problem with Fadal spindle error code

countryCNC · Apr 3, 2018

So i've got everything on my machine repaired or rebuilt, ready to put it in service and i get a new error code pop up. Machine is a 96 Fadal 4020. I can input M3S500 to start spindle warm up and 3-4 seconds into it, the spindle and motor kick off with a "motor overload - error # 2" code. its continuous. Have moved the card, plugged and unplugged, etc... to no avail. Yesterday I thought about turning the magnet off to see if that would do anything. I input M3.1S500, spindle starts turning, and keeps turning!! ok, so i've got somewhere. Can anyone tell me more on this. With magnet off, it will operate fine. Magnet on gives an error #2. So is it a bad magnet, or spindle motor encoder?? I'm close, but not sure which piece needs replaced. Thanks!

Josh

Tedger · Apr 3, 2018

You may have a bad magnet sensor for the spindle or the wire for it is loose. Type "DI" at the command line to enter diagnostics, then "DS" to display switchs. Rotate the spindle by hand to see if one goes from high to low. Type "X" to exit menu.

countryCNC · Apr 3, 2018

Which one should i be looking for? spindle orientation? Nothing changes when i move the spindle by hand.

countryCNC · Apr 3, 2018

I believe "orientspdl" is what i am looking for. Starts at 00 and does not change while i am rotating the spindle by hand except on occasion, it displays 01 for a split second and returns to 00. I am under the impression if i am rotating the spindle by hand it should change from 00 to 01 and stay at 01 till rotation stops??? also, what is the distance between magnet and the sensor to operate properly. I need to check and see if it needs adjustment.

Tedger · Apr 4, 2018

The magnet sensor sits atop the orientation bridge. The magnet is located on the top of the pulley. When it passes under the sensor ,you should see the display change to 01. I'm not sure what the distance apart should be, but it should be close. That sensor tells the computer that the spindle is turning. if it doesn't send a signal, the spindle stops after spinning for a few seconds and sends and error code. Usually the error number is "8". Since you are getting error code "2". you may have a bad spindle encoder. I would rule out the magnet sensor first ,then replace the motor encoder.

countryCNC · Apr 4, 2018

Tedger,
I have had work done in that area recently. Have installed a lightning cool TSC system this past month. I have also set the machine up for rigid tap.If i leave the rigid tap ELE-0001 eproms in the card, i get the #2 error. If i remove the RT eproms and put back in the non-rigid eproms, i get the #8 error. When in DS mode, the display only changes to 01 every 5th or 6th revolution, if that. It was not consistent in feedback when i manually turned the spindle, unlike my tool setter probe, which read 00 and as soon as i put the slightest pressure on it by finger, changed to 01 and stayed there until i released pressure. Almost positive its the magnet, but had no problems before lightning cool, so do you think the spacing is off now? i know they have to be within a certain spec to read properly. I'm hoping some adjustment is all that will be needed to cure this problem. Spindle turns fine as long as I input M3.1 to turn magnet off before spindle rotates. Thanks!

Josh

ifixcnc · Apr 4, 2018

If you stop the spindle with the magnet inline with the sensor, the 01 should stay on. Adjust the sensor down a bit and see if it helps. I don't have the gap size handy right now, but as long as you have enough gap that it wont rub the pulley you should be OK. If you cant get the 01 to stay on, you have a bad sensor or connection.

Tedger · Apr 4, 2018

Sounds like you got the problem narrowed down. I agree with ifix. set it as close as you can without rubbing. Also,Double check your wiring connections. I had a bad Molex connector that was giving me a connection that was intermittent. I pulled out a lot of hair that day!

countryCNC · Apr 5, 2018

ok, i had time tonight to take the cover off and check things out. If i am correct, the sensor is on the right hand side(facing machine) and there is a small magnet in the rotating spindle that passes under the sensor. I can move the two and line them up while under DS and it changes from 00 to 01, but if you rotate the spindle and the magnet passes under the sensor without stopping, it does not always change from 00 to 01, in fact, it only recognizes once ever 5 or 6 turns. I managed to turn the spindle 6 times around by hand and it didn't pick up a single rotation according to the screen staying at 00. I then took the feeler gauge and found the distance between magnet and sensor is about .027". Im guessing it should be down to about .010"?? Also, how do i adjust the sensor down closer to the magnet??? i had a tech install the lightning cool system and I wasn't present to watch him change over the parts. Can't afford to call him back just 4 weeks later. Thanks!

Josh

Bobw · Apr 5, 2018

countryCNC said:
ok, i had time tonight to take the cover off and check things out. If i am correct, the sensor is on the right hand side(facing machine) and there is a small magnet in the rotating spindle that passes under the sensor. I can move the two and line them up while under DS and it changes from 00 to 01, but if you rotate the spindle and the magnet passes under the sensor without stopping, it does not always change from 00 to 01, in fact, it only recognizes once ever 5 or 6 turns. I managed to turn the spindle 6 times around by hand and it didn't pick up a single rotation according to the screen staying at 00. I then took the feeler gauge and found the distance between magnet and sensor is about .027". Im guessing it should be down to about .010"?? Also, how do i adjust the sensor down closer to the magnet??? i had a tech install the lightning cool system and I wasn't present to watch him change over the parts. Can't afford to call him back just 4 weeks later. Thanks!

Josh

In my experience, .010 is about right.. I measured it recently for somebody on here, and it
was .010 to .012 on all my machines.

ALSO... When messing with things up top in the tool change piston area, I've had the misfortune
of not tightening everything back down properly and had the tool change piston/bridge flex...
And stayed flexed which pulled the hall effect sensor away a little too far.. That was years ago,
and I remember fighting spindle errors like crazy, and it was the gap to the hall effect sensor..
I don't remember the exact error #'s.. But I didn't even need to adjust the sensor, just loosen
the bolts, everything settled down, the gap shrunk and I just tightened it all up really good.

Hopefully that's your problem.. Even if its the sensor, they are cheap.. But FREE, and NOW is better.

countryCNC · Apr 13, 2018

So i finally had time to adjust the Hal sensor down closer to the magnet. No change! I went from .027" or so down to .011". I turn the machine on, enter S500M3, it runs for 3 seconds and BAM, motor overload error # 2. Now here is the strange part, I can then clear the axis, enter S500M3.1 and the spindle runs constantly. I can then stop the spindle, go back to S500M3 and it will run with no problems. In fact, the machine will run no problems until i cut it off, then when it's powered back up, it will error #2 until M3.1 is entered. After that, it runs on any command just fine. I'm stumped. Is it my sensor, magnet, or encoder???

countryCNC · Apr 14, 2018

ok, so working a little on this between mowing outside of the shop today. I've entered the DI DS command, rotated spindle by hand and i get intermittent change from 00 to 01, but NOT everytime the spindle magnet passes the Hal sensor. Should I get a reading every time? logic says yes in my head. I then hit the manual mode while in DS, so it now has the sensors on the screen while i am entering commands. I then hit S500M3, spindle runs continually, but the orientation sensor only changes from 00 to 01 at random times. It went 23 seconds without a change, so does this indicate a bad magnet or HAL sensor? My gut tells me i should be getting the sensor to indicate by changing from 00 to 01 EVERY single time the magnet passes underneath(or staying on 01 since the spindle would be rotating several times per second even at 500rpm) Is this correct?

Bobw · Apr 14, 2018

Depending on what you have in there, a new sensor is about $20..

I'm not a fan of throwing parts at a machine without proper diagnosis, but I
think you've hit the nail on the head..

countryCNC · Apr 16, 2018

Did one final test yesterday by having someone move the wires to hall sensor while rotating the spindle at 45rpm to see if that made a change. It did! I think there is a short in the wires of the Hall and that is causing our problem. It would make sense because we have just installed a lightning cool system and the wires were moved during install. Had they not been moved, probably wouldn't have had any problems for a while. Order new sensor and magnet(just to be safe). Will update once installed next week.

Josh

countryCNC · Apr 24, 2018

Time to report in on this issue. Unfortunately, replacing the HALL sensor did nothing to prevent the motor overload error #2 problem. I am next going to change the magnet, but starting to doubt if that will have any effect. So the machine runs fine if using M3.1 instead of M3, but if the HALL sensor and magnet are not bad, how does turning off the magnet prevent the error if it's something else, like an encoder??? Im stumped on this one and the tech who i have found to work on my machine has been extremely sick and just now got out of the hospital after 4wks in ICU. Im not wanting to call someone to charge me $800 drive time to come up here and fix this.

Uguessedit · May 16, 2020

Agree with ifixcnc the shimmed gap isn’t as important as clearance when it turns. Our vmc15 was acting up and lowering the sensor just above the magnet approx .020 alleviated the issue. It was just high enough that it wasn’t always being triggered. Simple fix for sure.

Frederick Sanders · Jul 25, 2022

To others who have found this thread by searching and you have a similar problem as CountryCNC, Your problem may just be a dead or low battery and some if not all of your parameters may have defaulted to the factory settings. When this happened to me, my machine would cold start fine but when I went to MDI and entered S600M3, my spindle would run for about 3 seconds then give me a motor overload fault on C axis. I entered SETP at the command prompt and noticed that several of my parameters were incorrect. I didn't lose my backlash table nor did it forget where tool 1 was located. But to my surprise, the pitch changed from inch to metric and my Orientation adjustment factor had changed from 10 to 5 as well as my format went from 2 to 1. I set these 3 items back and double checked that my other parameters were as listed in the back of my cabinet. After that, no more motor overload fault. But this is a sign that my battery is very low. FAIR WARNING: Before I realized these changes had occurred, I started a program that asked for a tool change and my tool changer crashed because Z didn't lift up high enough to allow the tool all the way out. When the turret rotated, it jammed. I'm grateful that nothing broke. Apparently, the metric ball-screw requires less revolutions to cover a set distance. Setting it back to inch cured this problem.

TDAnderson · Dec 5, 2023

Thanks for all of this .. . but no-one ever indicated how to adjust the sensor . . . it's clearly threaded on the entire exterior, but I can seem to get it to turn. I was thinking there should be a hole up top for an allen key?

problem with Fadal spindle error code

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