Need Help Help with AXYZ Millenium Router

[meandmyminions]

Hi I was wondering if anyone had any experience with a AXYZ Millenium Router. Started working at a Sign Shop and they have an AXYZ Millenium Router there. It uses toolpath to output to router but when I look under the Status it says offline. I have checked serial cable, properties in the Win 98 control panel under hardware. Took top off router and checked fuses. It's got an LRC 001C Isa card in computer that outputs serial RS485 I believe to router. Front control panel works fine on router and I can move the router forwards and backwards, side to side, other functions seem to work. Just can't get a connection from computer to router. It shows Com 2 no connection. If it helps it's at First Impression Sign Company and I know Jesse Hill used to post and comment on these forums before he passed away. Not sure how he used it but when I tried after getting back from computer guy it didn't connect from computer to send files over. Never used a CNC Router before but I've read all the documentation I could find on it and am stuck at this point. Have a usb to RS485 connector on it's way to check if it's possibly the LRC Card. Right now it says offline when router is turned on and connected to computer. I'm pretty tech savvy but this one has stumped me. I do a lot of Solidworks and Autocad design but this is my first time stepping into CNC. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated I'd like to get it up and running with the old windows 98 computer it used to work on if that's possible. Haven't been able to find any software discs anywhere for toolpath but I did clone a number of these drives for backup. Not much use though if I can't get computer to connect with the router.

 

[billsines]

If the controller program is Mach3, they have a support forum there. Good guys to work with.

Does the router power up? It could be all the way to one side, tripping a limit switch. If the router doesn't power up when you turn it on, you should be able to push the gantry around. That will confirm the motors are not getting power. If the gantry stays solid, then you're getting power to the motors and the problem is communication between computer and router. Pics would be nice.

Could be the computer.

 

[Martin Denton]

We have the big brother to yours, the 4008. We have had a similar problem in the past and it is almost certainly a chip has blown on the R485 controller. These are quite expensive to buy from AXYZ, we were lucky we found a small computer company not far from us who replaced the chip for £10 versus the £400 for a new controller. You have to be very careful of the serial connection cable into the router board as if it gets partially dislodged from the router by catching it with your feet the short can quickly blow a chip on the controller. We have ours taped and screwed to solid surfaces so it cant be tripped over and s ince then have not had a re-occurrence

 

[tbullo]

Is it running Camplot? Check .ini file to make sure they match the same com ports. Maybe try changing to com1, 3 or 4. This is for the black box controller.
I remember talking with Jesse on this board. Was a good guy.

 

[meandmyminions]

Thanks for all your replys. I'll take the card out and take it to my Dad who owns an electronic repair shop. Which Chip was it if you can remember? I turned off the computer reseated the card then turned it back on just to check that. I'll also check about the limit switch idea too. I do have pictures I have taken at almost every step I'll post those in a little bit. After confirming it wasn't a fuse issue I reassembled router bed/top. All the electronics for router are underneath not sure who thought of that design but sucks to have to disassemble bed to get to them. Thought about possibly relocating everything in panel boxes but that will be a project in the future if I do that. Also thought about retrofitting the machine with Mach3 if nothing else works depending on the cost or approaching the owner about purchasing newer toolpath software and using an xp computer I brought down to shop. Using usb to rs485 converter for that or some other solution. I think I finally left the shop around 9:30pm last night. I'm determined to get this thing communicating with the computer again. A little background on me I have done a lot of IT related things, Used Adobe programs like Illustrator, Photoshop, etc. Went through a graphics design program at the local community college years ago. Currently going there for a CAD and Drafting Technology AS Degree. Grew up replacing components in failed electronics with my Dad, Testing and replacing failed components such as Capacitors, Chips, Transistors, resistors, etc. Whatever the problem might have been. Done a lot of soldering and unsoldering. Lot of troubleshooting experience. My Dad was thinking it might be a driver issue with that card in Win98 but I'm not even sure what drivers it would take if any since I don't have the original CD's or documentation on the Card. Can anyone post a picture of Device Manager in Windows for the card and what it is supposed to look like if they are using something similar to Win98? Using AXYZ toolpath for communication software aka TPWin.

 

[meandmyminions]

We have the big brother to yours, the 4008. We have had a similar problem in the past and it is almost certainly a chip has blown on the R485 controller. These are quite expensive to buy from AXYZ, we were lucky we found a small computer company not far from us who replaced the chip for £10 versus the £400 for a new controller. You have to be very careful of the serial connection cable into the router board as if it gets partially dislodged from the router by catching it with your feet the short can quickly blow a chip on the controller. We have ours taped and screwed to solid surfaces so it cant be tripped over and s ince then have not had a re-occurrence

Are you talking about the Card in the computer or the AMC Card in the Actual Router?

 

[meandmyminions]

Pics of router

 

[meandmyminions]

Pics of router

One more pic

 

[GaSouthpaw]

My first suggestion is clean it out with some dry air. Dust on the cards can cause a short.

 

[meandmyminions]

My first suggestion is clean it out with some dry air. Dust on the cards can cause a short.

Thank you I will try that never heard of dust causing that. Learn something new all the time.

 

[meandmyminions]

Ordered this too. Should be here on Friday. Industrial USB to RS-485/422 Converter | eBay. I looked at the way serial cable is wired and it looks like just a serial crossover cable. Then I read more on the subject and AXYZ wanted an arm and a leg for their converter so this should do the same exact thing from a hardware standpoint and it's optically isolated too. This one was $17 compared to their $400 plus converter. Only difference is I would have to unsolder connections from serial cable at pc side and hookup wires into the terminals according to the way it's already wired. TX,RX,DTR, shield is what I believe it's using according to the way it's wired right now.

 

[meandmyminions]

More info about converter. In theory this should work right?

The USB to RS-485/422 Converter is an industrial quality converter. Use any USB port and convert it to RS-485 or US-422. No external power is needed, it will pull the power necessary from the USB port.

This product is compatible with Windows 98 up to Windows 7. It is compatible with Apple operating systems, as well as Linux.

Features

• Hot-pluggable, plug-and-play
• Use your USB port to add RS485 or RS422
• USB 2.0 compatible, as well as USB 1.1
• Easy installation
• Simple connector plugs directly into your computer

Condition
Brand new, never used, in retail packaging.

Warranty
Includes a 1-year money back Sewell Direct warranty. 100% satisfaction guaranteed!

Specifications
Features
Hot-pluggable, plug-and-play
Use your USB port to add RS485 or RS422
USB 2.0 compatible, as well as USB 1.1
Easy installation
Simple connector plugs directly into your computer
Optical isolation built-in.

I have an extra pci card with usb ports if the ones in the computer doesn't work and it has drivers for windows 98. It will read usb 2.0 devices and believe it is backwards compatible with usb 1.1 . Tried everything I could think of even upgrading an extra cloned drive to windows 98se which is supposed to have better support for drivers. Tried switching back and forth between cloned drives and original drives and experimenting on the cloned drives while leaving the original as is. I have a dedicated hard drive duplicator and this is what I used to make exact clones of the OS since original CD's are nowhere to be found. Think I made about 5 clones since I just happened to have many older IDE drives just laying around. Might upgrade the power supply for the computer to a heftier one I have laying around while I am at it just to make sure it has enough juice to power everything.

 

[meandmyminions]

Well I checked router circuit boards today and found two resistors that looked like they have gotten hot on the AMC controller. Which means probably got shorted out by something else going on. I found some bad connections on circuit board and soldered them. Will be taking them back to the shop tomorrow and thoroughly investigating other circuit boards even found bad connections on the old LRC ISA card and soldered those too. Can't say I'm really surprised given the age of the machine seen this many times on various electronic components over the years. Looked at the circuit boards with a big magnifying glass with light and some of the connections were obviously bad. Hoping for the best.

 

[billsines]

I have had circuit boards go bad. Can you see any identifying marks on them? I have had success googling the part number on it. Even on old machines you might find someone out there that carries those.

 

[meandmyminions]

These are the two circuit boards I soldered some bad connections on so far. Will have to look at other ones today when I get to the shop. Have the schematics for wiring just a shame that I only have schematics for wiring and not the actual circuit boards. Looked online but haven't been able to find anything and I don't think the company would be much help if I asked for them could be wrong though. I've had luck getting them from other companies in the past.

 

[meandmyminions]

Well tried everything I can think of toolpath software still says offline. I can see two blinking lights on AMC board on led 1and 2. Not sure what this means though since I don't have documentation on it. Not sure if it's this board or something to do with the software.

AXYZ toolpath version 2.7.5
2002

Front Controller on machine says AMC-3D 9.60 when I turn it on.

I can move router manually via front controller just can't get it connecting with the Toolpath software. Is there any other software that will communicate to export files to machine? Anyone had success with anything else? Cheap conversion possibly?

 

[meandmyminions]

Is it running Camplot? Check .ini file to make sure they match the same com ports. Maybe try changing to com1, 3 or 4. This is for the black box controller.
I remember talking with Jesse on this board. Was a good guy.

Are you referring to the semipower DriveBlock controller inside of machine? That's the only Black Box controller inside machine. It's using a LRC card on the computer side.

 

[tbullo]

Are you referring to the semipower DriveBlock controller inside of machine? That's the only Black Box controller inside machine. It's using a LRC card on the computer side.

I'm sorry. I have a cam tech router, that was eventually bought out by AXYZ. I thought maybe you had the black AMC box that under the router. I had my black box (2000 model) repaired once at a place called ERD industrial electronic repair. They repair boards for all sorts of stuff. When ever I call AXYZ now for parts, they are always trying to sell me a new router. I still run this router on a stand alone windows XP computer.

 

[meandmyminions]

Ya I called AXYZ and the lady who answered the phone didn't even know the model of the router I was talking about even though I have invoices of parts we've bought from them in the past. I'm trying to get this thing running the cheapest way possible. The owner said he doesn't use it a whole lot but it would be nice to have up and running when we do need it. Most of the things I've seen around the shop so far have been vinyl on cintra boards. Not even sure if I spelled that correctly. I'm still in the learning phase and new to the sign business. I could see the router being profitable for highly customized things. What are the main jobs you use your router for? I could customize and replace the brains of the router but would it really be with it? Using what I've got and getting a different controller, etc. Just looking to make this a profitable machine for the business. I've looked into Mach3 software but I know that would include changing controller, etc.

 

[meandmyminions]

If only it was as easy as controlling it from an arduino or something. Lol. I've also looked into the possibility of open source software. Would be nice to have something that is not so proprietary and was more customizable. I wish I could have seen it working would have given me better ideas on how it works but the machine was already not communicating when I started turning this into a project.