2002 Mori Lathe "MAPPS I" control down for the count...

My CL2000 that I don't use that often wouldn't power on a few days ago. The LCD has had some slight discoloration for a year now. BUT now the LCD powers up white/gray (backlight is on) no data or color at all. You can drive it blind to a point. Cycle the door and relays latch in but MRDY never lights. The NC unit shows it is ready to go and happy in the back.

This is a Mits control with the MAPPS I on the front. Mori walked me through the trouble shooting and they want to replace the "obsolete" MAPPS I with a MAPPS III. The control front is $3350 and then I am estimating $1400 for a tech to drive from Houston. 6hours round trip and that leaves him 4hrs for the parts install at $140/hr.

I believe I am backed up appropriately. The new control would upgrade my conversational control and get me a USB instead of the PCMCIA and RS232 I currently have. I am not running my shop much at home anymore and this might be the total amount of money I make in the shop the whole year. I was thinking of taking the old MAPPS unit apart and maybe replacing caps on the board as a last ditch effort. The LCD should have an inverter, maybe try that. I think the LCD isn't the only problem or else driving blind I would be able to get MRDY to light.

I am not happy. I have a couple of old Fanucs that have near zero problems and they are ancient. I bought Mori thinking it was the best and would be as solid as the old ones. The tech support acts as if they are surprised the MAPPS lasted as long as it did. What the crap??? Your idea of reliable control is now only 10 years? I know mine is 15 but they say fix it now and be good for 10 more years. The machine is clearly more valuable then the repair, it is just a hard pill to swallow. Anyone able to repair their MAPPS? Is it worth fixing the old unit?

Thanks
Greg

I guess I won't get a response to the original question. My more pointed questions might be summed up...
Should I change my mind about the longevity and reliability of Mori Seiki machines?
Do most have large failures such as whole control units? Maybe the machines of the early nineties were more resilient. Maybe just Fanuc has outstanding reliability and then Mori POOPY put their PC on the front of an otherwise good control. I've heard that Mazaks can be a nightmare for service too... I don't know much about Okuma, except their controls are proprietary.

Secondly. Any ideas for repair other then the whole "Shebang"? Companies that can fix the control front? Any typical failures? It seems like maybe there are less of these early 2000s Moris in service then I thought there were.

Thanks
Greg

Have you tried contacting Mitts directly for repair support rather than going thru Mori? probably worth a phone call to find out. Good luck- its the old throw it out and replace it mentality I suspect- cuz that's easier for some.

I wish I could deal with Mitts. I had them rebuild the spindle drive when I first got the machine. What a pleasure and reasonable price. The whole "Front" operators panel is Mori only. What is Mitts is the NC unit in the cabinet. which appears to be working fine. Yes. Throw it away mentality. Yuck! Thanks for answering Dan!
-Greg

Did you look at this thread over at the "zone"

see n see zone dot com/forums/archive/index.php/t-261676.html

Has some interesting info that may be pertinent to your trouble.

Vancbiker,
Thanks for pointing me back to that thread. I had brushed it earlier but it makes more sense now. In the end his Mits unit was flashing an error, indicating a problem on the NC side. The whole screen thing seems to be a Red Herring to me.

I am inspired to post my own video of my machine when powered on. If it interests anyone. Here goes:
Mori CL2 Boot Failure - YouTube

Wonder why no axis movement if all is OK on the Meldas side?

I have an older Mori (1996) with a Meldas M50 control and GOP1 (Mori custom touchscreen interface) which was the predecessor to MAPPS. Mine has a power supply issue that prevents the screen from starting if the shop gets below ~45 degrees. I doubt yours is temperature related, but just as an illustration that a power supply problem might be all you are facing.

I agree on both accounts. I have not run my shop much for the past couple of years. Temps have spiked and fallen more then when I was in there. I have central AC and keep it from freezing or melting crayons, but fluctuations may have been hard on some components.

Here is what I don't understand. Clearly Tiny OS2 is booting. I can hit F2 for OK and then cycle the door. The MAPPS is alive to that point. But then I should get to MRDY and axis movement and I am not getting that even though NC unit is well. On the daughter board of the MAPPS where the Optical Cable goes there are 3 green LEDs when all is well and everything is working, only the top light is lit. As in the picture. When the screen is gray like the video all 3 lights are lit. The other 2 lights are labeled RX and TX, transmit and receive... HMMMM. I think I have an extra Fanuc Optical cable, but it probably isn't the cable. Maybe this card is failing to properly communicate with the NC unit...??
~