Milltronics spindle pegging load meter

mkeller · Jun 3, 2014

Hello
Looking for some advise. Picked up a 96 milltronics p6, for my garage and have been working on getting it going. Having an issue with the 6000 rpm spindle. it is maxing out at 2100 rpms and the load meter is pegged out, not cutting. Should I be checking for a bad spindle/bearing. or is it not shifting into high gear?. I also am using an rotary phase covertor to power it incase that may effect something. would like to rule out all of the easy stuff before I have to call in the repair man.($900.)
Thanks
Mike

bukwerm · Jun 3, 2014

Have you called Milltronics and talked to one of their techs? They've always been very helpful when I've talked to them. Phone calls are cheap.

DMF_TomB · Jun 3, 2014

gear box

mkeller said:
Hello
Looking for some advise. Picked up a 96 milltronics p6, for my garage and have been working on getting it going. Having an issue with the 6000 rpm spindle. it is maxing out at 2100 rpms and the load meter is pegged out, not cutting. Should I be checking for a bad spindle/bearing. or is it not shifting into high gear?. I also am using an rotary phase covertor to power it incase that may effect something. would like to rule out all of the easy stuff before I have to call in the repair man.($900.)
Thanks
Mike

.
1) does it have a gear box? it is possible at max rpm in low gear you max motor out and maybe should put it in high gear??

there is a rpm and hp available for most machines and often when you are the extremes you have limited hp available.

2) check oil types. a thick oil in a cold garage can absorb a lot of hp. some consider using 10W-30 at its viscosity changes less with temperature

3) check voltage. if wired for 460v and you are on 230v you will have problems. i have even seen problems where wired for 230v and it was on 208v was enough to create problems

Big B · Jun 3, 2014

Hi Mike,

I had a very similar problem with my vmc. It turned out to be a be a fried motor winding. I was able to get the motor re-wound and all is good now. The spindle motor had somehow gotten liquid in it. (water or coolant)

I would try putting a clamp on ammeter on the wires leading to the spindle motor to see if there is too much load.

Big B

mkeller · Jun 3, 2014

Thanks, it dosent have a gear box. I will try calling milltronics and check the load tonight.

DMF_TomB · Jun 3, 2014

Big B said:
Hi Mike,

I had a very similar problem with my vmc. It turned out to be a be a fried motor winding. I was able to get the motor re-wound and all is good now. The spindle motor had somehow gotten liquid in it. (water or coolant)

I would try putting a clamp on ammeter on the wires leading to the spindle motor to see if there is too much load.

Big B

.
if it is a 3 phase motor i have seen where 1 out of 3 fuses was blown and created problems. a clamp on amp meter can tell you a lot as well as a volt meter

mkeller · Jun 4, 2014

update

DMF_TomB said:
.
if it is a 3 phase motor i have seen where 1 out of 3 fuses was blown and created problems. a clamp on amp meter can tell you a lot as well as a volt meter

called milltronics and they gave me the resellers phone for repair. Put a amp meter on it and got 2.5 2.4 and 2.6 off of all three legs at the spindle motor, plate on motor says amps 19/9.5 so im not sure if my readings tell me anything.
Found the 3 fuses, how do i check them to see if there bad?
sorry for the newbie questions
Thanks
Mike

bukwerm · Jun 4, 2014

That's too bad about the reply from Milltronics. Was that directly from their tech? Because I've had nothing but good luck with them.

I've bought salvaged fuses from emsco on the north side of Minneapolis and they just had some contraption with a buzzer to check for continuity. My take was that the fuses were either good or bad. No in between. Makes sense to me because a fuse that can partially go doesn't seem like it would protect much.

SchneiderMachine · Jun 4, 2014

Milltronics won't do ANY thing for their customers anymore, all done through the reseller. They are going to hell in a hand basket. I know of a shop that had a lot of their machines, they are being systematically replaced with something else. An Okuma can be had for only a few thou more than a Milltronics of similar size and features.
I like my Milltronics but it sad to see the support from the factory go the way of the dodo bird.
Dave

TeachMePlease · Jun 5, 2014

I know nothing about machine repair, but I can tell you how to check a fuse:

Get a digital multimeter ($10 or so for a cheap one at radioshack if you don't have one) set it to continuity check, and put the probes across both terminals. If you get a reading of infinity or error or anything but a number, the circuit is open (no continuity), and the fuse is bad. (To test to see what reading you should get for a closed, or good circuit, simply touch the two probes together)

Edit: DO THIS WITH THE FUSES OUT OF THE MACHINE, OR AT LEAST NO POWER TO THE MACHINE.

Disclaimer: I am not an electrician. I just played with electricity a good bit when I was a kid. I take no responsibility for damage to you or your machine, should you do something stupid like cause a short circuit with 240V running through the boards.

DMF_TomB · Jun 5, 2014

3 phase

mkeller said:
called milltronics and they gave me the resellers phone for repair. Put a amp meter on it and got 2.5 2.4 and 2.6 off of all three legs at the spindle motor, plate on motor says amps 19/9.5 so im not sure if my readings tell me anything.
Found the 3 fuses, how do i check them to see if there bad?
sorry for the newbie questions
Thanks
Mike

.
3 fuses usually means 3 phase at what voltage ?? if you supply 230v when it is wired for 460v you will of course have problems.
.
how are you getting the 3 phase? if you are using a single phase to 3 phase converter that could be the problem as it might not be able to supply the needed amps and voltage
.
be aware a motor wired for 230 volts and supplied with 460 volts usually burns out fairly quickly. you might want to make sure you power supplied is correct for your machine.
.
19/9.5 usually means at 460 volts you will get max of 9.5 amps. if you are getting 2.5 amps something is not right. i would expect 5 to 9.5 amps. if you are supplying 230 volts normally that would be 19 amps max and i would expect maybe 10 to 19 amps.
.
i would measure voltage when running. if voltage drops more than 10% when machine turned on their is a problem. usually a power supply problem

allen mullis · Jun 5, 2014

mkeller said:
Hello
Looking for some advise. Picked up a 96 milltronics p6, for my garage and have been working on getting it going. Having an issue with the 6000 rpm spindle. it is maxing out at 2100 rpms and the load meter is pegged out, not cutting. Should I be checking for a bad spindle/bearing. or is it not shifting into high gear?. I also am using an rotary phase covertor to power it incase that may effect something. would like to rule out all of the easy stuff before I have to call in the repair man.($900.)
Thanks
Mike

Check to make sure you are not in low gear in your parameters. Go to parameters ->setup->type proto3 -> enter -> 3 -> go to "misc" and scroll down to spindle range and see what range you are in and what the allowable speeds are for the range you are in. Take out the 4 screws that hold the fiberglass cover on the head and look at the belts configuration. If you are in high it will be bigger on the motor than the spindle, and vice versa for low. It is also possible that someone changed you spindle drive and didn't set the drive parameters properly, especially with respect to the spindle load issue. The control is looking for a 0-10 V DC signal from the drive depending on load, 0 means no load and 10 is max. The drive is capable of signaling 0-10 for load, speed or several other variables. The control out puts a 0-10V DC signal to the drive to regulate the speed. First things first, check the physical range as well as the parameter range and make sure they jive.

mkeller · Jun 8, 2014

mkeller · Jun 8, 2014

update

thanks for all the advise, its helping alot
checked the fuses and they are good.
parameters are set to low
and belts may be as well, see attached pic.

if so do i just switch the belts and change parameters to high?

Will check voltage this afternoon and post results
mike

ihbuilder · Jun 8, 2014

From what I see your parms look good . If you have your manual , just double check them . Mine are on a printed sheet of computer paper and a 3.5 floppy .

Your belts are in low range . there must be a way to toggle between ranges at the control . I'm surprised tech wont help you :confused:

adama · Jun 9, 2014

FYI 2.5 amps ish a phase sounds good and would be no were near 100% load irrespective of speed. Fuses will be fine or the currents would not be that well balanced, you need to look at the drive settings and how its interfaced to the control for the fault.

mkeller · Jun 9, 2014

adama said:
FYI 2.5 amps ish a phase sounds good and would be no were near 100% load irrespective of speed. Fuses will be fine or the currents would not be that well balanced, you need to look at the drive settings and how its interfaced to the control for the fault.

That's where I leaning towards too. I think im going to switch the belts to high and switch the parameters.

allen mullis · Jun 11, 2014

You are on the right track, ignore the spindle load meter for now, it is just a reference.

mkeller · Jun 12, 2014

allen mullis said:
Check to make sure you are not in low gear in your parameters. Go to parameters ->setup->type proto3 -> enter -> 3 -> go to "misc" and scroll down to spindle range and see what range you are in and what the allowable speeds are for the range you are in. Take out the 4 screws that hold the fiberglass cover on the head and look at the belts configuration. If you are in high it will be bigger on the motor than the spindle, and vice versa for low. It is also possible that someone changed you spindle drive and didn't set the drive parameters properly, especially with respect to the spindle load issue. The control is looking for a 0-10 V DC signal from the drive depending on load, 0 means no load and 10 is max. The drive is capable of signaling 0-10 for load, speed or several other variables. The control out puts a 0-10V DC signal to the drive to regulate the speed. First things first, check the physical range as well as the parameter range and make sure they jive.

SUCCESS, it was in low gear, changed the belts and the parameters and its spinining alot faster. Thanks again to all for the help. Now on to my draw bar issues, it will be a new post.
Mike

SchneiderMachine · Jun 12, 2014

Drawbar is a piece of cake to fix. Probably a few broken belleville washers in there.
Dave

Milltronics spindle pegging load meter

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