tool changer problem

[concordezz]

hi all. new to this forum and have a question. i have a vf6 with a side tool changer that always hangs up when doing a change. the arm moves down, but stops half between its change. haas told me to check to be sure the oil level was good for the changer itself, so i topped it off and it tool changed. a couple days later, same problem. checked my oil level and it was good. so now my question is has anyone else experienced this problem?

[big_mak]

How is your air pressure? is the air line shared with a lot of other equipment?

That can cause things to hang up sometimes.

[Matt@RFR]

Here's a second vote for air pressure.

[genius]

Is this a newer VF6? I do not know what air pressure would do for the operation of this style tool changer. The tool changer arm on the VF6 is driven by a cam-box. if there is trouble within this box then the arm may or may not extend. Usually you will get an TT or B servo to large parameter 470. Do you have any alarms?

[rlabonte18]

You should be getting an alarm. If the air drops too low it can cause the arm to stop.which could be air pressure or a bad trp valve. if it is the cam box itself you can try and slow the arm down which you should do anyway. I think it is param 469 max speed. Factory setting is like 1500000 or something like that you can slow it down to 1000000 or even slower and see if it will run like that might buy you some time, but usually once the arm starts stopping it is the beginning of the end for the gearbox.

[concordezz]

the air pressure is good.(at 105 psi) the only alarm i'm getting is the tool changer arm fault. i can do a tool changer recovery and move the arm in either direction using the arrow keys during the recovery. it recovers and runs fine, it just won't tool change. we had the drive motor changed because that was what the haas repair guy said was the problem in the first place. three weeks later, it was back. we've been fighting with the local place that did the initial fix, but now they want you to pay for all service calls the day they come out. those service call aren't cheep!

[HuFlungDung]

If this is a worm drive box (I vaguely recall a cutaway picture somewhere that seemed to show this), and if it ever ran low on oil and scuffed the worm and gear, putting oil in it won't fix the roughness and friction of the gears. It may never be right.

Perhaps draining the oil from the changer would give you a better indication of severe gear damage in the form of bronze fines.

[concordezz]

just got off the phone with the repair guy. we messed with a few parameters, and at the end of it all, he concluded it was an allignment issue. don't know if that correct or not, i'll find that out next wednesday.

[genius]

You want to check the amperage to the tool changer motor. If you see more than 25 amps through the cycle with no tools in the arm the tool changer cam-box is bad. As for the serviceman changing the motor I would ask why, the only Yaskawa motor I have had worked on in the last 20 years was a D.C. powered motor. You can take the motor off and turn the belt pulley by hand, the cam-box should be completely smooth all the way through.

G

[rbest27]

My VF-5 had alignment issues which caused it hang up a few times. In fact when my HFO came out they said some of the screws holding the swing arm were loose.

[concordezz]

thanks for all the info. service guy will be here tomorrow and hopefully resolve this thing. i'll let you all know how it turns out.