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2 Issues - Control freezing on startup, B axis not homing - SQT 18

ME Newb

Aluminum
Joined
Sep 28, 2015
Have the power to the lathe, turn the big switch, then when I press the power button the control tries to come on but often doesn't for 5 or 6 cycles through power on/off using the shutdown button only(not the big switch). The screen will start with the default Mazatrol T Plus screen, sometimes that's as far as it gets. The next time it freezes as shown below with the outline of part of the menu visible. Normally at this point it still hasn't tried pulling in the contactor for the hydraulic pump. The next time I cycle on/off the position screen will appear, x and z positions are not correct but present, then it will pull in the contactor for a few seconds then it drops out and freezes. After two or so times of this it finally gets everything going and works correctly with the correct x and z positions. Don't know if normal but I hear a buzzing noise like electricity shorting for half a second when contactors are pulling in. Any ideas?

Once fired up and running X and Z home fine once I cleared the Z axis soft limit by hand turning(surprisingly easy to turn). I can't get B axis to move during homing or jogging. Shows B and C axis at 0 on the position screen. Is there something I need to do prior to homing to get B axis active? They homed it when I checked the machine out before purchase so I'm sure it's something easy. Doesn't say anything in the manual. Thanks guys

IMAG0619.jpg
IMAG0621.jpg
 
Just a shot in the dark but are your spindles synced? There should be switch to select HD1 or HD2, if HD1 is on and HD2 is flashing they are sync'd.
 
Just a shot in the dark but are your spindles synced? There should be switch to select HD1 or HD2, if HD1 is on and HD2 is flashing they are sync'd.

No they aren't. I was under the impression that was only required when transferring. I'll look into figuring out how to sync them.

Is your transformer tapped for the correct voltage and are your pumps spinning in the right direction???

Gotta start somewhere.

Yes, it's putting out 207-208v. Have good hydraulic pressure and head coolant pump doesn't trip out like it was doing before I swapped phasing. No alarms
 
is this new to you machine.
how long was it out of service
was it running before it got to you

New to me.

According to the program list last program was created in February. I bought it in March and moved it here from WI. Set around until we got it wired up a week ago. I didn't change any batteries while it sat around but it has the correct date and time on the position screen.

Yes, fully functional before I got it. Watched them make a few test cuts.

Edit: Previous company(Perlick Corporation, makes beer taps and whatnot :cheers:) ran it with a bar feeder. I do not have bar feeder hooked up yet.
 
the refusal to fully boot is concerning though.
I might put a few calls to mits on chain of command on start up.
flakey/fuzzy communication cables is a thought.
 
^^^^
yep
everything hooked up is priority
machine is surely looking for barfeeder feedback

the refusal to fully boot is concerning though.
I might put a few calls to mits on chain of command on start up.
flakey/fuzzy communication cables is a thought.

Turned on the lathe today and it boots completely and then contactors dropped out about 15 seconds later. Restarted, good to go. Got B axis to home/jog without doing anything different than the other day.

I should note, when the machine was having a lot of trouble booting is the mornings after colder nights(around 30). Today when I tried it was in the afternoon and around 70. Wonder if that has anything to do with it? My shop doesn't even have the roll up doors installed yet so she's definitely getting cold at night.

Hooked up bar feeder. Alarms and air leaks galore. Fixed a couple, got another big one I wasn't able to find in the short bit I looked. Enough leakage that my little 6 gallon compressor would run down in about 20 seconds which means I couldn't find the leak fast enough. Language on the handheld thing is French. Start translating but can't change language until I clear the alarms

Pressure washed the chip conveyor and tank. Probably hadn't been cleaned in a decade or more I'm guessing. Hooked it up, pump runs good, turn on conveyor and the drive shaft rotates but the sprockets don't. Tear into it and the roll pins from both sprockets are missing. :confused: Fell out in the 2000 mile journey down?? Anywho, started to fill the tank so I could run sump cleaner through it and it has a hole in the bottom and leaked all over the shop floor.

With my manufacturing background I realize this is just another day in the shop!
 
I'd go in the electrical cabinet and unplug and reseat every connector in it. those white Mitsubishi cables have a habit of getting kinda shity. what sort of feeder is it.
 
I'd go in the electrical cabinet and unplug and reseat every connector in it. those white Mitsubishi cables have a habit of getting kinda shity. what sort of feeder is it.

I'll give that a shot tomorrow before I fire it up.

LNS Sprint S2
 
Difficulty getting a Mazak to start up can be a flakey power supply, either on one of the spindle drives or the NC. There's also a 24v DC supply to keep tabs on...

Usually a few ON/OFF cycles will get one going, at least until the power supply decides to croak for good.

PS's usually die because of capacitors going bad, as they are the main culprit for failures in older electronics.

Also, the machine shouldn't actually need air to run, as the air is used for tool eye and chuck jaw blowoff, and sometimes for ballscrew cooling. You may have to hotwire the air pressure switch if it throws an alarm when running with no air.




ToolCat Greg
 
Difficulty getting a Mazak to start up can be a flakey power supply, either on one of the spindle drives or the NC. There's also a 24v DC supply to keep tabs on...

Usually a few ON/OFF cycles will get one going, at least until the power supply decides to croak for good.

PS's usually die because of capacitors going bad, as they are the main culprit for failures in older electronics.

Also, the machine shouldn't actually need air to run, as the air is used for tool eye and chuck jaw blowoff, and sometimes for ballscrew cooling. You may have to hotwire the air pressure switch if it throws an alarm when running with no air.

ToolCat Greg

Previous owners put in a new PS and drive right before I got it. See photo below. I don't know what it's powering or which drive they replaced. If the labels above the drives in the photo are correct then I'm guessing it's the main spindle drive.

I get a red alarm for air pressure. Have my mini compressor just to get by for now. When milling motor runs I hear a lot of air movement from rear of machine. Is this typical?

IMAG0637.jpg
 
After fooling with it during some cold temps vs warmer temps the startup issue is definitely temperature related but present present regardless. I'm going to get on the phone with Mits about it.

B axis just has to be jogged from home to get it to home. Duh. Axis buttons won't move it from home though.

However this morning I got a 201 breaker trip alarm on startup. Went through the panel and couldn't find any breakers tripped. Restarted and alarm is gone. Home machine out, orient C axis and spindle makes a funky sound and stops short of homing and I get a 22 feedback system malfunction. Restart, alarm is gone, but anytime spindle is started it doesn't sound good and load meter is at 125 to 150%. Won't go above I'd guess 150 rpm. Forward/reverse doesn't matter. No alarms. Spindle turns fine by hand so could it be the brake being turned on for some reason or something else? I searched for that alarm on this forum and it brought back no results. I'll call Mits about this too but any help from you smart people would be very much appreciated. I have to get this thing running and turning out parts!
 
intermittent 201 could be a crappy connection, loose wire or iffy relay. crappy spindle movement and feedback alarm sounds like plg.
mits can give you a text to run spindle open loop for diagnostic purposes.
 
maybe smart people will show up soon ;)
Lol right right

intermittent 201 could be a crappy connection, loose wire or iffy relay. crappy spindle movement and feedback alarm sounds like plg.
mits can give you a text to run spindle open loop for diagnostic purposes.

Yep they had me put it in open loop and that eliminated the terrible noise, spindle ran fine. Then they sent a procedure to measure resistance on the rotor and stator. Stator checked out but rotor was not within spec or no reading at all. The last guy I talked to at Mits said everything pointed to the spindle scale which I'd inside the spindle. What do you make of that, wippin' boy?
 








 
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