The only thing that would cause and EStop is an actual EStop. This is a normally closed circuit so any break in the wire will cause an EStop. Have you very carefully checked your EStop wiring from the button all the way back to the acorn board in the control box?
Yes, to include swapping out cables and E-Stops. It is once again working now. When I unplug the E=Stop, or trip it, it does show a error for that. I am only getting Error code 406 Emergency stop detected when i first turn the machine on.
Is your spindle on when you turn the machine on? That would cause a fault if you don’t have it programmed correct, it’s flaky, etc.
Did you check the wiring all the way up to the Acorn?
You can test this by following the wiring and doing a wiggle test to see if you can trigger an E stop that way.
You can also monitor the E Stop input by pressing ALT - I. This will bring up the PLC Diagnostic tool. You’ll see 8 inputs and 8 outputs. The first input should be green when the E Stop is NOT engaged.
DO NOT override any of the IO here, you can really mess things up if you do 
If you continue to see this, export your profile by right clicking it in the profile manager.
Take that file and to to FileMail.com and upload it there (it’s free). Post a link here and I will check your logs.
Yes I checked all of the wiring to include wiggling them through out the cable and at the plugs. That is why I swapped out the cables with a new one from the unused relay box. Then I swapped the cable out with the height setter. I will use the Alt-I the next time it does it. I am making some cuts now, once I am done I will shut every thing down and restart and see what happens.I don’t know if this matters but when I first got the error, I tried tripping the E=stop, it did not show it tripped on the screen, so I started pushing and clicking everything. I noticed when I pushed the height setter it showed it tripped on the screen. Also on the touch plate is showed, once I got every thing working I tripped the E-stop and it did show tripped then. I don’t know if any of that points to anything.
Based on the PLC code, there are a few things that could cause it; I was suspecting PLCFault_M and OtherFault_M being set (but the real question would by why?). I think people can use PLCDetective to find out exactly what is happening if they catch it in the state. So far, I haven’t hit this again.
The E stop sends a signal to the controller AND it dumps power to the drives. So even if you had a mis-configuration with the software, your drives should have lost power in that situation.
Are you saying that didn’t happen?
Can you be very specific about “everything” ? I’m wondering if you might have inverted something in the software and are in a weird state with your configuration.
This is normal.
Honeslty, it sounds like you might have messed something up in the software.. You might be well served to just make a new profile and start fresh to rule out any software issues.
Yesterday I deleted my profile and set it up from scratch. It still didn’t work. That is when I got on here browsing around looking for answers. So yesterday evening after getting it working. I shut everything down as usual. This morning i went out and turned everything on. System powered up and I homed the unit. Everything seemed to work fine. I did a touch off on the tool setter, then I moved the spindle back about 9 inches and all of a sudden “406 Emergency stop detected”. I clicked reset-nothing. I tripped the E-stop nothing. I then shutdown the software. I then tripped the E-stop. Restarted the CNC12 software. it showed the E-stop tripped. I disengaged it and hit reset. System was homed again and then the dreaded “406 Emergency stop detected”. And now back to square 1. Nothing I do will reset it. I am attaching pics.
When you get the E Stop condition is power being dumped to your drives?
Dumped meaning they no longer work? Then yes. Here is pics from when I hit Alt I. I took the first picture, and then noticed the lights had changed 2 seconds later without doing anything.
I keep asking if your drive power dumps because, as I said earlier the E Stop does TWO things:
Sends a signal to the controller to tell it it’s been pressed, AND is hardwired into a contactor that supplies power to the drives.
Reason being is this: When the operator presses E stop we want the controller to know AND we want to drives to lose power (so the machine stops)
In the event that the controller is not responsive, pressing the E stop will STILL dump power to the drives.
I have been asking if you have seen a power loss to your drives to see if we have a software or a hardware issue.
If you have an intermittent E Stop failure (IE it only goes out for a second) the power supplies may not fully go off because they have capacitors in them. However, if you press your E stop and watch the two big power supplies in the control box, they should lose power when E stop is pressed.
The fact that you’re seeing the E stop triggered on the PLC diagnostic screen tells me that the controller is actually seeing the E stop in a pressed (triggered) state.
I have never seen a controller (or this software) invent an E Stop signal, this almost certainly means there’s a hardware issue.
I know you said you replaced the cable and the E stop button, but you need to keep looking at the wiring. There is a lot more wiring in the control box itself for the E stop.
The Acorn board itself has diagnostic LEDs on it (they are labled input 1-8 and are on the corner of the board.)
Those lights will show you what input is triggered just like the PLC diagnostic does. The difference between the PLC diagnostic and the LEDs is that the LEDs react instantly, so they can be used to diagnose a loose wire. The LED for the E Stop is 1. It should be green with the Estop is NOT pressed and RED when it is.
To put it simply: It’s incredibly likely that you have a wiring issue with your E stop. You need to trace all of the wires and see if any are lose, not seated properly, etc. Even better see if you can reproduce the issue by looking at the LEDs.
Ok….. so I am kinda understanding what you are saying. So here is what I have done and found. Keep in mind I am trying ti get through this fast so please don’t take anything I say out of context. So I went back out. Rebooted the PC, clicked on the software, it started up fine. I opened the main control box for CNC12 looked at the lights-so I see what you are talking about All green lights and the one in the upper left corner red/green. Machine was good to go. I homed it again. All was fine. SO I started wiggling the cables, and connections. While i am moving the unit around. No problems noted. SO then I set the boundary limits. Then it stopped again with the same error code. So I popped into the box and saw the motor drives where off, also a red light on the bank was on. So I started wiggling wires in the control box and found that when I touch the green connector on the upper right side of the circuit board the red light would go green and the motor drives would come back on. I took a video of it and will attach it. It would not let me attach the video so I took screen shots.So I guess I’ll play tech on a product I purchased. LOL just a little aggravated humor.
here is the link for file mail. I sent the video there. https://www.filemail.com/d/xlqlwtltobplqxl
Ok, so looks like you found the loose connection. In looking at your video my guess is that some of the wires may not be seated properly. I’d pull that connector off and reseat/rescrew them in place.
Sometimes stuff like this happens in shipping. Vibrations in shipping can sometimes cause this, despite our efforts to prevent this (we vibration test these, drop test, etc)
Sorry this happened but this looks to be a very simple fix.
I am going to power the unit down and check on the connector. I hope its a simple loose wire and not the circuit board. As I had to flex the board a little bit when pushing on it. I will update in a few.
So I powered down the unit. Checked all lugs making sure they were tight, removed the connector where i was pushing and found a fault. Reinstalled it. Ran the machine this time it lasted about an hour. I pushed in the connector again. Surfaced the entire spoil board no problems this time. Fingers crossed its fixed. When it powers down the spindle will drop down and if you don’t catch it, it will break a bit. I usually slide a 4x4 under the spindle. Eric I appreciate your help!!
Like a loose wire or screw terminal that wasn’t totally tight?
Nice!
This shouldn’t happen… There’s a Z axis brake that prevents this from happening. When the machine is powered on the brake is also powered, which releases it. When the machine is powered down the brake loses power and engages. If you improperly wired your brake up it will be on all the time.. so obviously not he case here.
If you brake is slipping like that there are a few things that it could be:
-You’ve got a stepper system with the older mechanical brake (not electronic). Those ones sometimes need their set screws tightened up. There are details on the support site about this
-You upgraded to EX AND did the electronic brake. You may have installed it improperly (or it’s broken) and despite the brake engaging, it’s not grabbing. I’d go back and review the Z axis brake upgrade instructions and see if you missed anything. If you didn’t, open a ticket with support.
Bottom line is that your Z should not drop like that.
Of course!
So I found only 1 lug loose, it was one of the wires on the bottom of the circuit board where my finger was touching in the earlier picture. So now to where i was pushing close to the connector. i push on the connector to make sure it was seated. It seemed to be fully seated. Powered the unit on and yup did it again, same error code. So I turned the power off, unhooked the connector and reconnected it. All powered back up, that is when I surfaced my spoil board. Again everything worked as it should. So on the Z brake. it has dropped down since day one with a spindle. I originally started with a router, then switched to a spindle. Mine is the old Nema 23 motor’s purchased in 21. it doesn’t just drop, its a slow drop. But I will search for Z brake instructions. Just got home and powered the unit up, ran it around and so far still up and running. Again I appreciate your help Eric!!
That’s all it takes
Glad it’s working!