Mill refusing to power up

If nothing else, I am departing 2013 the same way I came into it last year, with a vexing problem.

So, today I spent a couple of hours in the workshop fabricating some nice solid brackets for one of my DRO setups. Nothing special, a couple of blocks of Aluminium 38x38x16mm Just cleaned them up, milled to size and as I was milling a 5mm pocket in them I turned the Mill back on and nothing - Nada.

The no volt switch will not latch and the little green indicator light does not come on when I turn the mains plug on.

The Mill is a Chester Century and in the interest of full disclosure the Mill is 18 months old, and never used until I set it up six or eight weeks ago. It has maybe ten hours on it, probably much less.

I have had only good service from Chester and would imagine they will be of help on this occasion but as no fuse has blown and no magic smoke escaped I am a bit perplexed. The motor was barely warm to the touch.

All suggestions gratefully received.

graham.

Sometimes to reset them you need to put teh fwd/rev switch to 0 then reset.

Not got the gaurd open have you as the micro switch will not allow the machien to start.

J

I would love to know where the reset switch is. And no Jason, guard is not open

graham.

Sounds like there's no power reaching the nvr switch...if you press and hold it in, does the green power lamp come on? If it doesn't, you need to check the guard switch

if not you need to check the wiring from the plug upto the nvr switch...

do you have a multimeter/ how to use one?

please make sure you do cold checks with the plug removed from the mains...We want your reply....

I have a FLUKE 73 and I am not afraid to use it!

I cannot believe that one minute it was working fine and then -nothing. Right in the middle of a job too. Always the way

I am going to go back into the workshop - right now - and check the guard switch. Again in the interest of full disclosure there is no good reason for the switch to have failed as it has never moved since I commissioned the machine. I removed all the guards before I even plugged it in so it has never moved from the active position.

I will check as much as possible without dismantling anything other than just taking a cover or two off. And yes, I have checked ALL the fuses.

thanks, graham.

Well sometimes things defy logic.....no matter how rational your thinking...

good luck with your fault finding ....

do let us know what you find.. I like a happy ending

No - definitely something on the circuit board

I have no circuit diagram or test points so I am going to take the whole control box off and take it over to Chester on Thursday - going to check they are open first of course!

May not be relevant but- I've just finished trying to fix a built-in elect. heater, would not come on. Checked everything from consumer unit , inc. thermostat and cable continuity with no joy. Turned out to be the double pole switch, good as new and tests OK on the bench, good make. Now runningwith switch out of circuit, won't need replacing 'till May.

Thanks Gordon but I have decided the best course of action is to take the whole circuit board off to Chester in the morning. The problem is, with an electronic circuit and a 240volt supply in, it is all too easy to fry something without the appropriate diagrams so I will just wait now.

I have 230 volts at the switch on the Mill. I always check the obvious and try not to assume anything.

The small green neon supply lamp is very, very faint and goes off when I press and hold the green "on" button. All very frustrating.

But as I have indicated, I am just going to take all the electronics down to Chester first thing and take it from there.

graham.

Edited By Oompa Lumpa on 01/01/2014 13:11:53

Any update Graham?

how did you get on with Chester?

Hi John and thank you for your interest. In the end I just disconnected the whole control box from the Mill and sent it down to Chester, they should have it this morning.

I figured it was simpler and cheaper for me to do that rather than jumping in the car and driving down. I spoke with one of the chaps there first and we discussed the problem - yes I had power to the box, no the guard wasn't open and so on and as could be expected they were rammed first day back because of customers over the Christmas period and people not yet back at work.

Thing is, if someone is breathing down my neck whilst I am trying to find a fault, I don't like it so putting myself in their place I figured I am much better off sending them the unit and giving them a couple of days to look at it in peace and quiet (I hope).

I will give them a ring late Monday afternoon.

graham.

If your green neon came on faintly then when out when "on" was pressed you could be picking 240v up from the neutral, did you test the wall socket with some reasonable load ?

he just said he has 230v, which doesn't cover it, he needs to load the supply IMO - plug in a hoover or something just to be sure

- very remote chance but it only takes 2 seconds to test

I tried it in a couple of other sockets - not on the same circuit - with the same result.

In fairness, I have had an extremely busy day and this was not top of my list so I have sent an email off this evening. I am sure it will be responded to in due course.

Thank you all

How have you gotten on?

I'm intrigued, to see how Chester's customer service is as well as what went wrong with the machine so prematurely.

all the best,

Russ

In my case the collar securing the emergency "OFF" button had not been tightened before it left the factory. When it was delivered it worked but a day or so later the mill was dead. Because the button was unsecured it was able to rotate and in rotating had pulled a wire out. At this point the mill expired. I fairly soon figured out what had happened and with a little wiring advice from the supplier had the machine up and running again in no time.

Hope you, as well, are up and running soon.

Rik