Hello all.
I have a Kit MyCenter 0, vintage 1992, with a Fanuc O-Mate series C controller. Here is the issue. The machine will work perfectly but all of a sudden the spindle will stop operating (turning). The strange part is that the spindle motor is still energized, verified by measuring voltage at spindle power leads and when the spindle is MDI commanded on it doesn't spin freely by hand. I've spoken to Kit and Fanuc and they both agree that the motor is being commanded on and it being energized but the spindle drive is waiting for a speed command and it doesn't see one so it just hangs in limbo.
I've checked the LED readout on the spindle board and it stays at zero during a MDI spindle on command, but if I manually spin the spindle (I put a half inch stock in a tool holder and spun the spindle manually with a hand drill) and the LED readout moves up and down. So I know the spindle motor is giving the correct current speed information to the spindle drive. I've also taken the spindle motor out and hot wired it to a different machine and it works perfectly.
I've also swapped out the I/O board and memory board and I get the same problem even with the new boards installed. Keeping in mind that I have to use the old memory chips on the new memory board. I even sent the spindle drive out for testing and it came back as working perfectly. I also check the parameters on the spindle drive and they match up perfectly with the factory specs.
Here is the kicker. Let's say the spindle is not working as the condition stated above. If I reset the controller and reload the parameters it will work just fine. I know what you are thinking, that a parameter has been changed and I am resetting them to factory and that's the problem. Unfortunately not. If the spindle is in the not working state I can download the existing parameters and diagnostics (as the machine sits not working), re-upload those same parameters and diagnostics and the darn thing will work! It will work for a minute, day, week, month, it's all random. I've called Kit, Fanuc, and a bunch of techs and no one has any idea what is going on. I've even check every param and diag in the non working state and they all match perfectly. I've also check every single wire/relay/switch/anything and everything I it's all in good shape.
I'm the second owner and the machine is in really good 'unmolested' condtion.
I'm at a loss here and even techs that have come to diagnose the machine say that I've done every test they would have done and they have no idea what is going on, "and that will be 500 dollars thank you".
I'm losing money and time and sleep trying to figure this one out. I'm short of selling a machine I love. Any suggestions anyone?????
Thanks, Steve