2001 Haas Mini Mill Way Lube Adjustment?

[Terry G]

I just fixed a way lube problem that was giving me a 121 alarm. Motor wasn't spinning. I had to pull the top of the way lube tank apart to get to the small motor. Ended up being a wire on the terminal block.

While figuring out how the system worked, I messed with the manual pump handle and turned it a bunch of times trying to see if it did anything. A few days ago I had talked with Haas about this alarm and asked about this pump handle. They told me turning it does not do anything.

Before I pulled the tank apart while trouble shooting the system, when I manually pulled the pump handle the system would build pressure up to 40psi and hold for about 7 min or so before going to 0 psi.

After I put it back all together (and messing with this pump handle) it still builds pressure to 40psi, but this time is stays up for a 17 to 18 min. before it reaches zero. It actually stayed at 30psi for about 12min. This was with the spindle running.

I have just now read that this knob may control the amount of oil that gets pumped into the system. Is it possible I am pumping way to much oil so it is taking a lot longer to bleed off? I also read in the Haas manual that the only way to adjust how much oil is by changing the bleeders at each of the way points.

Maybe I was messing with it so much I just put a lot of oil in the system and I need to run the machine for a while to bleed it all out?

I'll give Haas a call again on Monday and ask about this. But am very curious if anyone else knows what this knob on the way lube tank does if you turn it.

Thanks!

[reidmach]

Is it possible that when you reassembled the unit, that you may have left some debris in the system?
That condition of slow pressure drop would indicate something in there, it is supposed to bleed off rather quickly, thus getting the oil on its way, unless it drops like a hammer, them there's a different problem, ie: open lines etc.

I would suggest you take it back apart and check for blockage, a lot cheaper than a new spindle cartridge!

[Terry G]

Thank you for the quick reply.

What you are saying makes sense as far as having a blocked line.

Though only thing is that I never once actually opened the oil tank to expose the oil. Never even lifted the fill lid.

The only thing I pulled apart was the top motor cover and removed the motor. With a small screwdriver I was able to manually rotated the small shaft (that the motor hooked into) to make sure the system was working.

One thing I learned is it takes just about 31 turns to get the plunger to lift and drop. And the motor itself runs at about 1 RPM. All make sense and worked well.

So I don't see how any debris could have gotten into the system. But it is acting like something may have been blocked.

Since I was trouble shooting this for a few hours, and built pressure quite a few times with only the spindle running, I wonder if the way lube points became over saturated with oil (never really moved the axis). Not sure if that is a possibility.

Thanks again,

Terry

[Geof]

...Before I pulled the tank apart while trouble shooting the system, when I manually pulled the pump handle the system would build pressure up to 40psi and hold for about 7 min or so before going to 0 psi.

After I put it back all together (and messing with this pump handle) it still builds pressure to 40psi, but this time is stays up for a 17 to 18 min. before it reaches zero. It atually stayed at 30psi for about 12min. This was with the spindle running.....Thanks!

Pulling the knob up and letting it go just pressurises the system and pumps a shot of oil through. It should take somewhere between 5 and 15 minutes for the pressure to drop to zero when the spindle is not running. When the spindle is running the oil pump will be cycling so you are going to observe pressure from that.

Try doing it again with the spindle off.

Also before using the machine mark the oil level in the tank and then after something like 20 hours of use have a look and see if it has dropped.

[txcncman]

On some way lube pumps, the plunger can be turned to also adjust the volume of oil pumped on each pump cycle.

[Terry G]

On some way lube pumps, the plunger can be turned to also adjust the volume of oil pumped on each pump cycle.

Does anyone know for sure if a Haas Mini Mill has this feature? I talked with Haas and they said turning the knob does nothing.

So when I was messing with it, I turned the knob a whole bunch of times to see if it did anything. Don't know how many rotation or which way I was turning, but I couldn't see anything happening.

Anyway, is it possible that I am now pumping in way more oil than I should? Would that affect the pressure, or how long it holds up.

Just posted another thread about another oil problem I am having. Wonder if it could be related. Though this new problem seemed to have just occurred. Or possibly an existing issue became much worse over night. Basically my coolant tank is completely saturated with way oil in just about a day or two of use. Before this it was pretty clean.

I'll update my other thread so I don't have two threads with the same info.

Thanks.