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Mazak QT15 CAM-T2 Error 13 Drive Alarm X Axis

Pete Deal

Stainless
Joined
Apr 10, 2007
Location
Morgantown, WV
I am getting this alarm ( Error 13- Drive Alarm X Axis) and trying to figure out a few things.

The error initially occurred and can be consistently repeated during a drilling cycle. Drilling a 1/2" hole in a piece of steel- it gets about .8" in and alarms. Interesting because the Z axis is doing the work and the X axis is stationary. Rapids are set way low since this is a one of part. Also, I tried stopping the program (drill bit removed) and tramming the Z manually and no error.

So I called MEAU and no help yet other than to say that my drives are not serviceable (MR-S80E-01A on the X axis, MR-S100E-01A on the Z axis). He is researching some more to see what options I have but I have not heard back yet.

Question 1- I have read that some people found this to be a resolver error. For the sake of testing I would like to swap the drives. Since they are different I am not sure. The electrical manual says one is 10a and the other a 15a drive. It seems to me that just for testing purposes I could swap these to see if the error stays with the drive or with the axis. Anybody know for sure? On each drive there is a little rotary switch. On one drive it is set to 0 and on the other it is set to 1. I figure this is the drive address. No other difference in jumper settings.

Question 2- Anybody know if there is another drive that is compatible with these? By the way these are AC servos not DC.

Thanks!
 
Yes I have been checking all over and getting the drive isn't the issue right at the moment. The issue is making sure the problem is the drive.

Anybody know if it is ok to swap the drives considering that one is an 80 size drive and one is a 100 size drive for testing only to make sure it's the drive?

Mitsubishi did come back and say that the replacement is part number B0281-1 and they have them.
 
Just to follow up with some more information. This morning I swapped the drives. The only change I made was to swap the settings of the little rotary selector switches that are right above the communication connectors. Error "Error 13 Drive Alarm X Axis" message stayed with the axis not the drive. When the machine errors out drive LED shows "36" which is a data transfer error.

So I put the drives back where they belong and started the machine back up to find a "20 NMI Emergency Stop". I messed with this a while and found out I had bumped one of the circuit breakers on the door. I turned the breaker back on and the estop error went away.

I did some more testing and initially after being all put back I got the the same error while drilling at about .8" deep just as before. I stroke the z axis manually and no such error. Then messing with it some more the last time I ran the program no error and it got all the way through the program without the error.

I think it is an encoder or an encoder wiring issue. This afternoon I am going to remove the cable from the encoder and re-seat that connector.
 
I did some more testing and initially after being all put back I got the the same error while drilling at about .8" deep just as before. I stroke the z axis manually and no such error. Then messing with it some more the last time I ran the program no error and it got all the way through the program without the error.

I think it is an encoder or an encoder wiring issue. This afternoon I am going to remove the cable from the encoder and re-seat that connector.
Have you checked the axis motor brushes lately?
 
The drives are the most common failure point of older Mazaks, so keep that in mind as you troubleshoot.

Spare drives can be sourced via EBay, and MEAU use to rebuild them (hard to believe they claim its “not serviceable”), and several independent shops still do.

If MEAU is claiming the MR- drives are not serviceable, would they not be legally required to provide complete schematics??

After all, there are literally hundreds of thousands of those drives still in service...
 
Since the problem seems to stay with the axis independent of moving the drives I am going to try to replace the encoder first. I found a Servo motor/encoder combo on ebay for $260 shipped so that is on the way and I will try that first.

Also, the Mitsubishi guy told me that the replacement that they can sell me for my "MR-S1-80E-1A" drive is their part number B0281-1. I called them today to price it and the price is $4817. No used or refurb drives available. The model number for this drive is "MR-S11-80-N". The lady said it is current production. So I looked around on ebay and there are quite a few "MR-S11" drives there. My thinking is that if I had to buy a replacement drive maybe this is the way to go (off ebay) since it could then be serviced in the future? If I buy another old drive that may work for now but can't be serviced I may be back where I am soon.

In the mean time I am going over the manual for the "MR-S11" drive to see what I can learn since there are several variations of it. I guess schematics might be nice but I think trying to trouble shoot that drive at the board level would be about like doing brain surgery. My past experience with troubleshooting and fixing power electronics is that it can be exciting.

What fun! And it seems all of a sudden I have a bunch of lathe work. In fact when it crapped out on me I was just making a drawbar adapter for a 5c collet nose I picked up to try to get a little more efficient with small parts.
 
Any of the MR-S1__-80 drives will sub for your current dive.

The relevant numbers are after the S : “1” is for 1 axis, and a “11” is a newer revision of the same drive.

The “80” is the size of the drive.

The rest of the numbers and letters are just the level of revisions...
 
Update.

To recap:

This error has been occurring during a drilling cycle when the the drill is about .8"-.9" into the part. I can't reproduce it just jogging the turret around. Also rapids were at 50%.

I swapped the z and x drives for testing and still got the same "13 Drive Alarm X Axis". Also, and I don't think I mentioned this before, the drives each have a "36" on them when the error occurs. This is a "Transfer Error" and in the manual it is a data transfer error between the drive and control.

I then put a new, purchased on ebay, encoder on the x axis. Same error.

Then just to day I received and installed a new used MR-S11-80-E01 drive for the x axis. Now the error is "14 Drive Alarm Z Axis".

I took the CAM11 (data cable) off the FX81 card removed the card, inspected, inspected the connector, reinstalled. Still same error.

I then loaded another program. Reset the Z zero back a ways because I have a part that I hope to save, in the chuck. Ran another program. No error. Then reloaded my current program and now no error. I ran it twice with no error. Scratching my head now. I am going to try to finish the part tomorrow and see how it goes.

One thing I learned for those who need drives in the future. My machine had the MR-S1 drives. The drive I replaced it with is an MR-S11 drive. This is a newer drive so hopefully will be a good option for new life for old machines.
 
Problem Solved! (said with fingers crossed)

It turned out to be the chuck barrier and the machine reported it as a servo error complete with a code 36 on the drives.

This only cost me about 2 weeks and $1500. Education is never free.

The guys at MEAU are great really! I know the complaints about certain stuff not being supported anymore but they are very helpful. It was his suggestion that it seemed like some sort of barrier error.

I guess the up side is that I now have a spare servo drive and encoder. I think I will try to sell the encoder.
 
Hello All,
First time poster here.
I wanted to pickup on this thread, since my QT15 with CAM-2 control, just did something similar to me today.
It worked fine yesterday, but this morning it alarmed as soon as I powered it up.
It was showing alarm codes 13 and 14 , and back on the axis drive unit it was flashing "37" for both X and Z drives.

One unusual thing I noticed was, that the section of the command screen where it shows all the operating hours etc. AND the parts counter total was flashing from blank to whatever numbers were recorded. This flashing was erratic and the numbers would only show briefly then disappear. I think there has to be a connection between the alarms and the numbers flashing on and off.
Question is, would the problem lie in the axis control itself, or one of the PCBs involved with the overall functioning of the machine ?
I had one control PCB repaired just a few months back that was causing other problems.
So I'm wondering if, and which one might be suspect this time ?
Any ideas where to start ?
Thanks for your help.
 
Thanks very much for the link to download the manual.
Since my initial posting, I have been talking with a Mitsubishi service tech and he advised about this being a parameter problem as you said.
He advised to look for any asterisks in my parameter tables which would indicate a corrupted entry.
Lucky I had a factory set of parameters and also records of what the parameters had been previously.
I found a lot of changes and a few asterisks as well, so reset to what was on my list.
Well, the servo drive alarms disappeared, but I do not have any axis movement or spindle functions.
Now two things are apparent:
#1.The operating hours flash on and off or actually jump from one number to another .
#2.Some of the parameters changed again after I had reset them.
Is it possible for parameters to randomly change on their own ?
The Mits service tech advised for me to "re-initialize" the control.
But with the symptom of flickering/changing information, I'm thinking there is trouble on one of the FX boards.
I had the FX15 board sent out and repaired some months ago when I had other troubles and everything worked fine for months.
I have a collection of boards I bought from eBay to single out the first trouble maker and have systematically swapped them out this time with no effect.
I don't have them all, maybe 2/3 of them.
I want to get with the Mits service tech today to see which board may carry the memory that is flashing and changing values.
 
Here is an update to what I'm running into....
I kept having parameters that would change on their own which I thought was really odd, and I hadn't had that happen before, so I contacted Mitsubishi again.
Another Mits tech also advised to re-initialize my machine; but I questioned about whether the flickering recorded hours etc. should be sorted first. My thinking was, if there's something wrong with the stored memory, as in a bad circuit or whatever, re-initializing won't change that.
Anyway, I had spare FX884 and FX727 boards that just needed new batteries so I spent some money and put new ones in.
Swapping the 884 didn't change a thing, but swapping the 727 sure did. Now all the recorded hours are showing consistently like they should.
But because this replacement board came from an unknown machine, the parameters are screwed up and I'm getting new error codes.
So I'm hoping by resetting the parameters to the ones I have recorded will solve the problem.
Saying this with fingers crossed ! LOL
 
Chapter 2 on my part of the thread. I got out to the shop this morning. Turned the machine on, started it zeroing, and along the way it errored - X axis fault 13 I think. Powered down and restarted, same thing, had a brief new groan before erroring each time. I twisted the ball screw for the x axis and it was free. The error on the x drive was over current (32 I think). I did notice a hint of a burnt smell when I opened the cabinet. I pulled the x axis drive and installed the one that I bought but wound up not using in chapter 1 of this thread and up and running again. Spares are nice!
 








 
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