Alarm (low lube,pressure) question

[BMackinnon]

Hi all,
I have a VFOE mill and about every hour I get the low lube,pressure alram. I know it is still going through the same amount of lube, I checked everything over and all seems fine but I still get this alarm.
Im wondering if this is like a sign that a sensor is getting bad or a line or something.


thanks for your help guys
always apprectiated

[Geof]

Did you pump the lube by hand and check that pressure shows on the gauge? I have been told that the lube pressure gauge should show several psi, maybe about 20, when you do the hand pump and should drop down over a few minutes.

[BMackinnon]

Geof,
I just did that and it acted like you said. Pressure went up just over 20 and then fell back down to about 7psi after a few minutes.

[serviceman]

you can buy a pressure switch for the lube tank at napa auto parts parts # op6616 it is behind the tank

[Geof]

Check the connector has not vibrated off the pressure switch; I had that happen on a pressure switch in a different location on the machine.

It does seem likely the switch is faulty. The controller only polls the switch every so often which would be why you only get the fault every hour.

[BMackinnon]

ok thanks guys ... Ill check that out once I get the chance to and keep ya posted.

thanks again fellas

[PBMW]

Hmmmm....My SL10 does the same thing except the interval between alarms in completely random. I'll get a lot of alarms one day and none the next. Pressures good at teh gage as well. We have tried clearing the lines as well.

[Geof]

Originally Posted by PBMW Hmmmm....My SL10 does the same thing except the interval between alarms in completely random. I'll get a lot of alarms one day and none the next. Pressures good at teh gage as well. We have tried clearing the lines as well.

See if you can figure out whether the 'random' correlates with the end of a cycle or something like that. I seem to recall reading somewhere in the manual that the controller may detect a low lube level or pressure but it will not activate the alarm until the end of any cycle that is running.

I know we had a Minimill that started giving lube alarms about a year ago and I told my guys to hit Restart and ignore it for a few weeks. It went away and I wonder if it was just a temperature thing or something, the weather was hot.

[serviceman]

the haas has 2 switches in series the float switch in the tank and the pressure switch in line. the machine check the switch status every half hour of machine run time the cycle is 108000 in 1/50 of a second which is about 27 minutes the machine will not alarm on low lube until the end of the cycle m30 or m99 the machine needs to see the pressure switch cycle from 1 to 0 in that time if the machine holds pressure the whole time then you have a clogged line and the machine will alarm out if the machine sees the pressure drop too fast it will alarm out. if the pressure drops too fast then you have a leak if you run the axes in full stroke and you see the pressure suddenly drop then you probable havea broken or loose liine somewhere. if you see the pressure jump up then you have a kink in the line or a clog.

[Rob_M.]

air in the line possibly, this was one of many problems with ours. It was ok after it was bled (sp?) but it kept happening. Come to fine out there was a part in the line that had a crack in it so air would get in the lines, after the part was replaced we haven't had a problem since.

[shawncnelson]

I've got the same problem on my VF0, man what a pisser. Doesn't make me feel very confident when the tank is full and I'm still getting alarms. Is there a way to cycle the pump manually (besides the hand pump), to verify the solenoid is working? It seems to happen randomly for me too. And the weather is hot. Hello HAAS, anyone listening?

[serviceman]

there is no solenoid the bijur or lube waylube tanks have a small 110 vac motor that runs anytime the spindle is turning or the axes are moving it takes the cam about 27 minutes to reach the top and charge the tank. you can take the cover off the way lube unit and see the motor turning if you have power to it.