On Sat, 24 Aug 2013 07:00:14 -0700 (PDT), PCS
wrote:

On Saturday, August 24, 2013 8:28:06 AM UTC-4, Gunner Asch wrote:



Its the VFD. You have lost either a can (capacitor) or there are chips

on the traces (blow it out with high pressure air...with the power

OFF)

Hows that AW=100 been working out for you? Was it one of those with

the Omniturn control and slide or one of the later versions?

Ive serviced several of the Omniturn cored ones..the later ones were

trash and there is NO data around for them.



Thanks Gunner,

Yes, my VFD is now on the way to be rebuilt by an outfit in VA.
I'll let you know how that works out.

GS2 looks like a nice drive at a fair price.

The AW100s (two of them) have run 8-hrs every work day for the past 13 or 14 years.
They were both the last and latest of the versions with all AW controls.

One made in 1998, other a 1999 model year.

I've heard your opinion of them before, I respect your experience, but for me they have been excellent lathes.

So where they the non OmniTurn versions? If you copy your
paperwork..you could probably sell a number of them on Ebay. Speaking
of which..there is or was another one on Ebay a week or so ago. I
dropped em a message asking if it were Omniturn guts..but never did
hear back from them.

I've maintained them myself, and have upgraded things like switching to an LCD monitor, and a CF card hard drive. Course good Sony floppy drives are getting scarce ;-)

For what it's worth, I NEVER power them down.
I think that has been one of the reasons they still work as well as they do.

A very good decision.

I've collected enough spare parts and sources over the years to keep them running a bit longer I hope.
Most of the parts AW used were off-the-shelf stuff and is still available.

Same way with the OmniTurns themselves. I seldom buy parts from the
factory.

5C spindle still runs tight and true, and the ball-screws & ways get greased twice a year.
Found a good company to rebuild the way-covers to better than original condition.
Got a link?

The Baldor DC-brushed axis servos are still rebuildable, and I keep a couple of spares to swap in when needed.

Cool!

The only thing that can't be sourced now is the AW control board itself.

DONT TALK ABOUT THAT BOARD!! Bad luck to speak of something made of
unobtainium.


If I can get 3 or 4 more years from these lathes it won't matter anymore as I'll be retired.
Heck I'm semi-retired already. Really only keep doing what I do because it's still fun.

Fair enough! I only work because Ive become accustomed to food.
Shrug.

When I bought these machines there was quite a controversy about a DOS based control. Everyone on AMC and RCM said it would never work. However, time has proven it to be a viable approach. The DOS-based control has been rock solid for me.

Thanks again for your help.
T'care

You to!

Gunner

"There are no leftists in mainstream American politics.

Just two right wing parties, one hard right and one softer."
Christopher A. Lee, 8/18/2013