New to me QT15SP

Hello everybody,

I just got a Mazak QT15SP and am about to have a bunch of questions from those far more knowledgeable than I. I have had a bunch of electrical problems since the machine hit the floor a week and a half ago, but I have scheduled mitsubishi to come up next week and go thru it to fix whatever problems I am having with it on the electronics side. Questions I have right now is about the EIA/ISO one, and memory next. When I go to make a new program, I am used to the control (T2) asking me if I want a Mazatrol or EIA program. This machine does not ask me, and goes straight to mazatrol, so, is there a perameter that I have to unlock? or do I have to add boards and software to do it? Can I take a picture of my control card rack and somebody tell me what I have, and what I need? Next, the control will only save 16 programs and will not transfer to or from the "bubble" is that another card I have to add as well? How about the USB options from Calmotion? What should I do?! Oh, and I figured I would take a picture of the machine...I painted it already, now I want it to run as good as it looks!!!

nrobertson80 said:

When I go to make a new program, I am used to the control (T2) asking me if I want a Mazatrol or EIA program. This machine does not ask me, and goes straight to mazatrol, so, is there a perameter that I have to unlock? or do I have to add boards and software to do it?

Click to expand...

Good looking machine. Welcome to the board.

No EIA option purchased with this machine. It can be added with boards and EEPROM chips, but why? G-code is such a pain in the ass compared to Mazatrol.

Many people here have used EZATROL to transfer programs to the PC (~$200) , so the added miniscule and expensive bubble memory is a waste IMHO.

EZATROL LITE

Biggest thing to check on this machine is transformer is set correctly for your incoming voltage and machine is phased properly. New NiCad batteries in the control and new belts and servo brushes will prevent future problems too.

No EIA option purchased with this machine. It can be added with boards and EEPROM chips, but why? G-code is such a pain in the ass compared to Mazatrol.

Thanks Philabuster!!!

Yeah, The main reason I want to be able to to the EIA/ISO is I would like to program most everything with CAM and I would like to have fanuc G- code recognition. For most everything mazatrol is perfect, but some parts it would be easy to program splined OD contours in CAM, but as I understand it, harder in mazatrol... Correct me if I am wrong! So I would like to get whatever I need to do so.....could you steer me in the right direction to get what I need?!

Hopefully Mitsubishi will get everything figured out here as I am having major electronics problems, But I am looking to the future!!!

edit: I did just buy ezatrol for the bubble memory issue....Thanks for the recommendation!

I have to agree spline contours are a bit of a pain in Mazatrol, but not as much as pain as G-code is to me, and I have EIA on my T-3 Mazak.

I usually deal with splines by approximating a series of tangent arcs into the spline on my old CAD/CAM with a max deviation of .0005" from nominal--well under my print profile tolerance. Then dimension the start and end points along with the radius. Enter the data into Mazatrol and run toolpath and adjust feeds/speeds at machine. Most splines I can stay under 10 arcs.

It usually takes me about 1/2 hour to enter and convert the data off an old print and enter it into Mazatrol. Far less time than making a G-code program for me. If you already have the data in the system electronically, then I can see why you want to go with G-code.

Many times, the splines I encounter are just a radius or two converted into R&Z spline data points. Makes it a piece o cake for those.

It is hard to stay extremely competitive with Mazatrol T1 T2 or even T32 without Gcode. I found there are too many required finishing passes for virtually every operation. Maybe I am not the best programmer but I never found a way to eliminate a finish pass or only make a finish pass without minimal roughing.

Speedie said:

I never found a way to eliminate a finish pass or only make a finish pass without minimal roughing.

Click to expand...

Leave out the finish tool for a given process and it will only rough it. Conversely, if you only enter a finish tool on a process, machine will ONLY cut the finish profile.

Also, using CPY process acts like a G73 process and you can run a roughing tool over a profile, then finish without cutting a bunch of air.

Ok, So I had Mitsubishi here today and they went thru all of the electronics. Looks like a bad spindle drive, axis drive, and some cables.... OUCH... Anyways, when I get those back, I still would like to get everything to do the EIA. So the FX17 Board Philabuster directed me to, and then as ive been researching it, I need to get some proms and maybe another board as well....Im going to attach a picture of my board rack so you guys can look at it and see what is missing hopefully. When we do find out exactly what I need, where can I get it? I talked to Mitsubishi about it and they said they dont sell it...so do I go thru Mazak? or ????
Next, I know the subspindle is noisy, so I am thinking that needs bearings most likely, and also the x axis ballscrew is noisy as well, What can I do to check if it is ok or if it is bad? are there any documents outlining what to do to replace or rebuild these things?
Thank you all for your help, Im feeling quite over my head here....this machine is taking waaaayyyy more work to get up and running than I ever expected....of course, when I bought it everything worked great, no problems with it at all........

Boards can be purchased easily on ebay, but some have different software revisions, so you may need Mitsubishi to help steer you in the correct direction on what to find.

Type in the board number you need to find and the word Mitsubishi on ebay (alternatively Mazak) and see what pops up.

FX17 mitsubishi | eBay

One Other question, I had a Mazak tech here and he told me that the machine has to be placed on steel feet pads that apparently I never got with the machine. So what size should I get for them? I was thinking 1/2 to 3/4 thick pieces of 4"x4" 1018 with a small round recess cut into them to receive the leveling bolts. I just dont want to make them too big or too small, I searched the forum a bit and couldnt find anything so hopefully somebody can help me out. Thank you!

Nick

3/4 min would be my guess. Memory says mine were round, 6" x1" and a slight hollow on the bottom.

ok cool, Thanks scruffy887, I ordered 1inch thick material to make them, next question is what kind of tool holder bushings do I need, I see a bunch of different styles and am not sure which ones I need???

My god that machine is beautiful. Where are these coming from? All vocational school retirees?

Hello everybody, Im back again, still with problems unfortunately I am about at the end of my rope with this thing, it is definately winning the war at this point...anyways, I finally got the Spindle Drive back today, and installed.... Now when I power up the machine it will not home out. The Z axis will, But the X axis keeps giving me alarms. If I leave the machine Idle and do not try to move the axis it will within minutes have a 51 alarm code on the drive, and a 20 NCI code on the Control. If I try to move the axis to home it out, I will get a 52 on the drive and a 1 servo lag alarm on the control. What is the 51 alarm? What could be causing it? Can somebody please help me in troubleshooting this servo drive and axis to figure out what is causing it? It is a MR-S80E-01A drive.

Also, here is a little more information on what has been done to the machine thus far.....I had Mitsubishi come out and go thru all of the wiring and electronics, which is how we determined the bad spindle drive. He also megger'd all of the motors, and wiring going to the motors. He had me replace all of the wiring from the drives to the servo motors, which I did. I got new amphenol connectors and everything, so I am pretty sure that it is not a bad wiring issue....Also, you can turn the ballscrew with your hand all the way thru its travel with minimal effort and no binding whatsoever. So what could be going on with this thing? Could it be from being powered down for so long (2 months waiting on the spindle drive)?

A huge thanks to anybody that can help me get a handle on this thing... I just want to make some chips!!

Nick

Sounds like you have a bad X-axis servo drive. MEAU can check it for you, and repair if necessary.

Good luck on it...

Greg

Thanks Greg,

OK, It has been a very long day and I have a lot more information....

So, I started off today talking with MEAU (who have been very helpful on the phone by the way) and they thought that the symptoms I was describing pointed toward the motor and not the drive, So I decided to test first by switching the Z and X servo Drives. The problem stayed with the X axis and did not follow the drive. Next I decided to switch the encoders to rule that out, And again, the problem stayed with the X axis. So now we are down to encoder wiring, (being that I just replaced the motor wiring from the drive, which I pinned out and was correctly wired) or the motor, So I was trying to pull the x axis servo motor off to take it somewhere to again have it tested as when mitsubishi was out about 8 weeks ago they megger'd it and it was fine, but I cannot get it off? It looks to me, that after the four allen head capscrews come off, there is something like a lovejoy connector but with what looks to be a brass shim stack or something connecting the two flanges, It looks like two Nylock nuts could come off to release it but you cannot get a wrench to the back side of the motor side flange to hold the thru-bolt.... How does this thing come off??!!

Next, since I could not get the motor off, I was just metering around in the cabinet and came across something very odd....I found that on all the power supply leads, to the servo drives as well as the spindle drive have 230 volts when measured phase to phase, but only 70~ volts from phase to ground??!! So, I decide to measure at the transformer, and again, I have the same thing!! But When I measure the high voltage side, I have 500-505 volts phase to phase, and 250 single phase to ground.... What is going on here? Is the transformer no good as well?? Could that be causing the problems I have been experiencing, and nobody, including a meau tech caught it? Anybody else ever seen something like this?

Thanks again for any help, This community is amazing, and I would be lost without it....So again thanks to all those who have responded!

Nick

Nick,

To remove the X-axis servo motor, you have to disassemble the flexible coupling between the motor and ballscrew. There are 4 bolts/nuts holding the coupling together, you access these through the openings in the servo motor-mount casting. Once these 4 coupling bolts are loose and out, and the motor bolts are out, the motor should slide off the back of the motor mount.

Not sure about your voltage issues, but that could definitely cause issues with a drive and motor. Have you opened up the machine transformer to make sure all the taps are properly set for your incoming voltage?

Good luck,

Greg

Ok, I saw the flexible coupling with the four bolts, problem is with the motor all the way forward, I still cannot get a wrench into the backside of the motor side flange to hold the thrubolt?? Ill look at it again.... If I cannot is there any other way to get it off?

And yeah, all the Taps are correct.....Im thinking something in the transformer is messed up somehow....Unfortunately

Thanks again Greg.

Nick

Nick,

I left out some bolts! You have to remove the 8 (or is it 10?) bolts on the machine side of the coupling, then the motor should be free. If not, then I believe you may have to remove the 4 bolts holding the coupling together.

Greg

Got It Greg! Its off and too the motor shop for testing....Also, I took the Transformer Diagram to an electrical engineer guy I know and he said that the voltages that I have are correct for the output of that transformer! So I dont think that is a problem, Can somebody else measure theirs to confirm?

Thanks Again,
Nick

Finally, after another 3 days with a Mitsubishi Tech here, The machine finally RUNS!!!!

We searched for days and days and finally found the problem with a miswired power wire going to ground, bit only when the harness was connected to the motor!! Disconnected from the motor you would never see it!.....Made the machine do some very wierd things on all axis's!!! But thank God we finally found it....replaced the wire, and now everything works exactly as it should!

I cannot say enough about Mitsubishi and the service they provide....Its expensive, but well worth it, and they worked with me and helped me to find the problem. The Tech they sent to me was AWESOME! Omar, Extremely Good, knowledgeable guy and would recommend him or Mitsubishi's service to anybody....I never would have found it myself!

Ran some test cuts tonight and everything worked as it should! Very excited as I was getting ready to just sell everything and cut my losses!

Thanks to everybody that helped and responded on this forum! It has been a big help as well!

I will have more questions I am sure!

Again, thanks all!

Nick