1992 VF2 Alarm 123 spindle Spindle Drive Fault

[dafowfidy]

So I just experienced this alarm for the first time. It happened at the end of the program shutting down from a 5000 rpm tool path. The alarm popped up and the spindle slowly reduced in speed until it stopped. Anyway I cleared the alarm and started the program again for the new part and after the first tool with it alarmed again but this time give a gear grinding noise like it was changing gears or maybe the spindle lock dog was trying to engage with the spindle still running around 1000 to 1500 rpm.

Any ideas of what me going on?

[fastfrank]

Greetings dafowfitdy

This is just a guess but it is something I need to check on my mach (1994 VF4). I have had experiance on other Haas machines with the spindle encoder belt getting coated with slime by the fan over time and breaking down the rubber and causing the cog belt to start loosing teeth and/or the pulley fills with rubber slime from belt causing the belt to be able to slip and jump time.

I have also experianced about 1/2 a dozen spindle encoder failures and it causes the spindle load meter to show exsessive load, spindle to act sluggish and causes it to alarm.

Both are easy to replace. The belt is cheap, the encoder is not. I have been told they are off the shelf encoders that can be purchased outside of Haas, not sure if the time spent finding it is worth it.

Just my 2 cents

fastfrank

[JoBwan]

Originally Posted by dafowfidy So I just experienced this alarm for the first time. It happened at the end of the program shutting down from a 5000 rpm tool path. The alarm popped up and the spindle slowly reduced in speed until it stopped. Anyway I cleared the alarm and started the program again for the new part and after the first tool with it alarmed again but this time give a gear grinding noise like it was changing gears or maybe the spindle lock dog was trying to engage with the spindle still running around 1000 to 1500 rpm. Any ideas of what me going on?

It sounds to me like your regen unit has gone bad. This is the unit on top of the machine that looks like a stove burner inside a metal cage. It should be on the top left corner (if your facing the back of the machine). Call your HFO and ask how to test this unit to see if it's bad or not. If it's not the regen, then I would next check the Vecter Drive. Good Luck!!

[Haas__man]

dafowfidy,
A spindle drive fault can be caused by a few things:
An overheating vector drive unit - Whilst machine is turned on look at the fans on the top of the vector drive unit and make sure tthey are running, if they are not then the fans are bad and need to be replaced. The Vector drive is located in the electrical cabinet about half way down the right hand side. Take care when going near the vector drive, it still has high voltage even when the machine is turned off and isolated.
If the fault only happens when the spindle is decelerating then there is a good chance the problem lies with your regen pack, however it could still be a problem with the vector drive unit.
A 123 spindle drive fault cannot be caused by encoder problems or belt or pulley problems.
A possible quick fix is a parameter change - however it would effect the performance of your machine slightly. Parameter 186 is the deceleration value of the spindle and is probably set at 500,000. Try altering this to 200,000, Or if it isn't set at 500,000 then just half it. In doing this you are putting less load on the vector drive or regen resistors and could stop your problem for a while.
Hope this helps

[dafowfidy]

Thanks for the reply everyone. I have had a chance to work on the machine much since my first post. But I have found a couple of other things to note

(1) The spindle kind of has issues orienting, it may take 4 to 5 rotations before it gets it.
(2) The spindle will not alarm out as long as the RPM id 400 or lower.
(3) The the alarm is up I do not notice any LED's lit that are not lit when everything is cleared.

Haas__man, I will try the 186 parameter but I will still get it fixed properly.

Thanks again everyone

[miljnor]

I've had this happen on two different machines and both times it was the vector drive unit...after a week of just happening on the Deccel it started doing it on the accel side and that means something in the vector drive is burnt out or getting burnt out.

but thats just my experience....i don't know at all Hass_man is probably far more knowledgeable.

[Haas__man]

Sorry dafowfidy,
I think i have misread your original post. Could you confirm to me that your machine is a 1992 model VF2?
If it is then you do not have a vector drive. In its place then you probably have a Mitsubishi spindle drive or a yaskawa drive. When the fault happens look at the spindle drive unit, there should be a small lcd display, does it have anything on the display?
Also when you orientate the spindle does the spindle rotation look smooth? or is it jerky?
If it is smooth, but too fast for the locking maechanism to lock the spindle, then it is possible to slow this down with parameters. Parameters 72 and 73 are the speed of rotation of the spindle when orientating. One is for high gear. the other for low gear. if you lower the value, then you lower the speed of rotation and give the spindle lock mechanism a chance.
Hope this helps.

[dafowfidy]

Well on the right middle of the pannel I have a MagneTek GPD 503

At rest the diplay reads 0.00

from an rpm of 500 to 7500 it reads from 69.39 to 252

on error of an rpm of 500 to 2500 the display reads what best discribed as an rr

on error of an rpm of 5000 + the display reads what looks like an undercase ur

[Haas__man]

dafowfidy,
Just had a quick look and found a PDF version of the manual for that spindle drive unit. Normally machines are shipped with the manual, do you have a copy? If you have a look there is a Trouble shooting guide.

http://www.yaskawa.com/site/dmdrive.nsf/LEG/MNEN-5JLRL4/$File/TM4231.pdf

Hope this helps.

[miljnor]

the pdf guide link isn't working....just greyed out

[Haas__man]

Try copying and pasting the link into your browser.

[miljnor]

Cool thanks