I started off the day doing some “Air cuts” on my Pro XL. No need for the router to run, so I had power to Bit Runner turned off. Satisfied, I loaded real program and told it to run. I quickly realized that the router wasn’t running, switched power on to the Bit Runner and hit the button on the Bit Runner pendant / switch. NOTHING. Quickly hit Pause and when machine was done raising, hit Stop.
Grump!
Since then, I’ve direct-connected the router so I know it’s OK, swapped out the Bit Runner box, and several other things. Along the way, I discovered that where the cable connects to the pendant / switch, there are a pair of tiny LEDs. Only one of them is lighting up - the one on the left hand side.
You likely have a connection problem now. The gcode sends the signal to the BitRunner to turn on and turn on the router. Since you started the .c2d file that signal was sent but not received because you had the BitRunner off. I think you would need to power cycle everything and see if the situation improves. You could have caused a connector problem when you removed the cables. Look at each connector closely to see if there are any pins back out.
Everything was turned off for a couple hours. Checked all connections. Everything looks good as far as I can see. Same results: router doesn’t start when expected.
Had a new unopened Bit Runner. Swapped out both the box and the pendant to no avail.
I’ve passed this on to support.
This has been something of a recurring problem, hence the available unit. The last time it was solved by aspplying a little lateral pressure to the connector at the pendant. Frustrating.
Any reasonable way for the non-electronics engineer and retired accountant to check on that? Without likelihood of frying something? I’m pretty sure that’s why I got a now control board a few months ago.
I use a bitrunner V2 on my S4 standard and have a Carbide compact router. I have experienced the same issue you describe when I run a program from CM and the router not turning on when I press the pendant spindle enable button. I have reported this issue to carbide support several times in the past. I have had a Carbide support team member try to determine the cause of this and even had a video conference with them to try to isolate the root cause. Initial thoughts from support were this is a problem with the cable that connects to the pendant, or the bitrunner itself.
I demonstrated to support during the video conference when CM notifies you to turn on the router, if it doesn’t turn on, that tapping (not excessively) the pendant box with the button pressed in and red LED lit on my CNC workbench surface a few times on the pendant’s sides and bottom, the router suddenly will turn on.
My conclusion is the push button switch used in for the pendant is unreliable and intermittent. The contacts inside the pendant switch are not making good connections when the button is pressed in. After convincing them of this being the root cause, the Carbide support team sent me 2 replacement pendants. Since then, the same issue occurred even with the replacement pendants. This is not a cable or connector issue. It is an issue with the type of pushbutton switch they use for the pendant. After a period of time when your CNC is not in use and the pendant button is in the off position, I believe the contacts in the switch get a build-up of oxidation on their surfaces making the electrical connection faulty and intermittent.
Although I am not a daily user of my CNC with the bitrunner V2 and pendant, when I do need to use it, I run into this problem every time. So, when I run a program and the CM software tells me to turn on the router, if it doesn’t turn on immediately, I tap the pendant on the CNC bench surface until it turns on. Obviously, this is not how it should work but I was told by Carbide support back when this was first observed, that they had not had anyone report the same issue. Since you have reported it in your recent post, I thought I should reply to your post and describe my experience with the same issue and how I get around it. It would be helpful if Carbide support would run some trials for this the way I described it and see if perhaps an upgrade for the pendant switch is possible.
I think I’m with you. My experience has been that “something” is weak in the switch or it’s connections. I’ll try giving it the tap test later today. Right now, I’m running a job with a workaround. In the past, it’s seemed like periodically the pendant connector had to move to just the right position. Picky. Until the current issue, I even had a plastic bit case wedged into the “just right place” to hold the cable so it would connect reliably. Thanks for the idea.
Before starting to work just now, I reconnected the new BitRunner, with the new pendant, wiggled all the connctors, started a phony program, did the bit measurement and … nothing.
Then on a lark, plugged cable back into old pendant, which I have mounted to right hand end plate. Wiggled connector, turned switch on and off a dozen times tried lightly tapping box with collet wrench, as suggested by jadlp3742 Joseph DeLaPaz. Again, nothing. Unplugged cable and wiggled it back into place and Varoom; router runs. Contact oxidation? Sure can’t be from excess moisture in shop during the past 2 - 3 weeks. With super cold, shop humidity has ranged from 19% - 24%.
At any rate, problem solved, but not really, since I don’t know when it will pop up again.
When you were having problems, could you hear a relay click in the Bit Runner box when you pushed the pendant button? Did the button light respond to being pushed:
Pushed in - Light on
Pushed out - Light off?
The light on mine works fine, just nothing happens (sometimes).
After you have loaded and started your .c2d program file in CM and you go through the bitsetter process to measure the tool length, you can check your bitrunner functionality by doing the following. For this exercise, when you see the CM display the instructions to turn on the router, don’t click the “OK” box on the CM display (this prevents the router to move into position to start cutting). Keep the router switch in the off position. When you push the spindle enable button in on the pendant, a red light around the button turns on. Keeping the switch on the router in the off position and push in the spindle enable button on the pendant, you should here a click in the bitrunner V2 box. If you hear this click and then turn on the switch on the router it should turn on. Also, make sure your RJ45 plug is pushed all the way into the pendant and it is aligned straight in the socket (not angled even slightly).
Pretty much been there, done that. Doesn’t make sense to me, but sometimes waiting a day seems to help. No, the router will run when I plug it directly into 120 AC so I know the router isn’t guilty. And I clearly hear the click of the relay in the BitRunner box when I should. Also hear it when I connect / disconnect the cable running from the box to the control board.
All the indicators that I know of say that it’s running - only it’s not. Maybe time to check the BR fuse again, although that’s something of a pain to do.
