Drives disabling

[JamZ00]

Experiencing an issue with the drives diabling when cutting straight upwards on the Y axis. I'm cutting 18mm MDF with a 12.7mm cutter with a 100% stepdown on the cutter which I have been doing happily for some 40 sheets with no issue.
Now what happens is when I get to a part of the program that requires an upwards movement on the Y axis the machine stops feeding, I then try to home the axes or jog and the error message pops up saying drive not enabled.
I thought that the build up of dust and debris may have activated one of the limit switches or caused an obstruction. I vacuumed the machine, checked the limit stops and managed to resolve the issue of not being able to home or jog by disconnecting the machine in VRM and reconnecting, homed the axes and was able to jog the machine in all directions with no issues.

I set the same program running again and it ran fine even on the Y axis where it stopped before until it reached new material....it then stopped after about 30mm. this suggested to me that the drive was disabling due to excessive force on the Y axis movement so tried the same program with a lighter 5mm cut and the same thing happened again.

Does anybody have a possible solution to this issue? I have several (less organised) students worried they will not meet their deadline......LOL!

Thanks in anticipation

[Denford Admin]

It could be a loose or broken wire to the Y limit switch ?

[JamZ00]

I have checked the wires (what I can see of them) and there are no signs of damage or play. Tried homing the machine again and it stopped dead on the Y movement.
Reconnected to the machine and will jog in the X & Z but an attempt to jog on the Y is unsuccessful and prompts "Axis in Error" dialogue box. is this still likeley to be an issue with the switched or could it be motor/drive related? I don't know if it's relevant but the position of the motor is central on the Y therefore not near to the switches (I appreciate that if there is a switch fault then it doesnt matter where the router head is)

Thanks

[Denford Admin]

Can you hear the brake coming off on the Y axis when the drives enable ?
Normally there is a slight jump as the brake comes off and the Y drive energises.

Have you powered off the whole machine ? There could be a fault on the drive which only clears after a power down (leave it a minute or two for the supply to discharge). If you feel qualified, you can turn the machine on with the cabinet open and see if there are any LED's on the drives to help us find out what is wrong.

[Martin]

It may be worth checking for dust on the rollers. You need to remove the inspection plates which cover the Y axis rollers & remove any debris from the rollers.

You could also check the state of the drive when it trips. The fault LED flashes to indicate the what the error is. If you count the number of flashes we should be able to check out what ist corresponds to.

[JamZ00]

Many thanks for your advice guys, I have sorted the issue with a good clean and powering down a few times and have been happily cutting since. If this issue resurfaces i'll be checking back to this post and checking for flashing of LEDs....... I take it they are located within the control panel?

[Denford Admin]

Yes the LED's are on the 3 yellow drives inside the beige electrical cabinet.
You'd have to turn off to open the cabinet but can then turn the isolator by hand once opened (obviously taking precautions against anyone putting their hands in there while it's live!)