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Author Topic: Gobo and Color Wheel Alignment Issues on my ACME iMove 8S Moving Head Spots  (Read 5137 times)

Jeff Lelko

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The only thing I haven't done is swapped out the main power transformer, but it couldn't be that - right?!

I doubt it.  I'm with TJ on this one - if you're confident the motor is fine I'm betting it's a loose pulley.  With a good multimeter or preferably an oscilloscope you can do much better diagnostics on the electronics, but if everything else is fine and the problem hasn't gone away after swapping PCBs I don't think there's much to discover.  I remember you saying that you swapped the belt, but how about the pulley?  There will be one or two set screws holding the pulley on the motor shaft.  Make sure that when the motor turns the pulley isn't slipping.  I've had a case where everything looked fine but a small crack in the pulley was causing intermittent slipping both between the shaft and the pulley and the pulley and the belt.  Luckily pulleys are a cheap fix, so let's hope that's the case!  Also, check the pulley on the other end of the belt.  With the fixture powered up, gently tilt the head up and down with your hand - unless the shaft of the motor is turning there's something slipping somewhere.  Good luck!
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Stuart Murphy

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Is the tilt belt-drive?  If so, is the belt slipping?

Hey Tom,

Yes, it is a belt drive tilt.. I have the plastic covers off so I can see everything, and the belt doesn't appear to be slipping at all.. I've also swapped belts with the other good fixture, and the problem remains. It's got me beat. Other than swapping out the main unit transformer, I have nothing left to try that I can think of, and I didn't think that would be the problem, but maybe it is. Swapping it out is a bit of a chore, so I was hoping not to have to!
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Stuart Murphy

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I doubt it.  I'm with TJ on this one - if you're confident the motor is fine I'm betting it's a loose pulley. With the fixture powered up, gently tilt the head up and down with your hand - unless the shaft of the motor is turning there's something slipping somewhere.  Good luck!

Thanks Jeff. I've done as you said with the fixture powered up, and tilting the head by hand. All the pulleys seem to be locked perfectly and the motor shaft turns with them as I tilt it, so I can only presume it's in fact a weak motor as you suggested all along. I definitely swapped it out for the good motor from the other fixture, which didn't help, but maybe I did something dumb like not tensioning the springs correctly or something. I dunno. Both units seem completely identical in and around the pulley, motor and belt. So I think I'm going to turn my attention to the sole good one, which only has those alignment problems I mentioned earlier with both the color and gobo wheels. They might be stuffed motors too, but weird that all 4 in both fixtures are out of alignment. Thanks for all your help.. I'm getting close to conceding defeat on this occasion. :-|
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Jeff Lelko

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I'm getting close to conceding defeat on this occasion. :-|

Yeah...it's frustrating not to see any results.  Short of plugging the two heads together as described further up to definitely rule out the motor/belt/pulley this is where I'd be pulling out my oscilloscope to see what's going on with the power/logic side of things.  Sorry that I can't offer any other suggestions!  Sometimes fixtures just reach end of life where they then become parts donors to other fixtures.  Best of luck with this though!
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Stuart Murphy

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Yeah...it's frustrating not to see any results.  Short of plugging the two heads together as described further up to definitely rule out the motor/belt/pulley this is where I'd be pulling out my oscilloscope to see what's going on with the power/logic side of things.  Sorry that I can't offer any other suggestions!  Sometimes fixtures just reach end of life where they then become parts donors to other fixtures.  Best of luck with this though!

That reminds me mate.. on my fixture, the tilt motor wiring harness is located right next to the tilt motor itself, which is in the spinning vertical arm of the head. Whenever I switch the unit on, of course the head spins right away. So won't that just rip the donated tilt cable straight out? Sorry for such a stupid question, but in that scenario, it seems I'll end up with chards of splintered wiring loom flying about the room..! :-D
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Jeff Lelko

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That reminds me mate.. on my fixture, the tilt motor wiring harness is located right next to the tilt motor itself, which is in the spinning vertical arm of the head. Whenever I switch the unit on, of course the head spins right away. So won't that just rip the donated tilt cable straight out? Sorry for such a stupid question, but in that scenario, it seems I'll end up with chards of splintered wiring loom flying about the room..! :-D

You're absolutely right, which is why I also said in my original post with that suggestion to unplug the pan motor first, otherwise you'll definitely end up with wire spaghetti and possibly more damage than when you started :)
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