During my last spin of the day (10th, 30 min spin) the centriduge started smelling like rubber (most likely the brushes) but when it slowed down the centriduge turned off (power switch on, but no lights or temp reading). After coming to a stop the rotor would not unscrew. Any advise to remove the rotor and get the system to start up again?
Thank in advance!
If you are in need of immediate assistance please feel free to reach out directly to our Centrifuge sponsor Ozark Biomedical.
Just be sure to tell them you were referred by MedWrench.
As for the rotor not coming off, I have to ask, "Are you turning the knurled knob the correct way?" If so, simply us more force. There is no correlation to the instrument stopping and the rotor not coming off. Secondly, it sounds as if part of the main power circuit failed or became disabled.. Has any preventative mainitenance been performed on the instrument...have the brushes been inspected?, how does the commutator look? Make sure you have checked all circuit breakers to include those for the facility. Once you get the rotor off, you will need to do a very thorough inspection of the gyro and motor...checking for rough bearings etc. I would also recommend checking the voltages at the power supply. Hopefully, this helps you narrow it down.
Randy
Ozark Biomedical
I've got kind of the same problem as far as shut off and wouldn't turn back on. I found one of the wires from the line filter to the power switch burned off right at the filter. I replaced the filter and reterminated the wire, and when I turned it on it started to cycle off/on on it's own, with display lights flashing and the compressor trying to run. That is exactly what happened about a month ago after I had the refrigeration system recharged. Over a half dozen or so tries the compressor cycling lessened until it finally turned on normally. Now I'm thinking that problem has resurfaced and is maybe what burned off the wire. Relay K101 (refrigeration) seemed to be operating fine in November, so now I'm thinking it might be compressor start/run caps or the start/run relay. I have a preliminary service manual, and a composite service manual covering the various iterations of RC5C/+, and it looks like there was a change in the start/run components in 1999.
Refrigeration is a black box to me, am I barking up the right tree?
Thanks,
Jeff
Turns out to have been the low voltage power supply mounted at the top right corner of the rear frame. It's a Fortron/Source SU40P31L-AZ, no longer in production but stock still available from Fortron. The Artesyn LPT42 and NFS40-7608 are alternative drop-in replacements. All are about $50. After replacing the power supply the centrifuge is back to normal. I also successfully repaired the old supply by replacing the aluminum electrolytic capacitors.
Jeff
