Animation Wheel Woes

WayneOgle

Member
Hello all! Another stumper for you all. I've got a Mac 2000 Performance II with some animation wheel problems. It spins just fine won't won't track on and off. Already put a new motor and checked the wheels and bearings that the belt wraps around and it all looks good. Also, on start up and by trying to move the wheel trough manual mode it twitches like its trying to move but doesn't also the belt seems to be under the correct tension. From what I can tell the wires leading to the stepper motor looks good as well. It also has a new circuit board in it and wire harness that I just replaced due to other faulty parts. Any thoughts?
 
The wiring for Macs is so small and fiddly being systematic and cutting the problem in half is important. My normal troubleshooting steps for something like this were:

  1. Unplug the cable from the motor in question and plug in into a known working motor. Plug the known working motor's cable into the motor in question. This may require the use of some jumper cables to reach, but if possible use the existing cable to drive the known working motor so you are testing all of the components of the effect you're trying to troubleshoot. Run both effects in manual mode and see where the problem goes.
  2. If the problem goes to the previously known working motor then it's a control problem. I always suspect cables first so bypass the existing cables with jumpers, then work down the line to driver boards.
  3. If the same motor doesn't work the issue is there. Disconnect everything from the motor and try to run it. If it spins normally with nothing attached look for a physical issue preventing motion (did a tab get left bent up when the hardness was replaced for example). Look closely there might be something increasing friction, but not completely blocking travel. If the motor doesn't spin with no load attached it's either the motor or the cable has chosen that exact moment to fail (did I mention I hate the wiring harnesses in Macs?).
Failing all of that I have a video for you showing how to properly maintain a Mac fixture.... from a high point... off a loading dock.... using gravity.
 
The wiring for Macs is so small and fiddly being systematic and cutting the problem in half is important. My normal troubleshooting steps for something like this were:

  1. Unplug the cable from the motor in question and plug in into a known working motor. Plug the known working motor's cable into the motor in question. This may require the use of some jumper cables to reach, but if possible use the existing cable to drive the known working motor so you are testing all of the components of the effect you're trying to troubleshoot. Run both effects in manual mode and see where the problem goes.
  2. If the problem goes to the previously known working motor then it's a control problem. I always suspect cables first so bypass the existing cables with jumpers, then work down the line to driver boards.
  3. If the same motor doesn't work the issue is there. Disconnect everything from the motor and try to run it. If it spins normally with nothing attached look for a physical issue preventing motion (did a tab get left bent up when the hardness was replaced for example). Look closely there might be something increasing friction, but not completely blocking travel. If the motor doesn't spin with no load attached it's either the motor or the cable has chosen that exact moment to fail (did I mention I hate the wiring harnesses in Macs?).
Failing all of that I have a video for you showing how to properly maintain a Mac fixture.... from a high point... off a loading dock.... using gravity.
@porkchop Is your Mac repair / loading dock & gravity video anything like bowling with Var*Lights?
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.
 
Thank you all for the ideas! Finally found the problem. The Yoke PCB connection had loose pins going into the circuit board, once I removed it and looked at the bottom looks like someone did a shoddy repair job to it at some point so it was transmitting the correct voltage but not the right amperage to drive the motor correctly, replaced the PCB and it's good to go now!
 

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