Finally finished ATC install. It went great for a few minutes. I loaded 3 tools, probed them al, played around with changing them out…no issues. I ran the spindle break in procedure and let it run. After it was done, I noticed that the machine had disconnected from the SLB. I tried to reconnect but it would not. It kept saying that it could not find a usb to connect to. I noticed that the settings for the tools were still there but the names were gone. It also said that tool 1 was un probed. I tried to re probe but the system would not respond. I have a tool loaded in the spindle and it wont respond to the unload command…I sent a help request in but was wondering if anyone else had the same issue. I have checked all connections and all looks good. It is a Sienci ATC on an altmill
Thanks,
Tracy
@beerbarrel I think Sienci is closed today (or maybe it was yesterday) for their Employee Appreciation Day.
Can’t help you much but I assume you updated the SLB’s firmware? That’s a requirement for the ATC.
But since the problem you describe seems to indicate a comms issue between gSender and the SLB, I don’t even know if the ATC is related. Have you tried Ethernet?
No Chucky, I dont have ethernet out in my garage. I did do the firmware update and was thinking about just doing the setup procedure again. I kinda feel like something might not have gotten saved correctly. It has worked just find without ethernet. I have a long cable I could probably put out there temporarily and see what the outcome is.
thx
@beerbarrel For ethernet, you don’t really need internet connectivity. All you need is a CAT5/6 cable between your gSender computer and the SLB. And since the SLB’s default IP is 192.168.5.1, your gSender computer can have 192.168.5.2 and connect fairly easily.
Did not know that…thx…ill try that now!
That would have been too easy! I connected but no help. I was going to re run the setup but my issue is that I have a tool holder in the spindle and need to get it out first. There has to be a way to manually release a tool holder dont you think?
@beerbarrel Dunno how the ATC works but isn’t compressed air involved?
It is…I was able to manually load a code to get it to unload the tool. It worked great. I reloaded the same tool and everything was fine until it refused to load another tool or unload the current tool. Air pressure is good. I think before I try anything else Ill see what support has to say. Maybe something simple…
isn’t there a manual tool relase button on the spindle?
There is a button but it does not do anything as far as I can tell.
hmm weird. would be interested to see what support says. My ATC hasn’t shipped yet
@beerbarrel What does the button with the blue light do? The ATC video shows it being pressed for a manual tool change. Press the button and pull down on the tool holder.
I did that…it does not do anything…it does not even light up on mine.
@beerbarrel Yeah, I’m wondering if you also need to put the ATC in manual mode in gSender for this button to work. I believe compressed air is used to activate the claws that grab the tool holder. Maybe there’s a valve that’s controlled electronically.
That could be. I have not seen any documentation on it though. I got tired and gave up on it yesterday. It does use the air to open and close the jaws but it also uses air when the spindle is running. If the spindle is just sitting it does not use air.
Based on you saying that button doesn’t light up, sounds like you have some form of configuration/communication issue. The cause of that could be a million things. I imagine Sienci support will get you sorted out.
That is kind of what Im thinking. For some reason, the configuration did not save like it was supposed to.
So, update…I found out that I can get it to change tools using the console and the correct commands. It has no issues. It just will not work from the gsender window…
m6 t0 will unload, m6 t1 loads tool one…and so one
If I have the console window open and press the tool change button the command sends to the console and it replies OK but nothing happens
technically speaking, the compressed air cylinder presses on a stack of beville washers (spring washers) to release tension on the pullstud jaws.
I would suggest verifying that the ATC board is firmly seated and fully connected on the SLB-EXT
