Need startup hints - day 1

[designerpatrick]

Hey, I have the Phase Perfect and the transformer running and Ive put power to the MB-20 (cent 6) mill and Ml-14 (cent 7) Lathe. I don't seem to have "let the smoke out" and this is a good sign. :-)

The mill: it woke up fine and after its dignostics had a nice home screen, after a reset I set it to home. It seems to do fine, the Z axis climbing to Just over 20 and then the whole table moving forward (-y) and to the left (-x). about 30 seconds after the reset under any condition a loud 1hz beeping sound is emitted by some kind of piezo buzzer at the top of the machine. Nothing in the literature appears to cover this. What is it?! Under the beeping condition I've been able to manualy jog in all axes and run the spindle to various RPM's in CCW and CW fashion. This unit is a manual tool changer, there is no tool (CAT40) in it at the moment, pressing the in/out button for tool change gains me nothing (air pressure 105 PSI).

To Recap:
1. Da beep?!
2. tool change?
3. How to lock/unlock the quill? (seems dumb, but I am a big guy and accidental destruction is my forté).

The Lathe: Woke up fine leaving a good start screen. Woudn't home (moves to far right and crashed into tailstock triggering a stop). Manual said to override and manually jog to left to get around an overlimit condition. X and Z axis jog motion work fine. Can't seem to get far enough in the program to spin the spindle yet. Won't really home now also. Trying to get it in a home condition and I get left in a screen that I can't escape from. It reads as follows:F1-Teach F2-Prog F4-Angle F5-AngOn F8-Run-T F9-Tool F-10 G54-Z. 4 & 5 are greyed out and the reset light is on and doesn't respond to pressing. Only way out is e-stop. Then I get the home screen after reset and when I hit 'home' I am looped back to the above.

To recap:
1.Don't really think it has homed yet
2. Looping program ( I probably do not understand the function)
3. Havent spun the spinlde yet.

Any help or advice would be appreciated, you can mail this forum or call if you like 480-227-4125

BTW - the Phase perfect is quiet - but it kicks out a very high pitched continuous whine (a bit higher than cricket chirping) that requires ear protection. A thump on the head to them for not deadening what seems to be an otherwise nice product.

Best Regards, Patrick Scofield

[chipsinpan]

THE MILL
I think the beep is a message that the spindle has power to it and is seeking a spindle orient . Even if it has no tool changer it wants to orient the spindle to stop in the same location ( G19 spin orient ) This comes in handy if you want to stop the spindle at the end of a boring cycle and move x or y before retractinh the tool . It will not let you release the tool until it sees a spin orient . look to see if there is a detent plate under the drive belt . There is an air cylinder that pushes out a roller brg into the detent and the prox sensor sends a signal thet the condition is satisfied . I am only referring to my experience on my partner 1 . I had a similar condition occur when 1) I forgot to reconnect the air , 2) wires to the prox sensor were cut .
hope this helps

[Dave1]

I concurr with chips, spindle is trying to orient. I bet it is stuck in a dent in the orient wheel on the spindle, my partner 1 has that problem, I just give the spindle a twist or a bump on the locating lug (be careful). It may or may not be the problem. A buddy of mine has a Partner 1 with a manual tool change but his spindle does not orient. In a tool change the z goes to it's max height, then you can release the tool with the button on the side of the control then you need to hit tool reset and then you can proceed.
Dave

[designerpatrick]

Gents,

Thanks for the input. It hasn't worked foir me yet tho'.

The Mill:
I've moved the spindle to different positions, I haven't found any detents or control cylinder. I may not understand what I am looking at (I am just a caveman). I also told the thing I was changing a tool and the in/out (tool change) button gets no result. All while the big bastard beeps away... I think my neighbors think I am a burgler - as it is a noisy 11:40 PM.

Still cant move the quill. On a Bridgeport there is a quil lock...I find none on this thing. The handle sits there, immobile. Well, goodnight.


*sigh* I will continue tomorrow.

[designerpatrick]

I got a hold of the Milltronics people this AM.

The Mill: The audible alarm is the low way oil alarm. In my defense there was 1 & 1/2 inches of oil in the reservoir well above the minimum index, I added the oil and the beep went away. Manual tool change is working after all, I simply had to figure out how it works and how to use it. There is an 5/8-11 threaded impact wrench in the head. Instead of a pull stud, it simply threads in. On the in/out tool change button there is an air interlock button (a tiny button on the side) that must be simultaneously depressed with the pressing of either in/out button (I am not the shiniest tool in the cabinet). The quill was missing the lock handle and a fastener had been improvised in its place - this wasn't immediately obvious to me. Replacements will be obtained

The Lathe: With the manual/automatic switch in the 'Manual' position your menu options are severely limited.

Looks like I am running.

[wcopley]

check your way lube ours beep when low
Bill

[puller482]

Hello,

I have a ML1540 lathe. Here is a little trick to help you with your problem. Frist to get machine to the correct position remove the covers and turn the belts to get the saddle passed the center of the bed to the chuck side. This will allow you to home the machine. After it homes take a sharpie marker and draw a line on the chuck side in front of the saddle. Now before you turn off the machine move the saddle torwards the chuck passed this line. This will prevent it from running torward the tail stock. This was showed tome by the services guy that set mine up.

Bob