Well Sh!t!

[Donnie]

Another turn in the story... Got a call from Randy at OTS who was in on the tech call with Anatol. He went through his notes and told me to check one more thing. The proximity switch on the indexer.  I tested it with a screw driver and it worked, however when I manually rolled the indexer fork past it, it did not light up. The switch was working but it was not bouncing or recognizing the edge of the fork every time. Turns out the proximity somehow had move back just enough to break contact.  There was no way to adjust it foreward or back, until I noticed a shim under the bracket mount. Removed the shim but it made contact. I jimmied some washers under it and damned if it didn't work. I had to reset the homing distance but Got the SOB going Apollo 13 style.  Got some minor tweaking left but it Looks like some expensive parts are headed back.

[spotcolorsupply]

Another turn in the story... Got a call from Randy at OTS who was in on the tech call with Anatol. He went through his notes and told me to check one more thing. The proximity switch on the indexer.  I tested it with a screw driver and it worked, however when I manually rolled the indexer fork past it, it did not light up. The switch was working but it was not bouncing or recognizing the edge of the fork every time. Turns out the proximity somehow had move back just enough to break contact.  There was no way to adjust it foreward or back, until I noticed a shim under the bracket mount. Removed the shim but it made contact. I jimmied some washers under it and damned if it didn't work. I had to reset the homing distance but Got the SOB going Apollo 13 style.  Got some minor tweaking left but it Looks like some expensive parts are headed back.

Randy is an Anatol GOD!!! 

[Northland]

Nice to know.... I've got servo index on my Anatol.

[mk162]

I am surprised that nobody mentioned that before.  that is the first thing i check, either at the switch, or at the blinking light on the PLC.

i've even had the wires get pinched and shut the whole machine down.  that was a rush, trust me.

the million $ question is who pays the air freight?

[Shawn (EIP)]

only ONE of me. I'm screwed if I go out.

Yup I know the feeling... I fear being sick because I know those jobs will be waiting for me when I'm back on my feet, nothing like working double time coming off of being sick.

[Donnie]

the million $ question is who pays the air freight?

That is one of the things yet to be worked out.  Randy has been very helpful. He spent about 2 hours on the phone. If I am up and running minus the expensive parts..they way I look at it freight seems pretty trivial at this point.

[alan802]

I am surprised the proximity switch wasn't the first thing troubleshooted.  On our old centurian, that's the first place we always looked and 90% of the time, it was a failed proxy switch.  The only issue we've had with our press was a failed proxy sensor on the table up/down.  I had the problem solved before I called Rick but he walked me through putting the spare part on, which was very easy.

In my short time in this industry and around these machines, it seems that proximity sensors are the highest failure part, at least it has been for us on 2 machines.  I'm sure someone who's got more experience with these machines might disagree with me, but out of the dozen or so issues our centurian had over the years, 9 or 10 of them were from a bad proxy sensor.

[Donnie]

Come to think of it, I did ask the proxy question first off.

[Sbrem]

2 autos for a weekend printer? Holy cow...

Steve

[inkbrigade]

the million $ question is who pays the air freight?

That is one of the things yet to be worked out.  Randy has been very helpful. He spent about 2 hours on the phone. If I am up and running minus the expensive parts..they way I look at it freight seems pretty trivial at this point.

Sounds like you owe randy a nice 6 pack

[Donnie]

After we got things going, I am getting this nice little shudder or grind when it indexes.  This was not there before so something is still not right.  I made this little vid to give Randy an ideal what I am hearing. He calls and thinks the  lifter is rubbing on the carousal. A little grease should do the trick. Nope. So we run through a number of potential culprits. All to no avail. We both decide to sleep on it. He calls me back and tells me to mess with the indexer acceleration setting. Now we have all ready cut it from 16,000 rpm (factory setting) to 8,000. We go back up to 16,000 and holy sh!t! Then we go to down to 5,000. No noise.  Now we are thinking that perhaps when the proximity switch failed and the indexer sled rammed against the motor housing it may have buggered the indexer screw some. At 5,000 it is still dry indexing at 69 dozen per hour. Still plenty fast. I am hoping that by slowing the acceleration down the screw will last indefinitely.  Randy said that there is no reason to index a machine at 16,000 and he recommends setting it to 8,000.  Food for thought just in case this ever happens with your machine.

I removed the shim from the indexer bracket mount. That is what is laying on the floor.

Anatol.wmv

[mk162]

I agree, running your equipment at it's max speed wears it out and your printers out faster.

My car does 120, but that doesn't mean I always drive that fast. 

[Artelf2xs]

Well sh!t Donnie.. count your blessings!!! it's be even worse  if you did not sh!t well! 

[IntegrityShirts]

Yikes that does sound weird.  Did Randy suggest taking the top plate off and inspecting bolts for tightness or oil for metal shavings?  I know on my Trident that the sight window is pitch black, not sure of the interval for oil changes on these screws.  Being the tinkerer that I am, on a Saturday lol, I'd pull the top plate and fork off and inspect the screw for wear or metal shavings or burrs.

Upon looking at spiderpromo's page on the servo indexer tear-down, it appears there's also a linear rail in that oil bath.  When you said it knocked the sled out of its track that would make me wonder whether it also may have shaken/sheared a bolt or two down below, but I'm no expert!

Oh, and that is a darn pricey servo controller, yikes!  That area of these presses is where the big buck repairs lie!

[Donnie]

I checked the oil in the indexer. It was full and what ran out did not appear to have any shavings. We are suspecting the noise to be from the "knuckle" or the pin that travels along the screw and not the screw itself. But as I said, the noise is very minimal at 5,000. BUT if I get a week of downtime. I may send it in. I don't like "wandering" about "sh!t that could happen".