Need Help!- Bridgeport 2r3e spindle issue

[cpearce]

I'm having a problem with a Bridgeport 2r3e. The problem I'm having is when the spindle motor shuts off the machine locks up and you have to power down the machine and restart it to get it to work. When the machine locks up it doesn't produce an error code of any kind.

I'm not sure what the problem is exactly, the only think I was able to find while troubleshooting it was the 24V is low. It reads about 21.8V. I'm not sure if these problems are related. The voltage coming into the power supply is fine, and the 100VDC is fine ,just the 24V is low.

The other thing the machine is doing is when you first power it up it has a axis limit error, but once you enable the drives the error goes away and doesn't return. I'm not sure if these problems are related or if this is anything to worry about.

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.

[machintek]

A machine control lock up may have more to do with the logic power supply. The 24VDC is used for relays, etc.
Are you on a phase converter?
Do you have a maintenance manual? Can you read the section on the FIST monitor. Possibly use it?
What is the status of the FMDC and EAF per the LED?

George

[cpearce]

Thank you machintek for your reply.

The machine is hooked up to 3 phase power, not a converter. I do have all the manuals. I haven't read the FIST monitor section, but i found it and will read it tomorrow. I also found the section on the EAF and FMDC LED's and what they should be doing.

On power up the LED's on the EAF and FMDC blink like the manual says they should. When the machine freezes up the LED on the EAF stops blinking and stays off, and on the FMDC LED 1 and 2 continue to blink normally but LED 4 turns off.

I also got the chance to talk to the machinist that runs the machine today and got some more information from him. He says that the machine will run fine for the first couple hours of the day, then it will start freezeing up everytime the spindle stops for a tool change. The machine will also freeze up if the spindle is stopped manually using the spindle off button. When this happens it also kicks off the drives.

So it seems the problem is with the logic like you said, but everything is fine until the moment the spindle motor is stopped. Could it have anything to do with the power backfeeding when the motor or CR1 is shut off, or would the problem most likely be with the power supply? A private contractor that looked at the machine previosly changed the 300 ohms 5W resistor on CR1 to 2 130 ohms 3W resistors ran in series.

I'm not sure what all of this means yet but I think I'm heading in the right direction. I'll be working on the machine tomorrow and hopefully be able to dig in a little further and find out whats going on. Thanks for your help so far. If you have anymore feedback that you think would help me i would appreciate it.

[machintek]

The EAF LED that stops blinking means it has stopped communicating to the system. The FMDC is still running and not halted.
Is it possible that the use of the spindle stop button creates a short?
What happens if you end a program using a M30?
The FIST monitor has a event log in it that is stored on the FMDC. Also gives you the live status of the boards and as such can shed some light what is going on inside the control.

George

[cpearce]

We finally got the Fist monitor pulled up. I had a couple questions about it now that we got the machines talking.

The first question is i didn't get !4622 code that should be displayed, it displayed !05AC. Is this normal.

I also wasn't able to enter commands, i don't know if this is a software issue, I was using Hyper Terminal and not Procomm. So i was unable to pull the event log.

We did run the machine until it froze. When it froze two codes were displayed on the screen. !0CD2 and !0CF2.

Is there a place in the manual that tells you what certain hex codes mean? Or do you have to decode them yourself.

[machintek]

I used the FIST for the event log primarily. Boss 8 has some error displays which need to be decoded using the maintenance manual. Fist is a lot better because you see the sequence of events By using the CHAT mode of PROCOMM, I could query the FMDC board - send commands and get answers. I could also look at the status of all the boards and the axis. This helped me determine what was faulted and what was communicating. It has been years since I have worked on a BOSS 8 so the specifics I cannot answer without being in front of a machine and relearning.
Did you try a M30?

George

[John Bennett]

As far as the axis error on start up, this is normal. When you are talking about "when the spindle motor shuts off the machine locks up ", could you be low on lubricant and the float is stopping the spindle from restarting. I ask this question as I believe this machine seems to be new to you and maybe a simple error is causing you greif. Could you better explain what you mean by locks up?