Older KRC1s pre-date the 3-pos deadman switches, and have only two positions -- squeezed (safe) and released (unsafe). Your KCP might be one of those.
The key is if the motors come on. You can try squeezing the deadman very slowly -- if the motors come on, then turn off as you squeeze the deadman harder, then you have a 3-pos deadman that's worn down.
OTOH, if the motors never come on, then you have some other issue, probably in your safety wiring.
The fact that the right-edge buttons change to the jog controls when you squeeze the deadman means that the deadman is at least working to some degree, since the KRC is detecting the squeeze.
In T1, squeezing the deadman should close a couple relays on the FE207 board, which should then (after a ~0.5sec delay) close the big K1 relay (main motor power). You get the green 'I' icon after the K1 relay closes.
I've never seen X11 signals used to turn the motors on. Even if that's possible, it won't work in T1 or T2 modes, only in EXT mode (maybe in AUT mode, but that's iffy). In Teach, the only way to turn on the motors is the deadman.
The messages are the important thing. Anything that's blocking the motors from turning on in Teach when the deadman is squeezed should produce a message on the pendant. The X11 safeties need to be wired.
If the motors don't engage, and there are no messages, then it becomes hardware debug. The most likely issue would be a stuck relay or loose cable on the FE207 board. If you contact KUKA with your robot's serial number, they'll probably be willing to provide you with an internal wiring diagram that includes your specific FE207 board. The nice thing about the old FE207 boards is that every relay has an associated LED, which makes it easy to observe the status of each relay in real time.
I don't know about damage, but I'd be wary of the test results. The relays on the FE207 board have complex relationships, including some built-in timing delays. For example, each "safety channel" probably has two relays in parallel that have to close within milliseconds of each other, or they get "hung" in a 1-on, 1-off state, plus a 3rd relay (which usually has a red led) that has to open when the other two close.
I don't seem to have any of those old prints around, but I did find an example of the board layout. CAUTION: there were several generations of these boards, so yours might well not match. Still, KUKA tended to follow the same general pattern, just adding more channels or functions with newer generations.
Well maybe I am barking up the wrong tree altogether..
On boot up now I saw
Configuration Error i/o driver INTERBUS.
Can interbus things stop the robot in T1? I had assumed that PLC related communication would be totally ignored in the T1/T2 position.
A little background might be appropriate here. This robot was a polishing machine in it's former life. There were 4 interbus PLCs in various cabinets associated with the cell.
After a little prodding of menus I came across the screen in the attached image. Could this be my mystery Inhibitor of Active Commands?
I hope remarking some bits of the INI can solve this...
Thanks again for your attention!
you don't have move enable active. if this is controlled by no longer existent PLC, robot will not be able to move - even in T1. so change move enable to 1025 (which is always on).
Loss of communications can definitely prevent robot motion in T1/T2.
As Panic says, $MOVE_ENABLE is set to... looks like $IN[9]? Without that input, motion in any mode is blocked. $IN[1025] is a "special" input that is always True (1026 is the always-False input). Setting $MOVE_ENABLE to 1025 is not allowed for EXT mode, but is allowed for T1/T2/AUT modes.
Another note: There are signals on the X11 that have the same names as some of the "soft" $IN/$OUT signals. I'm not sure why that happened, but those signals are completely separate, even if they have the same names. I'm pretty sure that that generation of KRC1 had a Move Enable on the X11, in addition to the $MOVE_ENABLE "soft" input. While the "soft" input can be changed, the "hard" inputs (anything on X11) cannot be, and the X11 inputs must be wired properly, period. No exceptions. There is no way to bypass anything on X11 other than wiring.
OBLIGATORY SAFETY NOTE: bypassing anything on X11 presents a SERIOUS risk of injury or death. Especially for T2/AUT/EXT. Unless/until you have some safeties set up, I would advise NOT bypassing the Safety Gate X11 signal, though you can bypass the others. This should allow T1, maybe T2, but block AUT and EXT.
Also, the "soft" signals are not safety-rated signals, even when they have the same name as the X11 safety signals. You cannot rely on $MOVE_ENABLE for safety, or $DRIVES_OFF, or the others, for reasons that should be obvious.
Without an external PLC, or I/O to stand in for the PLC, you're only going to operate the robot in Teach or AUT modes. In AUT mode, you have to satisfy $MOVE_ENABLE, but the rest of the Auto External signals remain unused. You do Acknowledge and Drives On/Off from the pendant buttons.
Allen keys? What are you planning to do? The "emergency" way to rotate a KUKAbot axis is to remove the small cap on the back of the motor, put a socket onto the (12mm?) hex nut that makes up the back end of the drive shaft, and crank the drive shaft with a long breaker bar. There's a substantial gear reduction, so it'll take a lot of cranking to make the axis move visibly.
NOTE: there is, IIRC, a smaller hex nut that can be spun off, and that will wreak the resolver. So make sure you're turning the big one.
Before trying that, though (it damages the servo brakes), I would suggest trying to determine if the brakes are actually opening. I find it unlikely that all of the axes have frozen up.
There should also be grease-gun fittings on at least some of the axes.
This video series might be of some use, although that's a KRC2. But aside from some changes to the electronics, KUKAbots haven't changed that much over time.
I went Configure>I/O>Automatic External and set $Move_Enable to 1025 and Drives Off to 940. Why 940? Right now I don't know...
drives off is inverted signal and should be set to TRUE most of the times.
set drives off and move enable to 1025
set external start, drives on, and confirm messages to 1026
.. and hunt for these grease nipples.
Iirc there are no grease nipples.
Only oil in some gears.
Iirc there are no grease nipples.
Only oil in some gears.
Entirely possible. Some axes on some robots had grease nipples, others didn't. I was never a mechanical maintenance guy, so the specifics aren't something I recall in any detail.
