My 2003 VF2 had an odd alarm this morning, now the screen is black but it is still running parts

[Kustomizer]

I didn't write down the alarm as I figures as normal I would be able to see it later, not the case this time. It said I had a corrupt program, I should save my parameters, dump and reload my program, but the program looked OK as I scanned through it. Anyhow I had a platefull trying to get things started and of course one job I had to complete before noon. This machine runs for an hour at a time so I put in some blanks and turned it on, all seemed fine and it ran all morning without a complaint. It stopped just before noon and it has a blank screen, no red light, it does have a green led indicating power to the CRT, I pressed program, nothing, settings, nothing, I loaded up some new blanks, slowed the rapid and watched it as it took off making parts like normal. I am assuming the CRT died but how does one proove that? I understand there are some good LCD upgrades, is there a recomended one?
thanks
mark

 

[Kustomizer]

It came on this morning with a 251 and 212 alarms, both saying corrupt program, dump and reload, I dumped the programs and offsets and it seems to be good again, what does this mean?

 

[Mud]

Is there a cooling fan somewhere on a card cage that has stopped running? If chips get hot while running they sometimes have odd internal failures or errors that corrupt data and are impossible to diagnose normally.

 

[Kustomizer]

I hadn't even thought of a fan giving up, I will look, thanks. As for hot chips it had been months making little aluminum knobs , four legged things about 1 1/2 across and 5/8 thick with a lot of small details, I have only been taking the chips out about every three days as the more I move them around the more go in the sump, not much heat from the work it is doing. The alarms about corrupt files has me puzzled

 

[T_Dubs]

Is the program you loaded one you have ran before without issue? I only ask because I had a program I was running on my fadal, made a minor change to a toolpath height and it put a weird move in there that would stop the machine at the same exact point everytime. I looked at the code and it appeared fine, but I changed it back and never had the issue again. I never really figured it out, but best I could tell, it was trying to do a move with a tiny radius while moving in z and x I think. Don't know what actually caused the alarm, but I left it alone once I fixed it.

 

[Kustomizer]

The program had been running for some months, I checked through it and it looked OK, I downloaded it and the offset file, dumped the programs and offsets from the machine, shut it off for 10 mins or so, turned it back on, loaded the same programs and offsets back in, poof its all better for now, I have a dislike for things I fixed by not fixing anything

 

[Mud]

As for hot chips

I meant silicon chips. Forgot where I was posting

 

[Herding Cats]

Unfortunately the knowledge base of diagnosing and repairing Haas controls is nowhere near that of Fanuc but maybe some of it will carry over.

First I would see if I could get it to reproduce the fault with a different program. If the fault happens to multiple programs my instinct would point towards either a flakey power supply or a failing memory chip.

BUT I have never even opened the control cabinet of a Haas so I have no idea how the system is configured.

I have seen memory chips go bad in Fanuc controls.......

 

[Kustomizer]

Since it seems good at this time, I am thinking working it and waiting will be the thing for now, I have looked in the control cabnets many times but it is like looking in the wifes closet, I will look for a failed fan

 

[Dualkit]

Is there a cooling fan somewhere on a card cage that has stopped running? If chips get hot while running they sometimes have odd internal failures or errors that corrupt data and are impossible to diagnose normally.

I had a PC based CNC mill I used in the dual kit days to profile plates that mounted a secondary AC compressor. The thing would be running great for hours and hours then all of a sudden start making wrong turns while profiling, while also showing absurd distances to go like it now thought it had a 1 mile long bed. The thing would run good 99% of the time, I never knew when it was going to lose it's mind. Since it only acted up on occasion it took a while to figure out it was just a dead fan in the control cabinet.

 

[Kustomizer]

I got sidetracked yesterday running wires between the house and shop, we never did make it to work other than to make a 5'2" x 1/2" drill to get a wire into the attic of the house so she can have faster internet in her upstairs hobby room. I will look into the fan thing this morning

Wonder Woman pointed out that I have slept thru a few thunderstorms in the last couple weeks, it would have been off and inside a metal building but who knows? I sleep like a baby in thunderstorms, I guess they keep her and the dogs up?

 

[eaglemike]

You can get weird happenings like that when power supplies are starting to go away in Haas machines. The wrong kind of power issues to the machine can also cause a power supply to fail, at least in older machines. Something happened years ago outside the building to the power company lines, and it caused a problem in my 1998 VF2. Fortunately the local HFO guys were able to take care of it without to much agony.

 

[Kustomizer]

It turned on normal and is running fine, all the fans in the back are fine, kinda like it was all a bad dream

 

[Pattnmaker]

When we get oddball occurrences like this that fix themselves or with a reboot we agree to pretend they didn't happen. If they Happen again is when we start to worry.

 

[Mud]

30 years ago I was learning my first CNC, a Cincinnati with a 900 control. I had a retired Cicninnati service tech helping me, and his wisdom included in no uncertain terms that "Sometimes they just lose their minds". Newer machines not nearly as much as that old Cincy, but it does happen.

 

[Kustomizer]

I had an Allen Bradley control on a chc chucker years ago, one morning I turned it on and Allen was Pissed off at Bradley, I screwed with it on and off for a few weeks, had a couple experts look at it then burried it in the yard and put a Miyano in its place