Milland
Diamond
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2006
- Location
- Hillsboro, New Hampshire
My older (2001) VF-5 started up with a never before seen fault - it acted like the Z homed at one full ballscrew turn too low, so that when it tried tool changing it would bash the top of the pull stud against the spindle drive dog.
I didn't realize the associated noise was that fault until I'd done a few tool changes, but the damage to the studs is just a little scuffing at the top, no sign of the stud bending over (which would be really bad).
I stopped, shut off the machine, climbed to the top of the Z axis casting and cleaned off the limit switch and contact bracket, just in case there was a chip that had triggered it too early. I didn't see anything, and the limit switch seemed to move reasonably freely.
On restart the machine homed and tool changed normally again. Not sure if I actually did anything with the Z limit switch or if it was just a "cosmic ray" that wonked the normal boot-up. But if your sidemount machine starts making noise during tool change this is something you could check.
And (duh) if you climb to the top of the casting do be careful, it's likely to be slippery with dried coolant and chips, and there's some tripping hazards up there. Don't fall off...
I didn't realize the associated noise was that fault until I'd done a few tool changes, but the damage to the studs is just a little scuffing at the top, no sign of the stud bending over (which would be really bad).
I stopped, shut off the machine, climbed to the top of the Z axis casting and cleaned off the limit switch and contact bracket, just in case there was a chip that had triggered it too early. I didn't see anything, and the limit switch seemed to move reasonably freely.
On restart the machine homed and tool changed normally again. Not sure if I actually did anything with the Z limit switch or if it was just a "cosmic ray" that wonked the normal boot-up. But if your sidemount machine starts making noise during tool change this is something you could check.
And (duh) if you climb to the top of the casting do be careful, it's likely to be slippery with dried coolant and chips, and there's some tripping hazards up there. Don't fall off...
