Problem- mazak spindle problems

[machinistguru13]

Hello,
I work at a fairly decent size machine shop. We have a bunch of different makes of machines. We have 1 monarch vert., 1 okk vert., 2 haas verts., 1 okuma vert., 1 toshiba horiz. bm, and 2 mazak nexus verts.

Our issue is with the mazaks, 1 is a 410a and the other is a 510c with pallet changer. we are for the most part a job shop but have done some production runs also. Now, issue being, these 2 mazaks are 5 years old and the 410a is on its 4th yes 4th spindle and we just found out today that we will be putting a new one in the 510c next wk. i thought mazak was suppose to be up near the top of the line when it comes to machine tools.

I do know 1st hand their service sucks. But i didn't think it was the case with their machine tools. I have heard and read that the nexus line is the low end stuff made to compete with companys such as haas. I do know 1 thing you CAN'T BEAT the control and/or software on these machines when it comes to job shop work!

With all this being said, HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD TROUBLE WITH THEIR SPINDLES ON THEIR MAZAKS or is it just us? is it or could it be our power supply, operators, etc. let it be known that these same operators also run the machines mentioned above without any problems.

Any info would be appreciated since we are currently looking into buying new machines to replace the older so called turles/dinos.

Are choices are all over the map from haas to hurco to okk to mori. mazak was still an option i think until the news today about the spindle in the 510c. Should we still consider mazak since the control is best for the job shop

[onthebumper]

4 spindles in 5 years sounds excessive. I would talk to your Mazak sales rep and tell him your concerns about your two machines and mention that you are looking to replace some machines.

As far as Mazak service goes you will hear some bad things on here and a few good things as well. People do tend to speak out more here when they are upset. Rarely will you see a post here on someone praising....well anything really. That being said I have worked with really talented Mazak service guys and I have run into some that 'need improvement'. I'm not sure that isn't much different then most OEM's though.

In any case I am sure you have worked with a couple of different OEM's and their service so there is that comparison too.

As far as the control goes I couldn't agree more.

[machinistguru13]

thanks onthebumper
we have already talked to our local sales rep and to mazak themselves. sales rep said it sounds like it may be our power supply. Could this really be? he also said he has replaced and/or rebuilt spindle motors but has had very little if no issue with repacing entire spindles. as far as mazak themselves go, they had no answer.

[onthebumper]

Definitely not the power supply. Is it the mechanical part of the spindle going bad or the spindle motor going bad? Even if it was the motor there is no way the power supply would be causing this problem. Now if you told me your spindle drive was going bad then I would buy that your power supply was bad or even that you had bad power going to the machine. The spindle drive regulates the power going to the motor and the power supply just delivers the DC power to the spindle drive so I highly doubt that the power supply could cause this problem.

I am truly sorry to hear of your situation and hope you get things figured out.

[PrecisionSpindl]

Did you find the reason for frequent Mazak spindle repair? Were you exchanging repaired spindle with Mazak, or getting new ones. If you were exchanging repaired spindles with Mazak, who had repaired them? - the installer? the dealer? the distributor, or the Mazak factory? Would be good to know if it was who they say it was, or a machine shop around the corner.

I certainly would be interested in the answers to the above. We can help with the spindle repair if you have continued to have problems since July.

[Micah]

As for as the repeat failures, when I've done a spindle repair I had multiple people warn me to check the coolant lines for bad o-rings & such that might be allowing some coolant out onto the spindle because if you don't get that resolved, the repair won't last long. This could be your issue--if you have through spindle coolant.
In my case, there was coolant lines that entered the stator housing and then went into the y-axis casting & through to the spindle cartridge. Did you notice any moisture on the units you swapped out?