Bridgeport EZ-PATH 1S Lathe problem

[Rich Meredith]

We are currently experiencing problems with our Bridgeport/Romi EZ-Path 1s lathe,circa 1998.
Lathe is ok when first used,but after 30/45 minutes it will stop and 'AXIS DRIVE FAULT' appears on monitor.
Once machine has warmed up fault keeps occuring.....very frustrating!
Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Rich.

[NC Cams]

First go thru ALL the connectors to see if any are damaged or poorly conducting in ANY way shape or form. IF the machine has not been serviced lately or at all, you may be in store for some servo service.

Brush dust and or brush wear will easily cause motor fault problems. Worse yet, the encoders were reportedly NOT the finest pieces ever made. Should the encoders start to NOT feed back properly you'll get axis fault errors as well.

If the machine is 1998 vintage, it is probably time for some service. The servos are probably SEM's - the servo amps are Motion Science (now Cleveland Machine Control). Clarkson in/near Chicago is the factory service center for the motors - they have a website.

Figure on $450/motor for a plain jane rebuild (brushes, bearings, test of motor and encoder). Start adding if you have bogus encoders or the armatures are damaged due to severe brush wear.

You may have to have the system retuned afterwards as the motors will run better - this could cause issues, especially when threading.

if you're in/near the Chicago area, Brian at BPT Machine in Carol Stream does a superb job - former Bridgeport factory guy. Any other factory trainged guy could help as well. George at McDaniel Machinery in Pelham Al (regular site visitor/contributor) can also help.

[NC Cams]

OOPS sorry, didn't see the UK info in your location box. Never mind with the tuner suggestions.... DUH.

[Rich Meredith]

Thanks for taking the time out to drop me a line....
much appreciated.
Best Wishes,
Rich.