Power Supply Repair Question

[David McVicker]

Has anyone tried to repair their own power supply? I have looked at the forum and determined that the coil has vibrated loose. I don't know what a new one cost, but it seems that one could solder a coil wire back on to the board. Has anyone tried this? If you have could you please give me a description of how you did this. Thanks so much for all of your excellent help via this great group of guys and gals.

[Digitalwoodshop]

Yes you can solder the coil back as long as you have good soldering equipment. My experience is getting the old solder off both sides of the pads without over heating and lifting the pad from the board.

Glue it after it's soldered.

AL

[David McVicker]

Al;

Thanks for the information. Now that I'm retired and my waranty is run out, I have to do as much of the repair work as I possibly can. I do have one further question: "What type of glue would I use on the coil?" My board looks like someone got real happy with the grey silicon. It seems like they knew the solder joints would not hold and they used way too much glue.

[locovalley]

I was reading this thread with my CC carving a project and the machine just quit about 1/3 of the way in a 3 hour carve. I checked all external connections and there is power to the machine but the display will not light up. Changed out memory cards to eliminate the possibility of a a bad card.

I have to assume a bad power supply at this point. I'm about to open the bottom ov the machine to check the power supply. Does anyone have suggestions as to what to look for in the PS? Are there any known common problems with the PS?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

[PCW]

I was reading this thread with my CC carving a project and the machine just quit about 1/3 of the way in a 3 hour carve. I checked all external connections and there is power to the machine but the display will not light up. Changed out memory cards to eliminate the possibility of a a bad card.

I have to assume a bad power supply at this point. I'm about to open the bottom ov the machine to check the power supply. Does anyone have suggestions as to what to look for in the PS? Are there any known common problems with the PS?

Thanks in advance,
Joe

Joe

Did you try your contrast knob on the display panel? Just a thought. Dan

[Digitalwoodshop]

As for the glue on the power supply, if there is 2 colors of glue on the L2 coil then it might have been a second application to help hold the coil from vibrating. LHR may be able to recommend something but something that gets hard would be good.

As for the dead unit, check contrast first. If not that, lay it on it's back, the muffler side and see if it comes back on. If it does then it is the L2 in the power supply.

Do a search on Power Supply and L2 and you will see the pictures I have posted about a dozen times.

Good Luck,

AL

In warranty call LHR, out of Warranty find someone to solder it without butchering the copper traces. I don't do it for people for Liability reasons... Your house burns down Insurance looks at me? Did your power supply repair burn the house down? You have to think like a Lawyer.....

[Icutone2]

Hello, I have re soldered mine and I had to add a piece of bus wire to make the lead long enough to go thru the board. I used a solder wick to remove the old solder from the joint. The coil was not wound long enough in the first place. It is up and running Great now! Hope this helped. Oh you can get the stuff you need from Radio Shack.
Lee

[Icutone2]

Also I used RTV to hold the coil in place.

[locovalley]

I performed the Power Supply test I got from LHR and there is no 5V DC or 24V DC on the output. I checked L2 for broken leads and found nothing. No obviously fried components. Inspected all solder joints for bad connections/solder and re-soldered a couple that looked like they may have been cold joints. Still no output so it looks like I'll order a new PS Monday morning.

Just wish I had an idea as to what caused the PS to fail. There's been no power surges or anything like that when it hapened. I don't think static was an issue since I was nowhere near the machine when it died. There's less than 100 hours carve time on the machine and it's been kept clean and lubed. I'm gonna set up a camcorder in the shop and see if I can catch a gremlin messing with my stuff. :roll:

Thanks for the replies and help, guys.

Joe

[Digitalwoodshop]

Joe,

My L2 coil lead was broken in about the middle of the board. The leads should enter the board and on the other side be bent over and soldered. When it breaks due to vibration, it breaks at the bend inside the board. I would take a soldering iron and heat the bent over lead on the board and tug on it slightly. If it is broken it will fall out. A Wire Extension is one way to fix it. In most power supplies the L2 is the last place where the power leaves the regulation. The purpose is to filter noise on the DC line. The 5 Volts is usually made from a 24 volt input. In my opinion it is still looking like a L2 problem.

AL

[locovalley]

Thanks for the tip, Al.

I checked the L2 coil and it seems to be real tight on the board, but that could be the RTV silicon holding it in place. I'll try de-soldering the leads and see if they are broken.

Just a qick thought...for the last month or so, every time I started a carve the Check cut motor error would come on. I press enter and it would complete the carve. I just wonder if that might have been a sign that the power supply board was failing?

Joe

[Digitalwoodshop]

Joe,

The Check Cut Motor is a normal at the start of the projects. Not related to the power supply.

You might be better off ordering a board for the unit and sending yours back. At this time you are dead in the water.

AL

[locovalley]

Thanks, Al.

I figured that I was out of luck here. I'll order a new board Monday. It only takes a day for parts to get here from there.

Joe