iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Wood-mizer gremlins

Started by pnyberg, December 19, 2009, 01:37:58 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Magic Smoke

pnyberg,
The error is generated because the Bridge (silver box mounted on door of distribution box) is not receiving the signal from the Transducer (sensor with long chrome rod behind scale).
This may be caused by:
- loose/faulty connection
check the transducer cable where it plugs onto the bottom of the sensor and at the bottom of the distribution box

Magic Smoke

Oops!
Didn't mean to post that yet...

More possibilities:
Also check the cable on the inside of the dist box that runs from the receptacle on the bottom of the box to the bridge.
- Faulty Transducer, the only thing you can do for this is to replace the transducer, however, if the problem is intermittent, I would go here last.
- Faulty power supply on the Bridge, the bridge has a power supply on it for the Transducer, and at the colder temps it may be having a problem driving the Transducer. Try this:
Try unplugging the Transducer with the key off, turn on key, then plug Transducer back in. If it comes up and works fine every time you do this then the bridge needs replaced.

woodmills1

and I was gonna say I neuter my spays but that isnt funny and now this thread is technical  so....................gremlins wasnt that a movie??? :D
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

pnyberg

Magic Smoke,

Thanks for the input.  I can't say that I understand any of your suggestions at the moment, but in the morning, I'll take your messages and my manuals out to my mill and try to make sense of it all. 

--Peter
No longer milling

sawbuckacres

I haven't experienced any Gremlins, but I certainly learned something here, which is that a lot of folks remove their blade on a daily basis.  I'm a newby, but in the past couple of years I only remove my blade when it dulls, or at the end of the summer season.  Removing and cleaning it certainly makes sense, but all the banging of the teeth that goes on during the removal (Wood-Mizer LT-15) creeps me out enough on a dull blade, let alone doing it to a sharp one.

I generally release tension, and clean the blade, belts, and wheels on a daily basis.  I am in the northern Rockys so rust is not generally an issue.

Am I missing something here?  :-\

zopi

The little bit of banging you get removing or replacing the blades doesn't make much difference..it does take practice...what really sucks is sawing the top off a dog...particularly with a new blade..
Got Wood?
LT-15G GO chassis added.
WM sharpener and setter
And lots of junk.

pnyberg

Quote from: Magic Smoke on December 22, 2009, 09:34:40 AM
Try unplugging the Transducer with the key off, turn on key, then plug Transducer back in. If it comes up and works fine every time you do this then the bridge needs replaced.

This morning, while it was below 20°, I went through this cycle 5 or 6 times:

key off
unplug cable from bottom of transducer
key on - ERROR display - red light on bridge
plug cable back into bottom of transducer  - normal display - green light on bridge
key off
key on  - ERROR display - red light on bridge

Unfortunately, I got distracted by another problem (one of my own making), and I didn't do any additional functional testing at that time.  Now it's warmed up to about 25°, and the Accuset's working OK without having to fiddle with the cable.

I'll do a more complete test next time it's cold enough to make the gremlins come out.

Thanks,
    Peter
No longer milling

woodmills1

BTW I never remove and half the time leave the tension on
James Mills,Lovely wife,collect old tools,vacuuming fool,36 bdft/hr,oak paper cutter,ebonic yooper rapper nauga seller, Blue Ox? its not fast, 2 cat family, LT70,edger, 375 bd ft/hr, we like Bob,free heat,no oil 12 years,big splitter, baked stuffed lobster, still cuttin the logs dere IAM

Magic Smoke

pnyberg,
It sounds like the power supply on the bridge might be having trouble powering up the Transducer during colder temperatures (the Transducer pulls a little more current in colder temps).

Once it is up and running, will it continue to run fine until you cycle the key again?
If so, then you need to replace the Bridge (silver box hanging on the door of the distribution box).
If the error occurs after start up, i.e. during sawing, then the problem is more than likely a transducer or cabling problem.

Hope this helps!

pnyberg

The error has only occurred at startup. 

The temperature needs to be down to 20° or so for the error to occur, and we've moved into a warmer weather pattern, so I can no longer reproduce it.  I'm sure we'll get anther cold spell before too long, and when we do, I'll do a more thorough test, and then call Wood-Mizer support.

You certainly have helped, MS.  Not only have you diagnosed the problem, but you gave me a work-around that lets me keep sawing when the error occurs.  Thank you very much.

You've never said, but I'm guessing from your expertise, and your location, that you work for Wood-Mizer. 

--Peter
No longer milling

LeeB

I'll have to say you have helped more than pnyberg. My setworks is doing the same thing when cold. I will try the fixes you have recomended although I realy think mine is caused by moister in the keypads that has frozen and not allowing good contact.
'98 LT40HDD/Lombardini, Case 580L, Cat D4C, JD 3032 tractor, JD 5410 tractor, Husky 346, 372 and 562XP's. Stihl MS180 and MS361, 1998 and 2006 3/4 Ton 5.9 Cummins 4x4's, 1989 Dodge D100 w/ 318, and a 1966 Chevy C60 w/ dump bed.

Magic Smoke

FYI
The info provided is only applicable to Accuset 2, not the original Accuset or older systems.

pnyberg

I wanted to confirm the behavior of the Accuset one more time before calling Wood-Mizer about the problem, and the weather has been too warm to reproduce the problem for the last few weeks.  When I got out of bed this morning, it was 10° F, which was plenty cold enough. 

After confirming that the problem still exists, and the the transducer cable trick still worked, I called Wood-Mizer tech support.  I got about three sentences into my story with the tech rep. who answered my call before he said "you need to talk to Rick" (a.k.a Sparks).  He sent me to the operator, who transferred me to Rick's extension, where I got his voice-mail.  I left a message, and got a call back within a few minutes.

After the preliminaries, which allowed him to access my account in the system, he asked me to describe my problem.  As soon as I got through the description of the trick with the transducer cable, he said "sounds like you've got a bad bridge".  He told me that they'd send me a new one right away, along with a UPS label for me to use to send back the old one.  He also mentioned something about putting the old one in the freezer to figure out what was wrong with it.

After they're done playing with it, maybe Wood-Mizer would sell the bridge to one of you southern sawyers at a reduced price.  It seems to work OK down to about 18°   :)

BTW, the problem with the frozen power feed motor I mentioned in the first post in this thread has not reappeared.  My only guess is that this was caused by a very small amount of water in exactly the wrong place.

I'll let you know how swapping out the bridge goes...

--Peter
No longer milling

pnyberg

This should be the last chapter in this story. 

The package from Wood-Mizer arrived in the middle of the week.  It contained the new bridge in some protective packaging, a card where I was asked to describe the problem, and an ARS return label.  There were no instructions, which I took as an indication that the swap-out procedure was obvious, which turned out to be the case.



Four bolts attach the bridge to a mounting panel on the cabinet door.  There are two computer type connections at the top.  These are sufficiently different that it would be impossible to reattach them incorrectly.  There are six wires attached to the bottom.  Unfortunately, two of them are black, but one was labeled with a number, so they could easily be distinguished. I took a minute to make some notes on the wire locations, and set to work.

Working bare-handed at 25° F is not something I particularly enjoy, but the process went smoothly and took no more than 15 minutes.

After the swap was complete, I fired up the mill.  I got no error message, and everything seemed to work as it should.  But, 25° isn't cold enough to reproduce the problem I'd been having, so all I knew for sure at this point was that I hadn't made anything worse.

But this morning, it was about 14° F, which would have been cold enough to get the error message display with the original bridge, but when I turned the key to 'AUX' I got the normal display. 

The old bridge will be headed back to Indianapolis in the next day or two.  All's well that ends well.

--Peter
No longer milling

Magicman

Good product + good support = happy customer...... :D
Knothole Sawmill, LLC     '98 Wood-Mizer LT40SuperHydraulic   WM Million BF Club Member   WM Pro Sawyer Network

It's Weird being the Same Age as Old People

Never allow your "need" to make money to exceed your "desire" to provide quality service.....The Magicman

Thank You Sponsors!