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Slow toolchanger

baldhead

Aluminum
Joined
Mar 31, 2007
Location
USA
I have a new haas vertical mill. The arm type toolchanger moves very slow or pauses on the first couple of toolchanges in the morning. Sometimes the machine will alarm/time-out and I will have to run the recovery. Usually happens after the mill has sat idle for a couple of days. Once the thing gets going it works fine. Just wondering if anyone else has had this problem and what the solution was.
 
Do you have a tool labled as (heavy)? this will slow the arm down. as for it stopping you should check the lube line and make sure its getting oil. I had this problem on a vf-9/50.
mine would hang up after the arm got to the tool pocket. it would make a hard jump then yank the tool out with alot of vibration. this caused the arm to drop tools alot. Ever heard a 12" ingersall facemill fall 5 feet into an empty sheet metal enclosure? just look around real quick and you'll see all your buddies reaching for there E-stops!!!!
 
How fast are your pockets getting in position for toll change?
Arm is driven by electric motor , so it would be strange to have a "warm up" time.
I had a problem with pocket not lowering fast enough , replaced MAC valve, runs fine now.
 
The air pressure is good. I agree that it is probably a bad motor but I thought I would check to see if it could be anything else. The pocket drops down fine, the arm moves very slow and sometimes pauses in between moves. It will go down slow, pause, then rotate slow and timeout.
 
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How cold is it in your shop ?
when the temp get down in the low 50`s my tool changer starts to labor some .
Doug
 
How cold is it in your shop ?
when the temp get down in the low 50`s my tool changer starts to labor some .
Doug

Thanks for the reply, my shop never gets below 55 deg at night. I have heard of problems with the toolchanger moving slow in cold/barn conditions but It seems like 55 should be ok, I guess not. I think it is a combination of the cold and an undersized motor but I am probably wrong as usual.
 
Just a data point: My VF2-ss can sit for 2 weeks and the toolchanger works fine, and at full speed no matter what.
Bah! I jinxed myself! Now, all of a sudden my toolchanger is alarming out in the middle of a tool change for no apparent reason, and is unpredictable. It's been maybe down to 50º in my shop lately...trend? Maybe not a trend as it never slows down like fmcdoug said, just stops. Gotta love warranties!
 
our vf4ss did that, the arm motor had broken a seal and the gearbox drained its oil down into the motor. kept cutting out and such. maybe worth a look. they should rebuild the motor if it is that, but they'll more than likely make you buy a new one.
 
A little light oil goes a long way

Had the same problem when shop cooled off, ran tool change and stopped the machine in mid change, applied some light oil, (20 wt) to the arm shaft and the problem went away.

Also, you may want to check with your hfo about changing the parameter for timeout of the arm, we increased the time on my VF-5 a smidge and that helped a little also. (we did that before the oil).

Then go through toolchange recovery!

The problem seems to be the heavy grease on the new machine, combined with the cold. Think peanut butter and a cold spoon!!

Darrell
 
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