After 4 months my Artisan 246VA stopped working. Any suggestions are welcome.

[kgg]

16 hours ago, Piko said:

I cannot reset to factory because it goes straight to Er 4 and does not let me do anything.

Have you tried unpluging the servo motor cord from the wall outlet. Some electronic items even through you have the power switch in the "OFF" position they are still drawing power and are basically in a "Sleep Mode". I would unplug and wait a few minutes just to make sure it has fully powered down and cleared it's memory. On my LS-341 clone which has a brushless servo motor and electronic control when I throw the power switch to the "OFF" position the electronic display stays light for about a minute before going blank. So there is a power draw. 

19 hours ago, Piko said:

Should I expect this to be replaced under warranty? I am not even sure what the warranty is on this machine.

I would contact both the store and Artisan to clarify your warranty. 

18 hours ago, Piko said:

On a side note, i did damage the cable that goes from the unit to the pedal, it took off some insulation. I’ll check it. I hope tat’s the problem. And I’ll open the pedal too.

Having a damaged cable could have or is causing a short which in turn could have caused an error or worst case fried the controller. If you damaged the wiring chances are you are going to be on the hook for a new cable and possibly a controller. If it does turn out to be the controller unit it maybe cheaper just to replace the complete motor setup for about $150 to $200 for 6 coil motor or $300 for a 12 coil motor or a brushed servo motor for about $175.

The trouble you are having tracing the source of the problem highlights the difference between a brushed servo motor with no fancy electronics and a brushless servo motor with a electronic controller box. 

As you can tell I am not a fan of the brushless servo motors. I like my machines to be as simple as possible. Sewing machine, speed reducer (on some), servo motor, drive belt(s) and a go pedal. The two machines with brushless servo motors have the needle positioning disconnected.

kgg

[dikman]

Did the problem start straight after you damaged the cable? It's a bit of a coincidence if that's not the cause. IF that's the cause then the chances of getting a warranty claim is unlikely. As far as the manufacturers are concerned these things come under the category of "disposable/non-repairable", I've never heard of anyone carrying spare circuit boards for them. Much like the speed control boards in mini lathes, mine died pretty early and the Chinese company offered me a partial refund as they didn't carry spares. I eventually sourced a speed controller on ebay and adapted it BUT I doubt you could do that with a servo.

I agree with kgg, if the board is damaged then the simplest/cheapest option is to buy a generic servo off ebay unless the dealer is willing to help out. As Al said no-one appears to have bothered doing any work on these (probably because there's zero information available about them!).

[CowboyBob]

I'll agree with @kgg the brush motor is the one to go with we might have 2 out of 1,000 go bad where we had 3 out of 10 of the brushless type go bad & gave up on them.

[Piko]

Update:

First of all, I was today years old when I learned that Uber has a courier service and it is awesome. Spared me 3 hours of traffic.

Had the pedal and controller at the store at 10 am and 10 mins later the owner called me that he fixed it. 

He said the problem was the cable between the controller and the pedal, there was a pc board in there that failed: he replaced it. 

Got my delivery from Uber and tried it and now my machine works again.

So, many of you were correct in your hypotheses. I appreciate you taking time to read and trying to help me out. You are good people.

For future reference, lets say that I wanted to buy a whole set of Motor, controller and pedal like @kgg and others mentioned, would I have to buy a specific one or it would not matter since replacing all 3 parts would basically replace the whole system? If yes, could anyone link me one? I might just get one to leave in the basement to hot swap it if somewhere happens again so that I can still work while they fix the broken one.

This is the one 

i have now, but do I have to buy an Artisan or can anyone recommend a better one?

Thank you.

https://bobssewvac.com/product/acf-680-880-watt-servo-motor/

 

[Wizcrafts]

37 minutes ago, Piko said:

For future reference, lets say that I wanted to buy a whole set of Motor, controller and pedal like @kgg and others mentioned, would I have to buy a specific one or it would not matter since replacing all 3 parts would basically replace the whole system? If yes, could anyone link me one?

Many of us, including me, use this type of "brushed" servo motor: https://www.tolindsewmach.com/motors.html. Unlike the one you linked to and own, which starts at 200 rpm, this motor starts turning over smoothly from zero rpm when you move the foot pedal down. There is no jerky start, nor any complicated electronics panels to replace. The only  parts that experience wear are the two carbon brushes, two of which which come extra with the motor. I've yet to go through the original brushes in a motor I installed around 2014.

[kgg]

51 minutes ago, Piko said:

For future reference, lets say that I wanted to buy a whole set of Motor, controller and pedal like @kgg and others mentioned, would I have to buy a specific one or it would not matter since replacing all 3 parts would basically replace the whole system?

Servo motors:

You can use either a brushed or brushless servo motor on any industrial sewing machine and it is a straight swap out as the mounting hole pattern is the same. You may have to move the "go" pedal slightly to the left or right.

51 minutes ago, Piko said:

but do I have to buy an Artisan or can anyone recommend a better one?

You can buy from a vendor or from Amazon / Temu / Ebay but you are not limited to the dealer should you want / have  to change the motor.

Brushless servo motors come in typically three puke favours.

Cheap ones have 6 internal coils for the servo motor, mid grade have 9 internal coils and the better ones have 12 internal coils typical wattage ratings of 1/2 hp to 1 hp. The more internal coils the better. 

Brushed servo motors are simpler to repair with no computer controls, longer lasting with typical wattage ratings of 1/2 hp to 1 hp so less frustration.

kgg

 

Edited 2 hours ago by kgg