[labnetwork] Dektak 3030 ST stylus issues

[Virgínia Soares]

Thank you for your help, actually we found out the problem was that the
motor sometimes gets stuck and we need to help it a bit to move with the Z
axis lead screw and then t starts working again. Probably as Dennis said,
the lubricant may be getting hardened. 
Ours is also a 1991 or 1993 vintage tool and obsolete but we finally got
some funding to buy a new one, we just need to keep this one working for the
next few months.

Virgnia

Melhores Cumprimentos/Best Regards

Virginia Soares
INESC-MN
Rua Alves Redol,9
1000-029 Lisboa
Portugal
www.inesc-mn.pt

-----Original Message-----
From: Richard Everly <everly at usf.edu> 
Sent: 7 de abril de 2023 21:19
To: vsoares at inesc-mn.pt
Subject: RE: [labnetwork] Dektak 3030 ST stylus issues

Virginia,

I'm not sure if this applicable but ours sometimes get stuck in the up
position. if the stylus is raised to high, about 2" above the surface,  then
it might have jammed the Z axis lead screw in the top position. You have to
take off the monitor and the top cover ( I actually just drilled a hole
through the top cover roughly near the top of the Z axis removing the cover
seemed to much hassle at the time)  and use a large flat head screw driver
in the end of the lead screw, to break it loose and drive it back down. As I
precaution I train my students not raise the stylus more then about 12 to
18mm above the chuck surface.

Also, our unit sometimes will get stuck in the down position, and then the
system becomes unresponsive. I've just assumed that this is some glitch in
the software, because if power cycle the system, it seems to correct itself,
and the works normally afterwards. the unit is a 1991 vintage tool and
obsolete by most standards so I've just learned to live with it, until money
comes along for a newer model.

Richard Everly
University of South Florida
College of Engineering
Nanotechnology Research and Education Center
4202 E. Fowler Ave.
MS: ENG 030
Tampa, FL 33620

Office: (813) 974-5365
Fax: (813) 974-3610
Cell: (813) 760-3934
http://www.nrec.usf.edu/
everly at usf.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: labnetwork <labnetwork-bounces at mtl.mit.edu> On Behalf Of
vsoares at inesc-mn.pt
Sent: Wednesday, April 5, 2023 1:39 PM
To: labnetwork at mtl.mit.edu
Subject: [labnetwork] Dektak 3030 ST stylus issues

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Dear all,

our lab still has a Dektak 3030ST profilometer and we are having issues with
the stylus. First it would go down and wouldn't go up, then I managed to get
it working for a few measurements and know we have the opposite problem: the
stylus won't go down.
Plus I moved the optics to see if the sytlus would go up (or down, now that
it is in an upper position), but the scan head doesn't move at all.
Does naybody have any idea what this could be due to?

Thanks

Virginia

--
Melhores cumprimentos/Best Regards
Virginia Soares
http://www.inesc-mn.pt/
INESC-MN
Rua Alves Redol,9
1000-029 LISBOA
PORTUGAL

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