Just to add a note...we have 4 3494s of various ages. It seems
that the older ones had a shiny metal helix that was covered with
lubrication, but the newer library's helixes are covered with some black
Teflon-like coating. I ~believe~ that our IBM CE said that no
lubrication was necessary on these new helixes. 

Ben
  

-----Original Message-----
From: ADSM: Dist Stor Manager [mailto:ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU] On Behalf Of
Richard Sims
Sent: Sunday, March 19, 2006 5:07 AM
To: ADSM-L AT VM.MARIST DOT EDU
Subject: A 3494 foible, FYI

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