RX90 robot ( 1994 vintage ). Red light on AXIS 4

[davidturnswood]

Howdy all,

           Looks like there are some very knowledgable folks on here.  I recently recieved a Staubli RX90 robot arm & CS7 controller.  I'm working on getting a Staubli account (to get my hand on manuals, as much information as I can).   Right now, the controller powers on, and some of the motor brakes will release (I think this is normal, and that not all the axis have brakes). 

           Behind the front panel (the side opposite the cooling fan), there is an array of green lights (servo amplifiers?), marked with AXIS 1-6.   Axis 4 has a red light instead of green. 

           In the rear of the controller, D33 and D10 are red.  Also, F0 & F2 are red, though I can't remember what part of the controller these lamps are on. 

           I don't yet have peripherals, but have been tracking them down (an old DIN / at keyboard, moniter, serial mouse, ect).  Hopefully later today I'll be able to see something on the monitor. 

           I also don't have a pendant, or manuals, or software, or key for the controller doors, grease, or any other spares.   I do have an array of extra cables - some with serial port plugs, others that I haven't seen before, I'll have to take photos.   

           There is a black box mounted on the arm, with some sort of a socket on it.   This setup looks like it used to belong to Motorola. 

           Serial number on the controller:  5994149-01    Manufactured in February of 1994

           I don't know if Jim C or any of the other experienced people on this board are able to help out, but if so, I'd really appreciate it.  I promise if I can get this rig to do what I need, I'll be able to afford a new system down the road!   Believe me, I would have done that if I had the money to...

           I suppose right now, my biggest concern is programming the arm (I was thinking to try using solidworks & robotworks to simulate and then translate the motion into the Staubli's V+ language).   The other concern is the red light on Axis 4.  If this means that part is out of order, I'd like to go ahead and find a new one as soon as possible. 

           Cheers,

                     David Earle
           

[davidturnswood]

Okay, so after some more looking around, it appears I have no VGB card hooked up, so no real way to get any feedback from the controller.   (no pendant either).   I'm thinking of purchasing at least one of these things...   maybe somebody could suggest the most helpful of the two?   

If any of you folks have suggestions on hooking up my pc using WIN98's hyperterminal, that'd be great.  I'm not sure which of the three serial cables to try hooking up...    Nor do I know how to establish a connection.  One of the cables does mention PC / DASY on it.   Another cable says PC as well.  A third cable (looks to be heavier gauge) has no markings, but says AMP on the plug. 

It would be a good start to know which of these there cables to plug into my pc. 

It really would be nice to get some sort of visual information from the controller. 

Here's what lights up on the Adept MV-19 controller:

My 030 board flickers all red, then 3 & 4, then 2&3 <--red too, then the green "OK" light flickers on for a moment.  Dip switches 1-4 are off

RS444 is empty, the other serial port (25234) has a cable hooked up to it.

The SIO board shows green for ok, then red for E-stop, ACC Viol is off, and the yellow HD lamp flickers a bit.    Dip switch 1 is on, the rest are off. 

RS232 is not being used, there are some other cables hooked up, however. 

I have two VMI boards - both show red for e-stop, and red for F1-4

My ACB board is all red, with dip switches 1-4 all off. 

[Jim C]

Sorry for the delay in responding. It does sound like you have an older DASY system. This was a OEM system that was modified by the integrator, SPEAG (used to be Schmitt and partners in Swizerland). It will be difficult to get it working on its own. It would have been modifed to work with the other hardware in the DASY system.

While there is lot of good information on the Staubli technical database, you will not find any thing on these older systems. Back then all we did was paper documentation, nothing was electronic.

The F0 F2 is probably from the amplifier back plane. There was a set of LEDs for each amp on the back plane. The F0 F2 combination indicates a resolver fault in the motor. possibly joint 4 based on the AMP LEDs. This will be a big issue. It could be the fine resolver in the motor itself or it could an issue with the IMAS card in the back of the motor. Last I knew you could still get the basic motors, but IMAS cards were pretty much gone (these systems have not been made or sold since 2000).

VGA cards are also just about impossible to find and expensive when you can find them. You can try to connect a terminal emulator on serial port 1 on the CPU card using a null modem cable (serial crossover cable). I think we use 9600 baud 8N1 for the settings.

I know you have been in contact with the Staubli service group. hopefully they can help you, but it is difficult and expensive to get a system that old up and running.

[davidturnswood]

Update:    

There was a bit of light grease dripping from the axis 3 & 4 housing, so I opened it up..
It looks like somebody had disconnected the motor (but had left it sitting inside the housing).   I bolted it back in and plugged it in.   Luckily for me, they had left the 4 motor bolts in a little bag -

Looking in the hole the shaft goes through was a thing of beauty.  I really admire the craftsmanship and precision in those gears & bearings.  I'm getting a bit excited thinking that I might actually get this guy to move around.

Once I put that back together, the red light on axis 4 switched to green, and I was able to use the manual brake release with it.  

I ordered a pendant - not sure if it's compatible, but lets hope so.  (it was inexpensive).  
10332-11000 REV B Manual Control III

Also ordered a VGB card - are these peripherals plug & play?  Or will I need to install some drivers for them?  

I did finally get some feedback from the Adept operating system - via a (9? pin) serial cable on the 030 board.  (Thanks to Jim for telling me which Terminal settings to use!)
It tried to boot, and asked me if I wanted to use drive A or C.    I tried typing back - but the hyperterminal software wouldn't allow me to.    It may be my own ineptitude with hyperterminal - I haven't used that software since I was 10 years old...       It wouldn't allow me to type anything, even on my monitor.   I'm trying this using Windows XP on an old Dell laptop.

Do I have to send the information back using a different connection?     I have another serial cable running from the SIO board to the panel on the outside of the case (then through a wider serial cable) to my computer's printer port, but am not sure if that will do anything.   Maybe I should try Jim's suggestion - to get a serial crossover cable.  

I still have the following red lights glowing on the (safety?) board - just to the rear of the MV19 controller:  

D7, D33, D10    Any thoughts on what they might mean?  - another gent with an older Staubli said he had a safety board ending in the number 08.  This one ends with an 04.   I did see a little something that mentioned jumper / test points inside the controller, but don't know what to make of it.  

I also have the red E-stop light glowing on the SIO card on the controller.   All the baldor servo amplifiers are green now.  
Hopefully tommorow I'll figure out how to boot up the controller, and get it to tell me more. . .  
I have some spare floppy disks, but no Adept software other than what's already on the hardware.   I'm still not sure which version of the V+ software I should be looking for (earlier than 13.0?)   Should I be looking to get this stuff from Adept or Staubli?  

I keep thinking that somewhere out there must be a decent manual for the arm.   I'd like to know what sort of grease to use & where the grease points are.   There was at least a few tablespoons inside the motor housing.  Fortunately, looks like most of it went straight to the bottom, - the motors & solenoids, ect, seemed pretty clean.  

Another thing I want to look into is the correct air compressor setup - as I plan on doing dusty things with the Staubli.   I noticed all the little air nozzles in the motor housing - and was very impressed.  

Jim - thank you very much for your feedback, I think I might try contacting SPEAG and see if they have any old manuals or other notes for me.  

[Jim C]

Be careful with pendant. There were several versions of them used by Staubli and Adept. At first they used the same connectors which is bad because using the wrong pendant can mess up the SIO card.

The Safety boards were redesigned between  -04 and -06 revisions (the last two numbers in the part number is a revision number). D7 shows relay 7 is energized which happens when you power the arm. D10 will come on when the system is in local  working mode. D33 indicate you are using the local front panel instead of an optional front panel (there is a switch on the safety board to change the settings.

Contact Staubli 's service group and ask them about manuals. There will be a charge a they have to have copies made of the physical manuals.

The V+ version will probably be 11, but it is hard to say which revision.

Your terminal should be able to respond using same serial connection. It could very well be a setting in hyperterm. At the prompt you should just type in 'C' to boot from the hard drive. 'A' would be to boot from a floppy, but you would have to have a copy of the V+ system on the 3.5 floppy disk.

[davidturnswood]

Jim,

         Thanks again so much.   I'll play with hyperterminal some more today, and have held off with the pendant until I get the correct part number for one.  It seems there are lots of similar looking but different models..

         I called Staubli again and it sounds like they may be digging up some manuals for me. 

         I'll let you know if anything new develops!

           - David
         

[davidturnswood]

Whatever is on the hard drive doesn't seem to want to boot.   (it tries, but times out).   I'm assuming that means either the hard disk is no longer working, or SPEAG modified it to the point that I won't be able to get it to boot as is.   

Does anybody out there have a boot disk file I could try for a V+ 11.x os ?   Or a whole OS?

I'm trying to figure out which direction to go next - and if I have an adept license of some sort on the hard disk. 

I set up the echo on hyperterminal so I can see what I'm typing, but I can't tell if it's actually responding to any of it (perhaps it can't until it's booted?).   

[Jim C]

Licenses were stored on a NVRAM chip, The battery built into to these chips do fail and by now it could be bad if it was never replaced. If you can get the hard drive working there might be a text file stored on it with the license numbers. You need to run a utility program CONFIG_C to check the NVRAM. It would also have been on the drive.

it is possible the hard drive is bad. We never did like the failure rate on the old style hard drives. Towards the end of CS7 production we had switched to a solid state drive which was more reliable. If the drive is bad, it will be very hard to find a replacement. modern hard drive or flash drives just don't work.

I don't want to be too pessimistic, but this system sounds like it has multiple problems. It could take a lot of work and a lot of time to find and find parts.

I know Staubli charges an evaluation fee, but you should consider sending the system in for an evaluation and see how much it will cost to get it working.

[davidturnswood]

Thanks again Jim for your help,

          I'm going to try booting some Adept software from a floppy disk and see if that gets me anywhere.   Jürgen, an integrator in Germany also seems to have some experience working with these systems, and he's been able to get me some manuals, electrical diagrams & such. 

          I have another couple weeks to decide if it's too much trouble.  If I decide it is, I'll just return it!   But I'd rather not, as it's such a fine piece of machinery.   If anything it's a good learning experience for me. 

            I wonder if removed from the computer, if it might be possible to get any info off the hard drive.   Well, I suppose I'll find out....  for now I have some manuals to read & software to try.

          Thanks again.