We have a Deckel Maho DMU 60T that we got second hand and have had in full time use for the past five years. It has never had any tool change issues until last week when it dropped a tool into the tool changer cabinet during an unmanned over night run. The machine was set up to run four identical programs on four identical parts with at total run time for around 20 hrs. It dropped the fifth tool on the first part, luckily the rest of the program/part was not affected by this tool not cutting at all. This was unusual and there was no obvious reason and no logical explanation as how it was even possible to drop the tool inside the tool cabinet. We ran the machine over the following night with the identical four parts and setup. It dropped the same tool on again the first part in the same part of the program, the only difference was that the tool was dropped into the machine cabinet. Amazingly in both cases the tool was unbroken and it did not cause any problem to the part except that some of the part was not finished.
So the place to start looking was there must be something wrong with the tool/holder/pull stud/tool change finger/tool change mechanism. There is no obvious damage, wear, build up of lube, foreign matter or other anomalies with any of these. The pull stud looked to be in very good condition but it was replaced with a new one to at least eliminate this possibility
Has anyone seen anything like this or have any ideas because myself and the machinists are totally baffled by this problem
So the place to start looking was there must be something wrong with the tool/holder/pull stud/tool change finger/tool change mechanism. There is no obvious damage, wear, build up of lube, foreign matter or other anomalies with any of these. The pull stud looked to be in very good condition but it was replaced with a new one to at least eliminate this possibility
Has anyone seen anything like this or have any ideas because myself and the machinists are totally baffled by this problem