game system. This guy gets really uncooperative if he isn't shut off for awhile everyday. We have actually had encounters where we couldn't even register manual hits it was so - (to coin Matt's term) "constipated".

[Jeffrey Lovely]

A point in the buffer can cause problems too
I am sure that was not it (first thing I check)

Shut down all when all else fails works for me too
I get the same problem every so often

3.5 MR2

[craiger_ny]

A lag error is mechanical. The CMM allows itself to reach a certain destination in a predetermined amount of time. If it does not reach that destination in the pre determined time it errors out with a lag error. In your case the Y axis errored out. Check to see if anything is rubbing or binding in the drive system. You could also have a fouled air bearing that is slowing that axis. What kind of machine/drive system do you have? Do you have those knobs for each axis and are they (the Y axis knob) rubbing on any of the shrouds? Do you have dirty drive rods (if you have drive rods)? Do you hear anything that sounds like rubbing, squeeking, or binding?

Craig

[56flh]

A lag error is mechanical. The CMM allows itself to reach a certain destination in a predetermined amount of time. If it does not reach that destination in the pre determined time it errors out with a lag error. In your case the Y axis errored out. Check to see if anything is rubbing or binding in the drive system. You could also have a fouled air bearing that is slowing that axis. What kind of machine/drive system do you have? Do you have those knobs for each axis and are they (the Y axis knob) rubbing on any of the shrouds? Do you have dirty drive rods (if you have drive rods)? Do you hear anything that sounds like rubbing, squeeking, or binding?

Craig

The problems happened on a program that had been running that was saved with a new number. The part being checked was the same part that had been running only with an added feature. We always have a squeek in the Y axis (techy said it was nothing to worry about) and have since purchasing this machine new in the late 90's. In the last 2 years we have had the machine re-plumbed and bearings cleaned after the air bearings were fouled due to dirty air. The incoming air line is checked daily with no problems seen since adding a coalescing filter of our own design (much bigger than supplied by B&S), and all surfaces are cleaned with alcohol daily.

As stated, after sitting for a few hours the machine seemed to heal itself. I think shutting the controller off for a bit may be the answer. We use the CMM to check parts in the operator mode and it may remain on 24/7 depending on product passing through the shop.