BP VMC1000/22 won't m19

Hello guys, I finally jumped into the cnc world. I purchased a 1996 BP VMC1000/22 from a good friend of mine for very fair price with the issue at hand. The main issue is that the machine will not finish an m19 command. The second issue is it will throw a "PM drive axis fault" when spindle is commanded to anything over 500rpm. I'm thinking (and hoping) the 2 issues are related. I'm familiar enough with basic operation principles, but this is out of my zone of knowledge. I do have the full manuals for the machine, but they are of just about zero use at this point.

Troubleshooting steps taken so far by my friend I bought it from have been:
-rebuilt spindle encoder (tried multiple also)
-new encoder pulley coupler
-data cable from encoder to board
-circuit board encoder cable connects to
-spindle motor and spindle cartridge rebuilt
-new spindle drive controller
-dx32 operating system fully reloaded

When the machine came to me, the encoder belt was nasty and missing teeth. I thought that might certainly explain things so a new belt was put on. Tweaked the orientation offset parameter to get the drive lug lined up perfectly for s tool change, but it still won't finish an m19. It jogs the spindle around, orients to proper spot, but just sits there saying "waiting for STM to finish... ".

Is there a second encoder in the spindle motor? It looks like theres another encoder cable connecting to it. Do the 2 encoder signals need to shake hands or something?

Any chance anyone here has run into a similar issue and been able to solve it? Thanks for any help!!!

Well if anyone was curious, I managed to fix the orientation issue. When the spindle drive was replaced, it was apparently never programmed to the machine. When 0M3 was called out, the spindle was doing ~60rpm, not less than 1rpm that it should be. I adjusted the drift parameters in the drive itself to get it below 1rpm, and now it will finish an orient and perform a tool change!

I managed to fix the spindle error today! I looked at the parameter list and noticed there was a "spindle ramp rate" in the book. Called up the parameter and it was set at 0. Set it to 1500rpm/sec and I could ramp to 4k, but would still error at 6k. Bumped it to 2500rpm/sec and it's perfect now! I can command 6000k from a dead stop with no faults and back to zero with no faults.

Mission accomplished!! Hope this helps someone else!

Thanks for posting that last bit. I'm having a similar issue with my VMC1000/22. I'll have to try that. My hard drive died and the disc I had the parameters backed up on died.

Griffin said:

Thanks for posting that last bit. I'm having a similar issue with my VMC1000/22. I'll have to try that. My hard drive died and the disc I had the parameters backed up on died.

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Absolutely! I may not be a regular here, but I'm happy to give back what I can. If you need a parameter set from my machine, I'd be happy to send them to you. It seems to be running well so hopefully they're all "correct". However, I was told that my machine was likely a custom order as it has Siemens drives in it which is extremely uncommon according to EMI. If I can help you, let me know!

FYI - EMI has an upgraded internal computer coming out in a few months that will allow for usb drives and even networking! It runs dos inside of windows 7 from what I recall on the phone conversation and would allow for a file transfer to the machine from any computer on the network. Price will be just shy of $700 I was told, which I thought was quite reasonable.

Hi Guys,
Looking for help with my Hardinge.
The wires on the door switch are disconnected and I cannot find how to reconnect them.
Can you both please have a look on your machines to see if the wire number match yours.
I have a Siemans controller.

My door switch is not osha complaint, soooo I'm afraid I can't help you with any pictures haha.

Thanks whitbread for posting this. I have the same problem with my BP VMC760-22 with siemens drives. Just got it running on a 20 HP RPC. Odd that a faster acceleration would work better.
I will try changing my params today.

Whitbread, sent you a pm. Have some questions about the upgrade you mentioned earlier and some others. Much thanks!!