color change stepper index error / heads down

[crookednail]

I have a "big red" running version 9.00.099 OS software. Machine was running fine, finished a hat put the next one on hit start, heard something the machine seemed "locked" up hit e-stop. The needle bar is in the down position (with a broken needle was probably what i heard)because it's off center from the presser foot. When I try to "heads up" I get the message "color change stepper index error". Also tried Maintenance/Steppers/Home error "not at head up". Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Sue

[Just Sew It]

Sue, push E-Stop, get a jar gripper and reach up under the rear of the needlecase to the shaft. Turn the shaft until your needle is in the right position with the rest. Gently so it stays there and turn on the E-Stop.
Jo

[crookednail]

Hi Jo, The needle bar seems to be angled correctly but is down. I can push it up slowly but it comes right back down. Should I push it up even farther? Sue

[Just Sew It]

Pushing it up won't work. You need to turn the shaft to bring it up above level and down to level with the rest of the needles so it will stay. It is not easy to get your hand inside the opening to turn the shaft and it is slippery, that is why I use a jar gripper to hang onto it.

[Hugo Torbidoni]

Jo

sounds like you are physically raising the needle bar up by hand without actually roatating the head. if this is the case, you are off color index and need to contact a tech.

Hugo Torbidoni
Melco Tech
301-471-3157

[Just Sew It]

Hey, Hugo, glad you jumped in here. Can you help Sue?

[Hugo Torbidoni]

Sue

Sorry my last reply was for you.

Hugo

[crookednail]

Here's the scoop! I had to move the head back to center the needle in front of the presser foot over the hole, then I was able to turn the "shaft" enough so that when I took the e-stop off it raised it the rest of the way and cleared that issue. Also, cleaned off the color sensor I must need "stronger" air to keep it cleaned off better to prevent the "color change stepper error". Thanks for your input Jo & helpful Melco Tech support!

[Rod or Sharon]

Sue,

Jo is on the right track and is giving you correct information on raising the needlebar by turning the Z axis shaft. I have written in this forum many times about this very issue with the Big Reds and a search of the archives should give you some valuble information.....but....again....

Usually this problem with the Big Reds is because either the Color Change Home sensor or the Color Index sensor have been allowed to get dirty because of improper or lack of proper maintanence . These are optical laser sensors and if debris obstructs the laser path the needlecase cannot be instructed by the computer to return to or go to the "right" spot. The only way to keep these sensors clean is to use compressed air to blow them out thouroughly on a regular basis and far more often than the maintanence schedule calls for.

Now for the "possible" bad news in your case. If, as you indicate, you can use your fingers to easily raise the needlebar and it then falls freely back down, the needlebar stud is probably no longer entrapped within the reciprocater jaws. If you can rotate the Z axis shaft, as Jo has said and the needlebar moves up and down with the rotation, the needlebar is still entrapped in the jaws. You need to rotate the Z axis shaft a full 360 degrees when doing this, not just back and forth.

To add to Jo's instruction, what should have been done immediately, is to depress the E-stop, use the Z axis shaft to raise the needlebar so that "both the needlebar and the corresponding takeup lever are lined up with their adjacent partners and then manually push or pull the needlecase gently so that the needlebar lines up vertically with the presserfoot.....then release the E-stop. It is now time to try the Maintenance, Steppers and left click on Color Change "Home" in the Color Change column. If it still gives you the off index or Not at Headup, then the needlebar is still not lined up well enough with the needlebar and a small adjustment left or righ needs to be mad. Depress the E-stop to make any needlecase adjustment first.

The second cause....you indicated you were doing caps....if the Z-axis motor is going bad or getting weak in it's old age then the the machine may stop with the needle down from impact. Was it sewing accross the center seam whn this took place?

If you do have a needlebar stud out of the reciprocator jaws and has truly fallen or the Z axis motor is going bad, a tech visit is probably in order....

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[crookednail]

Okay...I thought we were set but the machine just doesn't sound right. I spent over an hour on the phone with melco tech support and got no where he did say he could hear the noise I was talking about. Seems to run and sound okay on flats but not hats. With the hats the needle bar (not the original problem bar any of them) goes down and just stays there, I have to turn the machine off then on for it to go up. Before something gets worse I'm going on to other things and have tech coming on Monday to take a look. Melco did mention the Z axis motor but the tech that is coming said he doesn't think so hope he's right. Thanks for all the input. Sue

[ckramer]

If this is so important to keep these sensors clean, why then does it not come up in the maintenance schedule? I have never seen any maintenance referred to as a color change home sensor, or color index sensor type of maintenance. Is it listed under something else and I did not realize that's what I was doing?? How often, and how does one clean these sensors if it is not part of any regular maintenance that comes up on screen as the others do?

[Rod or Sharon]

ckramer,

Go into Settings, Timers and left click on the 2,000,000 Step tab. This will take you through several Maintenance procedures one of which is the Color Change Home and ( Color Change ) Needlecase index sensors. I checked , with my Big Red on, both Ver 7 and Ver 9 and it is listed in both of them.

You said, "If this is so important to keep these sensors clean" It is, from my experience as a tech, not only "important, but "extremely critical" to keep these sensors clean on the Big Reds. These sensors, in my opinion, was/is the weak link with the Big Reds and is part of the reason the XT series of Amayas, Bravos too, do not have them. Encorders on the motors now take care of these functions on the XT series.

The "Timers" for the maintanence of the machine. These "pop-ups" can be viewed as both a blessing and a curse. I have even heard the Amaya engineers say that they wish they had never added these Timers to the software, but they had to do "something", otherwise folks would "never" lube their machines.

The reason they would say that is because they have no control over the environment that the machine lives in. Cold, heat, humidity, dust, speed at which the machine is run at, flat work where garments may shed a lot of lint, like fleece blankets, caps that shed a lot of buckram dust when sewn and on and on. All of these examples and more affect the lubrication of the machine in different ways. Therefore, the Timers are there as a pending GUIDELINE, not as the GOSPEL.

If folks would set up their own lubrication schedule and use the Timers as a reminder just in case they have over looked something, dependent on their own situations, there would probably be less work for the techs, but human nature says we don't have to worry about that happening in the near future...

As to when to blow out these sensors? Well, here we go again. I do not have control over the environment or the garments or the conditions , etc, so to cover all the bases and not put myself at jeopardy, blow them out at least daily.

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Rod or Sharon]

crookednail,

Still sounds like a Z axis motor issue to me, without seeing the machine that is.....

Does anything happen to the screen view on the computer? Does it ever close out the AOS screen?

It is not uncommon to see an older Amaya that will sew on flats but not caps because of the Z axis motor going bad or aging.

It may be that the pully on the motor is slipping if the star washers are not holding because the screw has loosened up....just thinking .....

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[ckramer]

Rod

Thanks for the info. We happen to have the "tweener" version of Amaya's. After the big reds and before the xt's is what I understand. I, for one, am VERY GLAD that Melco did have the maintenance schedule included as reminders. If you have not used embroidery machines before, how would you ever know what all needed attention. Understand they are guidelines. It is part of our routine to oil rotary hooks every a.m., needed or not as far as far as the timer goes, they are done along with other things to keep things running smooth.

[crookednail]

Rod,
We had a tech out here and luckily it was just minor adjustments to timing and the machine is running fantastic on caps and flats. Now we're playing catch up finished 4 doz caps and 100 shirts so far not issues. Thanks for all the input we'll keep an eye on it but hopefully this will take care of it for a while.
Sue