1984 Mori-Seki SL-2H HELP!

[mhansen]

What part of Iowa? I'm just across the river at the NE corner.

Ed.

Ed I'm in NW Iowa out by Marcus, IA

 

[CITIZEN F16]

I used to run an SL-3 with Yasnac control. Had to load the programs from paper tape.
I’ll help if I can, but I’ve probably killed all the brain cells where that info was stored.

Ha,ha,ha, you and me both. I like seeing pictures of vintage machines still in service. Don't member who the member was, but they seemed very knowledgeable about vintage Fanucs, firing off answers to tech questions without hesitation.

So I asked him where he worked where these machines still lived, the guy said, hell that was 30 years ago. I was shocked at this guy's memory. He was reciting stuff like I would off something I fixed last week.

 

[mhansen]

Those machines are real beasts that take no prisoners when things go wrong. Stay out of the line of fire of spinning work and chuck. Keep your hands out of the pinch zones everywhere. What does it have by way of a chuck? If it's a typical drawbar-actuated 3-jaw power chuck, it won't be real handy for onesy-twosy type work, as you'll need to be constantly resetting or reboring jaws to fit different work.

It currently has a collet chuck but I would like to get a 6" or 8" chick for it.

 

[mhansen]

I never did but have something newer and similar with a Fanuc OT, pretty sure there is someone here who still has one
that is alive and kicking. First it is a Fanuc, that is great as they are the post popular, still supported with many repair houses specializing in older controls. Spare control parts are all over E-bay. The lathe is an 8 positioned barrel turret slant bed with a Fanuc controller, a very common combination. You will easily get help here even from people like me that never were in the same room as that model.

P.S. Even though my machine is a different make and a Fanuc OT the control panel looks very similar.

I appreciate it, I'll be in touch as we get it running

 

[mhansen]

1st question to ask is do you have the manuals for the machine. You will find the Mori operators and programming manual very helpfull. You should also have a parameter listing for the machine as well as the Mori ladder diagram booklet and th emachine wiring diagrams. If you dont have these, look in the rear electrical panels to see if they are there. If not, and you have access to the previous owner, contact them and beg, borrow or steal any documentation they have. Without the ladder diagrams and parameter list, working on the machine is going to be difficult. You may be able to get the parameter list from Mori.

I am trying to get manuals from Mori and Fanuc but no luck so far. I don't even have the key to open the back of the machine unfortunately.

 

[mhansen]

I've seen lots of Mori's from the late 80's resprayed to make them look like the 90's colors. I think a lot of shops did that to make it look like they had more modern machines. Certainly says something about Mori quality that all one had to do to make them cutting edge again was to change the color.

That's a real nice machine. 11T is a good control. It should do anything a new one can.

besides the paint, the only other deficiency I see is no chip conveyor.

I actually have the chip converyor. Any chance you would have an avenue for getting a programing book? I'm striking out

 

[mhansen]

It’s almost comical how well built these lathes are.

The “H” designation is for High Speed, IIRC you can wind it up to 4k. We had a SL4H and a TL5 from 1980. In comparison to the Hitachi and Ikegals of the day the spindle centre line is up higher, more ergonomic. Someone felt otherwise sticking it on those 3” rounds.

Any word on why the headstock cover is off it?

Not sure but I know the machine was crashed so I'm guessing that might be why. Hopefully nothing major.

 

[CITIZEN F16]

I actually have the chip converyor. Any chance you would have an avenue for getting a programing book? I'm striking out

Seriously if you could just get your hands on an M-code list, that might be all you need. Even on those you can figure them out by trial and error without risking anything.

 

[CITIZEN F16]

Oh come on its not that bad!

You got me on the CNC lathe, but I bet most the stuff I have is uglier than yours. I am good at keeping things alive most people would have long since tossed, and I make things like work benches, shelves, and collet holders out of scrap wood and metal. My shop is a well organized mess. I don't even have one in state customer, so no worries on a shop visit.

 

[Garwood]

I actually have the chip converyor. Any chance you would have an avenue for getting a programing book? I'm striking out

You don't need the programming book. It programs like any other lathe. You may want the Mori operators manual. That will tell you all about errors and alarms and maintenance stuff. The most important books are the wiring manuals and ladder. Without those you kinda have a paperweight. You can get all the Fanuc manuals for free as PDF's or you can buy them affordably on Ebay. I would suggest investing some time to track them down from the place you got the lathe from.

BTW, a 20HP RPC is not big enough for that lathe. You might be able to run it in lower gears, but you need a 30-40 HP RPC to feed that lathe. It should have a 15/20HP spindle. You need twice the RPC motor to lathe motor ratio.

 

[Bill in PA]

BTW, a 20HP RPC is not big enough for that lathe. You might be able to run it in lower gears, but you need a 30-40 HP RPC to feed that lathe. It should have a 15/20HP spindle. You need twice the RPC motor to lathe motor ratio.

Yup. My SL-1H (7.5/10 hp) takes a 20 hp converter.

Bill

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

I actually have the chip converyor. Any chance you would have an avenue for getting a programing book? I'm striking out

Call Mori and give them the serial - they have the programming book.
I have one that I wrote a while back and you're welcome to it.

 

[CITIZEN F16]

You don't need the programming book. It programs like any other lathe. You may want the Mori operators manual. That will tell you all about errors and alarms and maintenance stuff. The most important books are the wiring manuals and ladder. Without those you kinda have a paperweight. You can get all the Fanuc manuals for free as PDF's or you can buy them affordably on Ebay. I would suggest investing some time to track them down from the place you got the lathe from.

BTW, a 20HP RPC is not big enough for that lathe. You might be able to run it in lower gears, but you need a 30-40 HP RPC to feed that lathe. It should have a 15/20HP spindle. You need twice the RPC motor to lathe motor ratio.

I have a 15 HP homemade RPC that easily runs a 10 HP lathe spindle when I am leaning on it hard enough to knock a programmed 1600 RPM down to almost 1500 rpm. The load meter on that thing stopped working a long time ago. I haven't measured the draw in a heavy cut. It doesn't have gears, maybe that is the difference. It is very well balanced. On most cuts it is probably barely using 4 HP.

Agree on not needing a programming book, he just needs an M-code list.

 

[Dan from Oakland]

Check to see if there is a number on the face of the cabinet locks, I have extra keys, and they may all be the same. Do you have the key for the "edit" switch on the control?

 

[Vancbiker]

Check to see if there is a number on the face of the cabinet locks, I have extra keys, and they may all be the same. Do you have the key for the "edit" switch on the control?

Most likely a 500 for the cabinet keys

 

[Garwood]

I have a 15 HP homemade RPC that easily runs a 10 HP lathe spindle when I am leaning on it hard enough to knock a programmed 1600 RPM down to almost 1500 rpm. The load meter on that thing stopped working a long time ago. I haven't measured the draw in a heavy cut. It doesn't have gears, maybe that is the difference. It is very well balanced. On most cuts it is probably barely using 4 HP.

Agree on not needing a programming book, he just needs an M-code list.

I have owned and run almost the exact same SL2-H on an RPC. My RPC is comprised of two 30HP motors. My small mills (under 15HP spindles) will run fine on just a single 30HP idler. My 1985 20HP Okuma lathe will not run on 30HP. It needs the 2nd idler started. I just added a little live tooled Hardinge SP42 with a 10HP Fanuc spindle and a collet nose and I bet that will run just peachy on only one 30HP idler running.

And it's not steady state that's a problem with RPC's. The small problem is the current to accelerate the spindle, but the real big problem is the dynamic braking. RPC's will not push the braking enrgy back onto the grid through the generated leg well at all so you get an overvoltage condition on decel.

 

[CITIZEN F16]

I have owned and run almost the exact same SL2-H on an RPC. My RPC is comprised of two 30HP motors. My small mills (under 15HP spindles) will run fine on just a single 30HP idler. My 1985 20HP Okuma lathe will not run on 30HP. It needs the 2nd idler started. I just added a little live tooled Hardinge SP42 with a 10HP Fanuc spindle and a collet nose and I bet that will run just peachy on only one 30HP idler running.

And it's not steady state that's a problem with RPC's. The small problem is the current to accelerate the spindle, but the real big problem is the dynamic braking. RPC's will not push the braking enrgy back onto the grid through the generated leg well at all so you get an overvoltage condition on decel.

Sorry if you thought I didn't believe what you said, that was not the case. So what your saying is that model of machine has a higher than normal inrush current, than headstock spindles with similar horsepower.

 

[Garwood]

Sorry if you thought I didn't believe what you said, that was not the case. So what your saying is that model of machine has a higher than normal inrush current, than headstock spindles with similar horsepower.

I would say that I know Fanuc stuff OK and if you read the KW/HP off the motor nameplate or you look at the KW rating of the spindle drive in the cabinet you will want to double that number in HP to get an RPC idler that will be effective. It's not quite as true with a CNC mill because you have less mass to spin up and down. A lathe with a collet nose will be similar to a mill. A lathe with a big chuck holding a heavy part will really suck the pixies getting up to speed.

The SL2-H should have a Fanuc model 12 spindle motor which is rated for 15KW @ 4500 RPM and 53 amps for 30 minutes. 15KW is 20HP and a 20HP lathe spindle will require a 40HP RPC. single phase amps are 1.72 times 3 phase amps to take 53 amps x 1.72 to get 91 amps single phase.

That's just the spindle motor. You have a 2-3HP hydraulic pump and about 5HP worth of DC servos.

20HP RPC maxes out about 65 amps 3 phase. 30HP is good for 100 amps 3 phase max.

That's how I came to make the suggestions for a larger RPC than 20HP.

 

[kineticmx]

I run some nakamuras with fanuc 10T and 11T controls. They are pretty much the same interface. You might be in luck since its an 11T, which typically has bubble memory so no batteries to keep parameters in the control. If it hasn’t lost parameters you are probably good to start running it.

https://youtu.be/sES0Ut7tbQM

I found this video very helpful when I was getting mine operational. Walks you through the basics of tool offsets.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mhansen]

I was told by mori that it likely has 500 series keys