Re: Xylotex: Reduced Prices on System Kits

Hi,

Well, to answer your first question, yes, the boards are in most cases repairable. The answer to the second question is no, I generally don't repair them.

The warranty I provide is a 90 day complete replacement warranty. If anything goes wrong, return it (I don't ask what went wrong). Once I get it I send out a new one. It costs less to send out a new one than it does for me to fix a broken one.

If it is between 90 days and a year, there is a replacement charge of either $70.00 (3 axis) or $80.00 (4 axis). Over one year and, like my truck which just passes 100,000 miles, the warranty is no longer valid.

The boards design is very stable (several years old), and all the boards are tested here before they ship out. Thus a board being inherently 'bad' is very unlikely. The most common causes of failure are over-voltage (due to using an ungrounded vacuum system which results in a static discharge to the drive, or as in your case, a disconnected motor while the drive is active. The other major cause (generally at setup time) is mis-wiring the motor (either putting the phases wrong, or having a short to ground).

If you are adept at fixing things yourself, you can try to repair the board. When an over-voltage condition occurs, it is possible that all three A3977SED (Allegro Micro) drive chips get destroyed, along with the HCT541 (Texas Instruments) signal buffer and the TCM809LENB (Microchip) reset circuit chip. Unless it is specifically known that a drive chip is good, it is best to replace all the chips mentioned above. For a 4 axis board this means almost 200 connections to unsolder, clean and then re-solder (all without wrecking the board in the mean time. Thus it is really a time factor, not a parts cost factor that makes repairing the boards prohibitive. If you were to attempt this, using hot-air reflow (heat gun)is a good way to remove the chip. You can also put the board in a small 'toaster oven' and let the heat ramp up gradually to get to solder melt point, and carefully remove them (avoiding the passive parts like resistors and capacitors which are also moveable since their solder is also melted.

While the warranty is better than what you will get with most of the Chinese imports (which is basically NO warranty), it obviously is not as good as what Gecko provides. A compete 3 axis Xylotex drive system (drive, motors and power supply) coming in at $34.00 less the list price of a G540 drive alone does leave one with something to think about though.

Jeff
www.xylotex.com

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Ron Thompson <ron@...> wrote:
>
> On 1/2/2012 1:52 PM, jeffalanp wrote:
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > As of the first of the new year 2012, the system kit prices have been
> > reduced. Here's what they are:
> >
> > 3SK-269: $265.00 + shipping and applicable taxes
> > 3SK-425: $265.00 + shipping and applicable taxes
> > 4SK-269: $325.00 + shipping and applicable taxes
> > 4SK-425: $325.00 + shipping and applicable taxes
> >
> > Shipping to USA address is a flat $12.00
> > International shipping costs depends on destination.
> > Sales Taxes are added if shipped within the state of California
> >
> > The system kits include the drive board (3SK systems get a 3 axis
> > drive board, the 4SK system get a 4 axis drive board), a 24VDC power
> > supply kit with fan and cabling, and the corresponding motors (either
> > 269 oz.in. or 425 oz.in in the appropriate quantity).
> >
> > The 269 oz.in. motors are better for high pitch screws like those
> > found on the Sherline or Taig which have 20 tpi, on down to just about
> > 8 tpi. For lower than 8 effective tpi (direct belt drive or 5 tpi
> > leasdscrews or ballscrews or less), the 425's are a better choice as
> > they have more torque at lower speeds.
> >
> > You'll need to supply cabling to go from the drive board to the motors
> > (Home Depot has good 18 ga. stranded, 4 conductor cabling). You also
> > may also want to add a well ventilated enclosure to keep the drive and
> > power supply in.
> >
> > The drive boards have all unused parallel port I/O routed to screw
> > terminals. These can be used for switch inputs or relay drive outputs.
> > The signals are not processed (buffered, isolated, filtered, etc.) so
> > if you need that you would need an external break-out board (BOB). The
> > drive boards also provide a minimal amount of 5V current that can be
> > used with limit switches inputs to pull them to a logic '1' through a
> > resistor (4.7 to 10K ohm).
> >
> > Questions can be directed to me at my e-mail address: support at
> > xylotex.com (as usual, convert that to a regular address).
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Jeff
> > www.xylotex.com
> >
> >
> Hey Jeff,
> Are these boards repairable? Do you repair them?
> I have an old 3 axis Xylotex in a drawer because a motor wire got loose
> from vibration and popped a driver chip.
>
> --
>
>
> Ron Thompson
> On the Beautiful Florida Space Coast, right beside the Kennedy Space Center, USA
>
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