Denford Software & Machines

Hi

I have problems with my Denford Orac 1985. I can not move it in Z and X. X axis a manages to get motion once, but Z axis will never move. The SD3 card next to the monitor have two fuses and one off this breaks every time a start up the machine. I have replaced it 4 times. I switched SD3 cards to see if there wase an error on the driver card, but the fuse on this also broke. The spindle I get to rotate and speed up in manuel mode, but it does not count rpm and it is very weak on low speed.

I need some help to locate the problem.

Hi

The fuse that breaks is 4A 240V

that's an early orac, and possibly it has the wrong drivers in there. Can you measure the supply voltage for the drivers, and take a photo of the power supply.

Here are some pictures. I can take better and more pictures, but maybe it's good enough?

can you take an overall picture of the electronics

More pictures

that is an sd2/3 drive, a lot of the earlier oracs had cd20 drivers and they are not interchangeable.

can you take an overall picture of the electronics.

Have you been using the lathe normally for some time and this fault has just developed ?

Emgee

Hi

I have never used this lathe before, I bougth it this spring together with a Triac mill and was told that it was in working condition. The mill works like it should, maybe the seller didn't know about this fault or it appeared after I received it?

Where is the supply voltage for the drivers?

Hi

2 x SD3 driver boards

Unfortunately it's not clear which version the lathe is and to tell you would have to separate the base panel from the lathe body.

Hi

So you mean that I need to lift off the lathe with bed from the electronic base below?

sorry that was a bit misleading.
The base is made of two parts, the main part is the sides and upper which is one piece with the lathe on top, and the second part is the bottom plate which has all the electronics mounted to it.
If you put the orac onto it's back you can unbolt the base plate and it will open on the back hinge to expose the electronics. There are five bolts down each edge and one screw on the front towards the left end next to the screen. Be careful when opening the base plate as the inverter output wires may not be long enough to allow the plate to open fully and may need to be disconnected. Double check that any other wires are not caught before fully opening the base plate.

Hi

I have seperated the lathe and taken some pictures

it looks like the lower voltage orac, so the sd2/3 drivers are correct for that machine. Have you tried the reset button.

Hi

I have tried the reset button. I will se over the electronic and check fuses and se for damaged component/cable. That's at least a start

Ive been following this thread, it is really interesting for me as there was one of these in the corner of one of the workshops when I was a kid at school, never saw it running but I was quite amazed that it had the same car stereo that my dad had in his car (all be it without the radio element).

I hope you get it sorted soon, I hope it is one of these DOH! moments when you realise it is something like a loose connector. I still remember having replaced most of the components in a radio transmitter PSU ago only to find it still not working. Went home, didn't sleep well as I couldn't understand what was wrong... went in the next day and realised I hadn't plugged the mains lead in after I had replace the required components to fix the original fault.

Pete

Here is a picture of four red ligths that turn on. I guess they are indicating a failure?

I don't think any of the LED's are showing faults. I presume the one on the left is either 5 or 12 volts, the one in the center is the 24 volts & the two on the right are showing the spindle encoder. If you turn the spindle by hand they should alter.