This weekend we encountered a 3494 foible which 3494 customers should
be aware of...

The robotic actuator achieves vertical motion via a roughly 5' tall
steel helix. The helix is lubricated with a grease. Over time, the
grease dries out - and solidifies. The robot then strains to gain
elevation, which over-taxes the vertical drive motor and causes an
electrical Intervention Required. The associated panel message
specifies an IBM service call. They will respond by cleaning and re-
lubricating the shaft.

To prevent an outage of some hours, you may want to assure that your
CE is performing periodic re-lubrication of this assembly. One would
think that it would be on the list of PM tasks, but apparently it is
not.

Other robotic library types may have a similar vulnerability.

   Richard Sims