Denford Software & Machines

Hi,
The door / lock on our 2600 has been getting worse. It rarely starts first time after homing, saying the guard is open - clicking noise. Now it has starting stopping mid cut and today I cannot get it to home after turning it on. I've taken off the side panel and given it a blow out but nothing seems to be working! 15 F1 in Schools cars need cutting! Any help would be great!
Thanks,
Ryan

Have you loaded the latest version of VR Milling from our website?

It may be worth trying this as we have made some software changes relating to the Guard switch (to prevent it seeing a very short bounce of the guard switch contacts).

If this does not work you may need to replace the guard switch.

http://www.denfordata.com/downloads/VRMilling_V5_63.zip

Hi Steve,
I will try the update tomorrow when I'm at work again. Hopefully that will fix it... It's very intermittent.. I cut 5 cars out no issues then came back to it after about 30 minutes and I can't activate the machine through VR Milling now. I ALMOST got it half an hour ago but then it said it's open again.
Is there a stop-gap fix you think? Gotta cut out 15 cars in the next week!!! Can I by-pass it or something?
Thanks for replying though....

If you check the control panel display and open and close the guard you will see the message saying the status of the guard changing.

We found occasionally as you start the spindle the vibration of the solenoid locking was triggering a guard open and crashing the program. Also if you tap the switch in cycle you can get the same message.

We now check that the status has changed for more than half a second before reporting the change so the software upgrade may do it.

It could be possible to hardwire the switch to say the guard is closed but this would not be a safe thing to do but with supervision for diagnosis purposes this would prove the guard switch is the problem.

Sadly I can't get it that far! I click on 'actual machine' as opposed to VR, it has a progress bar and gets about 1/3 of the way before clicking and saying guard open.
I'm aware you cannot advise switch over-riding, but would you be able to point me in the direct of doing that if the software update doesn't work?...
Thanks again!

As the machine boots up the Guard becomes unlocked. As this happens the solenoid operates and may then see the input bounce. The software upgrade may help this.

Depending on the age of the machine the attached diagram may be different to your machine but the gurd circuit will be the same.The red and Yellow wires from the guard switch indicate the position of the guard. This then goes to the Nextmove which will display the status. If yo link the Guard input to Ground then the control panel will think the guard is closed all the time. The machine will still be protected as the guard would have to be locked to start the spindle but there is no feed restriction on the Jog.

To test the machine just Remove the Gry and Blk wires from PL11 on the distribution board, twist them together and then put them back in the terminal block where the black had been placed.

(marked up in green on the attached diagram.)

Wow, thanks! Means nothing at the moment! Hopefully clear in the morning!

So far, so good... I did nothing this morning and I managed to get it working... I'll finish this job this week and then look at what you suggested. Thanks for your help!

Bypassed the guard and now works a treat. The coloured wires were different but instructions were clear. Kudos to you Steve, thanks

Did you try the software upgrade? You should really replace the guard switch if the software fix does not cure it.