[Bill Gillen]

Hi all,

I just bought a Bridgeport Torq Cut 22 from Shelton State Community College and wanted to ask for advice to get it running. The software boots up fine, but after I press 7 on the menu, I hear a click from the back, and then see "MSG 08:38:54 PM Axis Drive Fault". I then click F5 to get the Maintenance Page. In Parameter Viewer, #148 is highlighted "Z (3rd) Axis Lead Comp Interval. After hitting Enter twice, it gives an explanation of the #148 parameter, which is also in the maintenance manual.

Is this the area I need to look further into?

Per another post by Machintek (need help torq cut 22 from May 2012), I went to the maintenance page, pressed 0 for more commands, pressed 3 to select an item to watch in diagnostics. It then asked for a password before it would let me enter parameter 153. Is this a generic password, and if so does anyone know what it is?

Thanks,
Bill Gillen

[machintek]

111257

[Bill Gillen]

Hi George,
Thank you on the password information. I was able to get into the parameter list, but am still lost : ). I have figured out that it is getting an "Axis Drive Fault" error, and the message is Axis Drive Fault bit set (or something close to that). All the drives in the cabinet have the green LED glowing. Parameter 153 appears 00000000, and that is what the troubleshooting manual says it should be. May I ask again for help on this? Also, do you know of any good Bridgeport techs that I could hire near the Gainesville, GA area?

Thanks,
Bill Gillen

[Bill Gillen]

Hi,

We went back to the books and read some more, and made a little progress, but still get "Axis Drive Fault".

We went to DOS, and ran B3T.exe, and every test came back either OK or 0 errors.

We then tried pushing the CR3 contactor in like we read on one of the posts, and focused on the Varispeed 626VM3C drive. It comes up 88888888, then 62500, and then displays F-902. We looked it up on Google, and F-902 is Motor Thermal Error 3. The Fault Cause is Thermistor signal wire disconnection. The Troubleshooting procedure says to check motor temperature on the display, but this machine has not run in a long time, so I suspect the motor is not hot at this time : ).

Has anyone had this fault (F-902) before on their Varispeed 626...., and is there a thermistor wire that sometimes come loose on these or is it internal to the motor? Would this cause the Axis Drive Fault message?

Thanks,
Bill Gillen

[machintek]

Yes. Have seen this more than once.
You can send the motor out and for about $8,000.00 dollars they will repair the motor.
Or, open the electrical box on the side of the motor. There is a connector there which has connections to the internal encoder AND the thermal sensor. I cut the 2 wires and put in a variable potentiometer (volume control) on the wires going back to the drive. I believe I set it for about 100 ohms which fools the drive into thinking the motor is at a acceptable temperature. And it will run! The last one I did I replaced the variable resistor with a fixed resistor. Less affected by vibration.
You did really good figuring this out. And no, I do not know any Bridgeport technicians in Georgia. There were 2 good ones. Loni Thurston had a very bad motorcycle wreck, retired to Florida, and passed away. Gary Geltz also retired and moved to Florida. Both were Jurassic technicians who knew the old machines too.

George

[Bill Gillen]

Hi George,

Thank you again. After reading your post, I went into the spindle motor cover, and looked at the 12 pin connector. I immediately noticed that one of the white thermistor wires from the motor was stuck in position 8, and the other was in 12. The schematic shows them to be in 11 and 12. Thinking I had something, we turned it back on, and no more F-902! However, now I am getting fault code F-C00 (break in speed detection signal cable).

I checked out the wires between the motor and the computer, and all have continuity.

I am curious about the 12 pin connector. Several pins have fallen out now while looking at the connector, and it appears like somebody just got in there and mixed them all up. Is that something you have seen before? I am including several pictures to illustrate the connector. It appears that there is a wire to match each color description, but they are not where the schematic says they should be. For example, there are two black wires, one considerably heavier gage than the other, and the heavy wire (is this the shielded wire) appears to be in position one, which should be 5V.

Are the wires shown in the picture the correct wires that should be with the spindle motor? Also, I think the conduit box has been removed before.

I am considering removing all the wires from the connector on the motor side, and putting them back in according to the schematic. Is this something I could do, without the fear of releasing the "magic smoke"?

Bill

[machintek]

I would suggest asking someone on here that has one of these machines to take some pictures for you. I do not have one of these that is easily accessible to me.
I do not recommend moving any wires that I was not sure of what they did or where they go or else.
I did look it up in my records. I installed it 8-1-96.

George

[Bill Gillen]

Hi George,

It's pretty cool that you worked with this one over 16 years ago.

We looked at the current wiring and then the schematic some more, and then thought "Damn the torpedoes! Full Speed ahead!" I went ahead and removed all the spindle control wires from the connector on the motor side, and put them back in according to the schematic. And then..... BoomShakaLaka!, she come alive and well, and kept all the magic smoke inside. I still have a lot to learn on how to use it, and there may be more issues (I can't get a program to run past the tool change line), but it is responding quite well to the few things I know to do.

I bought a bunch of BT40 tool holders, with the long pull studs, but they do not seem to go in, and now think this machine might use the optional CAT40 tool holders with the short pull studs. Would your records show if this one uses CAT40 holders? If not, is there an easy way to tell? I bought one CAT40 holder from ebay, and will try it when it arrives.

Again, I really appreciate everything you do for the people on this forum, it is unreal. The world needs more good-hearted people like you.

Now it will be a process of "peck and learn" and hope I don't break anything.

Thanks,
Bill Gillen

[cncbpt]

I have a 97 if I can help with a picture or two just let me know.
George has help me several times and I would be glad to return the favor to someone

[Bill Gillen]

Hi,

Thank you on the offer. I have it running now, and do not think that is the problem any more. If you could, may I ask you to look and see if it is wired the same as the schematic I posted earlier?

The machine stops on the first line of each program I have tried. The spindle will drop to the tool change position, start running..... and that is it. The spindle is rotating at that point around 500 to 750rpm, definitely way too fast to orient.

I wonder at this point if the same individual who "modified" the wiring harness I described earlier also saw fit to alter some parameters?

Also, when I try to set up the tool changer, the spindle did the same thing (dropped to TC position and started running) after I pressed Start - Setup.

Thank you,
Bill Gillen

[machintek]

If you command 500 RPM, how close is it?
Then command S0M3. It should drift 2RPM or less otherwise it will not change a tool.
Getting speed correct requires playing with parameter 71 (assuming spindle encoder resolution, spindle rpm ranges, etc are correct in parameters).
Drift is set in the Yaskawa spindle drive. I would have to look that up but it is in the maintenance manual.

George

[Bill Gillen]

Hi,

Made some more progress. I looked at the recommendations, and one thing I noticed was I never saw RPM being displayed. I gathered from all this that my encoder might not be working correctly, so I removed it this morning, looked at it, put it back in, and what do you know!, it appears to be working now. I put in the S0M3 in MDI, and saw a 1. I was able to orient the spindle, and the program I tried ran all the way through. It is not "out of the woods yet", but definitely better. I do think something is wrong with the encoder, maybe a broken wire that made connection again after I moved it. Still have a lot to learn, like how to set the TLO for the tools.

My biggest question at this time is what pull stud does this machine require for the BT40 tooling? If I can load some tools, I should get a little further.

Thanks
Bill Gillen

[machintek]

Look inside the spindle.
If there are balls there to hold the retention knob it is a BT40.
If it only has a claw/collet, it is CAT40.
It is also possible to tell by the tool segments in the carousel. But I would have to look that up.

George

[Bill Gillen]

Hi George and all,

First, thank you for all the replies. I am now able to dry run programs, either through MDI, or from modified versions of my posts from ONECNC.

I looked up in the spindle, and it definitely has claws, so that means CAT40. I will buy the tools needed for that now.

I was curious about the encoder. It has been working since I removed and re-installed it. Should I buy another to have on hand, or just run it until it quits? Where would you recommend buying an encoder from?

The spindle seems to run very quiet and smooth, which I like.

I have some more questions now. Is it hard to install a fourth (rotary) axis? Are they commonly available? If so, what would be a good source?

Thank you,
Bill Gillen

[machintek]

I would only recommend a Heidenhain spindle encoder. You can get one from EMI but make some parts first. Expensive.
A 4th axis will require a drive, cables, and the 4th axis with the correct motor. Believe Bridgeport was married to Troyke. Keep looking on Ebay. The software will support a 4th axis. Some parameters will need to be changed to accommodate it.

George