Just curious what state this is in? and if there is anyone that can help one get started on it?
Cheers!
Yes I have intended to do another class but other project have had me running… I’ll do one shortly but I think I need to expand it a bit and do a complete walk through. I also wanted to upgrade the relay board in the emco with a solid state board. I just haven’t figured out quite how to do that so a lot to do before I actually do a class. Still maybe next week.
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very cool. thanks.
1 thru 20.
I was in the machine shop committee meeting today and someone asked about the Emco (aka Kenny) PC not powering up. I offered to take a look and noticed a few things:
- I think the UPS is either bad or on it’s last legs; possibly just needs a new battery. I plugged the PC and monitor into the power strip under the table and it booted up fine.
- The PC case is open and its not only dusty it’s collecting metal shavings. This is perhaps not good
I think we should blow it out (gently!) and cover the major openings and/or take some other action to keep the grit out. - The compressed air input line was disconnected (Steve, maybe you were working on the machine)
- I think the machine looked pretty clean! (nice)
Steve, have you done the upgrade yet? I’d be interested in learning more about the machine internals if you haven’t yet. Thanks for your work on Kenny!
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Hey J,
I will run by today and have a peek at the thing, I have been working on a different project but this has been heavy on my mind. I have not yet done the upgrade. I have two options. the problem is that I have a 5V relay board in the EMCO. I only recently noticed that severe vibration causes the relays to trip and cause a fault. The solution is either convert to 24V relays or convert to 5V solid state relays. I’d hate to have to add a new power supply for 24V and I’ll have to relook and figure out if the solid states will work. Anyway, as I mentioned I’ll have a look today. Sorry for the delays!
Solid state seems like the way to go. Do we have any schematics of what we have?
I was doing some searching and found some EMCO 50 retrofit p0rn. I wonder if this guy even repainted it? 
Unfortunately, I don’t have a complete schematic… MY BAD! I kept making changes and had it all in my head and intended to rewire it all. But I never did. I looked at it yesterday and started putting together a schematic. As far as I can tell everything is working. However, I DID have a problem loading my old files. Looks like I can replace the regular relay board with the solid state relays but I have to reprogram one output. I’m working on it but it may take me a few days to get back to it.
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I figured out how to convert the relays to solid state relays. I intended to switch them out to night but I ran into a problem. The AC outlets that run the EMCO are dead! I didn’t go into the electrical room since I’m not authorized so I looked around for an extension cord but didn’t find one. Bottom line is that We need to get the AC outlets working again so, who can look into that?
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Happened to be in iTop and put a ticket in for this; I-000908 asking for someone to check the electrical room.
Thanks for the help! I will try to get it completed this week. I will attempt to have training POSSIBLY late this month.
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Btw, I happened across this model of HP thin client and it might be a possible replacement should the existing PC become a problem; it has a real parallel port and is small enough it could hang on the side of the machine or whatever. I might pick one up for a PFSENSE build and was thinking I could try it out first as an Kenny driver if that was helpful.
Edit to add: Here’s the published specifications; the link above is to a random ebay sale; they pop up frequently, etc.
Looks great but the EMCO is using Linux. I know we can put Linux on a Windows PC… I’m just not sure how to configure the parallel port once that is done. It’s a great idea but, so far, in spite of the hostile environment, the PC is still running. Nice to see SOMEONE resurrected the parallel port!