Pocket NC motors not moving

Troubleshooting the Pocket NC
#1

Hi

I tried to use my machine today (v2-10) and none of the motors appear to be powered, ie no movement from any of the axis. The board connects fine and responds to the stop button, but the homing command or individual axis movement doesn’t result in any of the motors moving. It was working as normal yesterday but this morning showing no signs of life.

I tried a few different IEC leads just incase, but it’s not that unfortunately.

Is it possible there’s an internal fuse that could have blown? Or anything else I could do to fix it or should I send it off as it’s still under warranty?

Thanks

Callum

#2

Update: Having removed the NC from its enclosure and given it a good clean it seems to be working again. I machine mostly aluminium is it possible some chips had ended up where they shouldn’t? and does anyone know if it would void my warranty to open it up and check for any chips that had made their way inside the electronics housing?

#3

Hi Callum,

Typically when users experience no motion in any of the motors, but are able to connect to the UI, it is from a disconnect in the AC power source. The most common reason is that either the power switch above the AC cable hasn’t been switched to the on position (-), the AC cable has been pulled loose, or the AC cable is plugged into a power strip or breaker that is off or has been tripped. Since the power has come back on after inspecting it, I believe it is likely that one of these was the culprit.

It is rare that conductive chips would enter the main board compartment and work themselves into an area that could short out all of the motors. In the cases where chips do create a short, we usually see it affecting one axis at a time since the components are spaced out on the boards.

Please keep an eye on this and let us know if you see issues. Under our instruction it is possible to open compartments and inspect them without voiding the warranty, but only if we go through a service case and provide instruction to do so. If you would like to go this route, please reach out to us at service@pocketnc.com so that we gan gather machine details and provide instructions.

Thank you,

Matt Rounds
Applications Engineer, Pocket NC
T: +1 (406) 451-3799
www.pocketnc.com