Keyboard Issues since update 3.48

[damomac]

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone can offer some support or is having the same issue, since updating to version 3.48 I am having keyboard issues. I have two machines and both are having a similar issues. the keyboard will work for a little while when first turned on, after a short time it will stop working, just thinking about it now, it may happen after uploading a file via the WIFI link. the first machine was when i first noticed, as it is a wireless Logitech keyboard, i thought it was interference or flat batteries, tried a few things, power cycle Masso and also changed USB ports, after a couple of go's, it would come good. The second machine has a Microsoft wired keyboard, I noticed it also had the same issue. The mouse would keep working fine. I was able to start the program and run through the program without issue.

They are the same keyboard that i have been using for a while and the issue has only started since the 3.48 update.

The first machine is a converted TEKCEL unit, previously I could have the cabinet fully closed up and it worked well. Since the update I have had to remove the panel to get the keyboard to work, the Masso is mounted inside the cabinet.

Please let me know your thoughts and any help would be appreciated.

 

[breezy]

@damomac

How are you doing towards solving this problem?

Is it still present? If so that version of MASSO do you have, G2 or G3 and number of axes?

No one else has reported this problem. But that is not to say you aren't having problems. We have found that sometimes that there are software bugs on a particular version MASSO and not on all the others.

Regards,

Arie.

 

[damomac]

Hi @breezy,

Thanks for the reply, yes the issue is still there. It is very strange, Both units are the G3 and Both are 4 Axis, one has a rotary and the other has the X slaved. When it played up last time with the Wireless keypad, I had to power cycle multiple times, remove all USB connections and insert to dongle in each of the ports one at a time, with no real success. I could plug the dongle into a PC and would work straight away, battery indication showed almost full battery. I did get it going again, but not by doing anything specific. The second unit has not caused as much grief but I have not used it as much. I have an IPAC2 Keyboard Emulator connected at the same time as the keyboard which is connected to a series of buttons to control. This has been installed for quite a while and has never caused an issue. Even with power cycle and reset it did not make a difference if this was plugged in or not, so my initial thought that this does not impact it. it seems to mainly play up after a wifi file transfer to the Masso.

Regards



Damien

 

[stewey]

Hi Damomac,
regarding your Tekcel, how much did you swap out, when converting it?
Did you use geckos or similar drives, or the Tekcel TT10 drives?
And why did you change controllers? (do you still have the old Tekmove one?)
Thanks.

 

[damomac]

Hi @stewey , when I did the conversion the machine was still running, but I had no PC with the required program or the configuration file. Mine was a unit from about 1999, so the electrics were fairly old. I had spoke to the service agent and by the time I got the software and site visit to configure the software it was not that cost effective. From the original machine I used part of the original power supply, VFD, Servo motors, I had to install the Masso, Servo driver boards and tweak the wiring. I had no schematic of the original driver boards but pretty sure they would not accept step/direction anyway. I still have all the old TekCel boards but I find the Masso a good fit. For my application.

Do you have a TekCel also?

 

[stewey]

Hi Damomac, yes, we have a 2000/2001 era Tekcel electronics, on a 1989 Esab bed.
(I'm in Qld, an hour NW from Toowoomba)
Pittman servos.
I wouldn't mind Tekcel electronic spare parts, if they were inexpensive!
Back in 2010 I burned out a drive when doing some lithophanes - lots of up and down movement in Z over a 1/4" space heated up the acme screw and it jammed the delrin nut and burned out the servo (you could fry an egg on it), and burned out a fair bit of the Z TT-10 drive card. Tekcel sent me another at $1800 and I maxxed out Mastercard to afford it at the time, and luckily it did not fit - wrong number of leads in or out, and I got it credited back.

After sleeping on it a few days, a mate in Atherton who's a bit of a cnc genius asked me to send him a photo of the board.
I did. he suggested we get a new Comms chip, 2 new power transformers, and a couple of capacitors and a resistor. I think that was close to everything. Cost under $45 at Jaycar. An hour of soldering in and out and it was working again!

Every couple of years it plays up and I debate chucking the Tekcel parts, but until I saw Masso, I've been at a loss as to what to replace it with, except maybe the newish Acorn servo controllers. But money is tight once again, so I wrestle through and last time it was doing weird things, it turned out it was a loose connector wire from a small onboard 18v ac transformer that is rectified and provides DC for the controller. An easy fix after losing a day and a half eliminating every other option!

My previous fix was a dedicated 40v DC regulated PSU just for the Z servo. That removed the occasional ripples I'd get in the Z on long running 3D files, due to hiccups in our mains. And 10 years ago putting a ballnut screw in place of the Acme one for Z. And some new Pittman servos.

So I'm intrigued re the replacement process with Masso -but interested in Tekcel parts. Tekcel in WA have no parts left for this - so they say , being 20 years old- they just wanted $16k for a new controller which is out of my league and priority.
I just wouldn't mind having a few bits as insurance. I do have 2 spare incremental encoder counters - the little 40mm square boards the servos plug the encoders into that then head off to the driver cards.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[stewey]

P.S. I manually get the spindle head up to speed with a 3-phase in & 3-phase out VFD - I've never been keen on the electronically switched in spindle co0ntrollers. We're only on single phase so I have a rotary 3-phase converter to get 240VAC up to 3-phase to begin with.

The Tekcel drives are a PWM - pulse width modulation type.

 

[damomac]

Hi @stewey

sounds like you have a fairly in depth knowledge of it all, for me I can t see me ever going back to the TekCel electronics, I have them in a box in the shed and happy to work something out as spare part for a good home. The conversion went well the only issue was the z axis rising due to some noise, I ended up electrically isolating the spindle from the Z axis plate and the issue seems to of gone away. Happy to assist with any questions on the conversion if you want to go down that way. I am no expert but can only relay with what I have done on mine.

 

[stewey]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, very interested in your Tekcel leftovers, thanks. Any chance you could photograph them, so I can check the board numbers against ours? I could give you my mobile to text them through to sometime?
oh-four-oh-seven, 928, two-nine-two. in Qld.

What servo drives did you use in your conversion, and did you do the touch-screen or the standard Masso?
(I use Corel, plus Enroute as a design & toolpath processor - an old version 4 that came with the machine when I bought it in 2007, what does what I need)

 

[damomac]

Hi @stewey

just as a FYI , I used the Machdrives BRB 80v (Aussie made) drivers for the Pitman motors, good value solution, if paired with the new Masso Touch, would make a good option.

 

[damomac]

Hi @stewey

I used the original Pittman Servo , 4 in total, 2x X axis. Original I used a standard G3 Masso as there was no touch then, I have a Touch on a mill that was converted and it s great, I would recommend the touch. I have added a touch screen to my Tekcel but if starting from scratch would get the Masso touch.

As for software my thoughts you could keep using the software you currently used, you would just need to export/post process into a file the Masso can read. The tool path with speed and feeds are all done in the software. I am not fully across how it is done for you now but my thought is that it would be similar but currently use the Tekcel post processor. I use Autodesk inventor/InventorCAM for my toolpaths and use a Mach3 post processor to generate the file.

 

[stewey]

Thanks a lot for that - yes, if I go to the Dark Side, I agree- Masso, and those Machdrives look best - being all Aussie too.
I'd like to continue to coax life into the refurbed & retrofitted ancient Tekcel while I can though!