Help - Spindle Will Not Start from NC Control

I recently purchased a Bridgeport Series II Interact II w/ a Heidenhain TNC 151 CNC control. Everything is in great working condition but I am not able to start the spindle or adjust speed by use of the NC control. I can manually start the spindle and adjust the speed by the manual switches on the mill, but not with the NC control. I can stop the spindle from the NC control (M5 command). When I command the spindle to start (M3) a solid * will appear in the program line and then will begin to flash.

I have a feeling that there is an issue with the oiling system (Interlube, SIEBE) which is not allowing the system to go into a valid operating mode. The pressure gage on the oiling systems indicates that oil pump does not actuate on start up of the machine. I am assuming that the oiling system should actuate on startup before it is allowed to go into a normal operating mode. When I manually actuate the pump the system will hold pressure and then bleed off which appears to be correct. Does this make sense as to why the NC control will not allow the spindle to start if the oiling system is not working properly?

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I Have a Bridgeport series 1 with the heidenhain 151 control and the only way i can start the spindle is manually . The machine was not made to start the spindle with the control.

not true, it should fire from the control. someone was at mine with a spool of red wire and it is necessary to keep the spinlde enable button pushed in at all times to make it fire properly, a matchstick does it well. One day I will fix the wiring correctly.

The pump does not create pressure on startup, it is a gearmotor that turns a cam and slowly brings the plunger up, then plunk . pulling up the handle manually should give pressure. the control only looks at oil level, if it is low or the sensor is broken, it won't fire the spindle or run a program.

this may sound obvious, but did you program in a speed to turn at?

If I remember correctly, from the NC control TOOL CALL and give a spindle speed press cycle start and then enter M03 then cycle start should get it spinning.

Spoke to a Bridgeport service representative today. He stated that this model is not capable of starting and controlling spindle speed through the NC control (even though you can command it). He stated that this mill is not equipped with a tach on the spindle to determine spindle speed, no feedback to control. Looks like I'll have to buy a tachometer for the spindle and do some controls work.

Any suggestions of where I can find a wiring diagram for this machine?

The interacts WITH A SPINDLE DRIVE (Contraves or KTK) had a tach and could be controlled by the TNC including spindle ON. This includes the Interact 4 and the Interact 1 MK2 as well as the VMCs. The interact 1 and 2 with the varispeed head (like the series 1 std) are manual start only.

George

Thanks for your help and information!

Might be worth opening it up to have a look. If you open the cabinet on the rear of the machine this is where you should find the spindle driver if it's got one. (Most likey to be contravis and labelled as so) My Interact 4 even had a rough wiring diagram and notes tucked inside this cabinet too!