Problem- Bridgeport Interact 720 VMC Axis fault error

[FLjoyride]

Picked up my first machine monday. Finally got a chance to hook it up today and move it into place. Everything went smooth until I went to flip on the power switch.. nothing. No screen, no power interrupt like it says in the manual. So I check the incomming voltage, 260-270 between all three legs. I then check the power supplies, only 16v on one (not factory) and nothing on the other. so I figure out that the machine was previously set up for 480v. OK, I get out the big wiring diagram that came with it.. its the 480V diagram. I get down and look at the transformer at the bottom of the control box and see where the 230 power feed is.. and also see that its currently on 480. I swap them. I take off the cover for the transformer to the spindle and swap those to the 230 input voltage lines. Flip on the phase converter and voila! monitor turns on and fans are cooling a lot better now. Says something in german I think, and PM with a bunch of numbers.. I vaugly recognise it from something I saw in the manual box so I sift through the paperwork and find the 'perameters'. some of them had been changed with a pen and some were missing from the list but I punch in what I can. Screen pops up and says power interrupt. Great, its doing what its supposed to! so I hit the button with the squiggly line and then it goes to axis fault error (something along those lines, going to write it down monday). Nothing moves, but I did hear a relay click on when I hit the button. Anyway I look in the panel box and 3 red lights are on below what looks like little clear plastic relays (first and last two in a bank of about 10). I have 24 volts now for both power supplies, is there another transformer that needs to be switched to the 240v? should I check the servo motors for 24V? says to look at the indicator light in the manual but thats it.. need some tips, theres a lot of wires in there to check over. there is a little red box that came with the maching and I'm not sure where it goes. It has a cable coming from it with a female bullet connector plug and screw on lock. Could this be the problem? Not sure if I want to call bridgeport specially on a 1990 machine id probably be on hold all day. Read up on some other posts about the drive problem, machine has only been sitting for 2 months supposedly but was wired for 480. any help will be greatly appreciated.

[machintek]

If it comes up in German. probably the batteries to hold the parameters are bad. Typically you will need 3 AA alkaline batteries.
If you are on a phase converter all bets are off.
In all probability when all the drives turn on, your artificial leg drops and the machine dies.
That control? what drives?
Monitor each leg with a meter and see where it goes when drives are turned on.

George

[FLjoyride]

Batteries were good, and are working fine now. Maybe because I had to change the wiring to 240V? Does anyone have a wiring diagram for the 240v hookup? all I have is one for te 360/480. I'll trade someone if they have one.

another question, should I change the jumpers on the transformer for the 240?

Artificial leg does not drop out, it has 240 on L1 to ground and the other two 125.

I have the heideman tnc2500 control with fanuc drives.
can't get the drives to turn on and the error message actually reads "axis drive fault"

the only thing that moved today once I hooked the air up is the tool changer, it pulled back up into its top position.

If I can't get this on my own I will want to get a qualified person in the central florida area to come check it out, any suggestions? thanks machinek for your suggestions.

[machintek]

You may be in a great deal of good luck. Gary Geltz (a Jurassic Bridgeport service tech such as I and a former service manager) moved to the central Florida area. probably the Orlando area. Try local directory assistance.
Are there any alarms on the Fanuc drives?
Most interacts had a large transformer in the bottom right of the elec cabinet. The top had all the terminals and they were clearly marked. At leadt the ones with the Siemens drives. I might be wrong about that. It has been a while.
Check the 24 VDC power supplies. I do not have a schematic, so I do not know if you have one or two of these.

George

[FLjoyride]

I'm not sure what an alarm is supposed to sound / look like.. there are red lights on three of the relays on the relay bank (CR2, CR14 and CR16 I think). There is a large transformer on the bottom left side of the cabinet, and it is marked with the different voltages. I just noticed that there is a place for 415/240V just below where the 360/480 lugs are. Should I have hooked the wires up here rather than on the 230v lugs? Thought 230 and 240 were the same..? On the spindle transformer (really big transformer on the back of the machine) it only has a place for 230V, there is no spot for 240V.

24V DC power supplies are working fine and putting out exactly 24V. There is an audibly clicking noise when I hit the power enable button and the cycle start button, which I think is the relay clicking on.

Originally Posted by machintek You may be in a great deal of good luck. Gary Geltz (a Jurassic Bridgeport service tech such as I and a former service manager) moved to the central Florida area. probably the Orlando area. Try local directory assistance. Are there any alarms on the Fanuc drives? Most interacts had a large transformer in the bottom right of the elec cabinet. The top had all the terminals and they were clearly marked. At leadt the ones with the Siemens drives. I might be wrong about that. It has been a while. Check the 24 VDC power supplies. I do not have a schematic, so I do not know if you have one or two of these. George

[machintek]

The alarms are typically numbers on the drives themselves or a red LED with a description printed on the board alongside of it.
The control is telling you there is a fault on the drives. Look at the drives.

I cannot comment further because it would be a guess without a schematic.

George

[FLjoyride]

Called Gary and he only lives about an hours drive away so I am thinking it might be the best thing to just have him come take a look. I am running on a phase converter and he said my machine won't work on a phase converter.. so not sure what to do about that since 3 phase is super expensive to get put in. Thanks for your help George

[machintek]

I can vouch for Gary. We go back many more years than we want to admit to.
Bridgeport did issue a service bulletin that any machine running on a phase converter voided the warranty. I have had many bad experiences with machines on phase converters, so we avoid them. And only a handful of good experiences.
The smaller CNC machines you can rewire such that the artificial leg only goes to the spindle motor. Bigger CNC machines require all 3 legs to be balanced and not fluctuating since all three phases are utilized. Gary has worked on these machines. Make sure he is aware of the amount of documentation you have so if he is missing anything, he can find it. Schematics as an example. Tell him to call me when he gets a chance.

George

[FLjoyride]

This is a 10hp machine, and I think it needs the 3 phase for more than the spindle but again I'm not sure. Not going to be doing heavy machining however so hopefully it will be fine. Aluminum plastic and maybe some mild steel, as long as I keep the cuts small I should be in the clear I hope. I'm new to the vmc's and phase converters so this is an adventure. I'll be sure to let Gary know you referred me.

[FLjoyride]

Gary came today and we figured out that the voltage is very high between two of the legs (283V) and he was worried about that. We also discovered that the output voltage going to the drive controller was only 125V when it needs to be 185V, so we tried some diffferent jumper settings and nothing seemed to help. After about two hours and out of ideas, we called it quits. Can't get the output voltage from the transformer to be 185V. Any idea's? Gary is going to send me a setup wiring diagram which should help but it will take some time for him to get it. I also decided to get a quote on getting 3 phase on the building, which shouldn't be too bad considering its on the pole across the street. That will hopefully eliminate the need for expensive step down transformers and the bigger phase converter that ronk reccomended. One other thing that Gary mentioned, is that I have an oddball setup with the heidenhain controllers and fanuc drives, but he said the fanuc drives are the best ones out there and that they never go bad.. so to speak. So if anyone has any ideas on how to wire the transformer to get the 185V I need I would appreciate the input.

Tobey

[FLjoyride]

Well the ETS setup diagram doesnt really help since its for the TNC 355 controller. I have two output voltages for my drive axis transformer which are both 3 phase, one is supposed to be at 18V and the other 185V. On the 18V I'm only getting 12V on two legs, which is 12V between leg 1-2, 3-2. and 24V between 1-3. On the 185V output I'm only getting 125V between all three legs. Is there anyone who can help me? I've tried some different jumper configurations, when I take the jumpers off I get 0V on all output lines. I'll take a picture today and post it tonight maybe that will help..? the ETS diagram for the TNC2500 control would really help, the 355 control has single phase outputs and the diagram doesnt help.

[FLjoyride]

On the left are the jumpers and different voltages, from top to bottom 230V, 220V, 200V, 0v, 230V, 220V, 200V, 0V, 230V, 220V, 200V, 0V. The jumpers hook all three 0V connectors together. On the right side are the output voltages as labeled on the photo. right now I am only getting 110-125V where it needs to be 185V, and only 10V where it needs to be 18V. If anyone can help me get the ouput voltages to be what they are supposed to, please pm or post on the thread. Thanks,

Tobey