[RadlandRobotics]

I have a Tree VMC 760 with a Dynapath Delta 40 control. I am getting a fault that is called "cooling of epicyclic box fault". The machine goes into emergency stop mode when the fault occurs. The machine will run for about 15 minutes until this fault occurs. After about 10 more minutes the condition will clear and by pushing the machine start button it is back to normal for about 15 minutes when the cycle repeats. Is anyone familiar with this fault and where to look to track down the problem?

[underthetire]

Yes, your control cabinet is overheating. Thats usually caused by dirty air filters.

[RadlandRobotics]

The filters are removed and fans running strong. I also added a couple small fans to specific spots that seemed a little hotter than the rest. The machine is still stopping with that fault condition every 15 or 20 minutes. Would you have a suggestion on how to narrow the problem down to a specific area? Does one of the input lines sense this condition? And if so would you know which one? Thank you for your response.

[hitachibos]

Epicyclic gearing or planetary gearing is a gear system that consists of one or more outer gears, or planet gears, revolving about a central, or sun gear.

is there a gear box or motor fan not working my guess is up ontop of machine somewhere around the spindle a fan has stopped

[hitachibos]

sorry i ment to mention this epicyclic alarm might also be pointing to a spindle chiller unit that circulates a fluid arounf the spindle. you could be low on the cooling liquid or a problem with the chiller itself. i have seen alot of board inside chiller units fail after a few years.

[PrecisionSpindl]

Is the pump at the sump tank getting the coolant up to the spindle and the gearing?
Has the coolant going up been cooled?
Can the coolant get back to the sump tank? or has the way been blocked?

[underthetire]

sorry i ment to mention this epicyclic alarm might also be pointing to a spindle chiller unit that circulates a fluid arounf the spindle. you could be low on the cooling liquid or a problem with the chiller itself. i have seen alot of board inside chiller units fail after a few years.

Thats a good point, if the machine happens to have a chiller. Think I only ever saw one or two that did. The high RPM machines I think had them. Bob norman at ZPS could answer right away.

[zpsbob]

Epicyclic gearbox fault should not occur on 760 machine... it doesn't have one. It refers to the planetary gearbox on 1260 machines and newer gear-drive 1060/1260/1680/2080 machines as well as horizontals.

One of a couple things could be wrong:
1. You have a couple machines and got them mixed up...
2. there is an incorrect jumper configuring machine type on MTB board
3. *IF* it is a 1260, either the gearbox is low on oil, faulty float switch, or faulty flow switch.

Give me a call or email and we can work on it...

Bob

[RadlandRobotics]

I checked for a wire in position 3 (from bottom?) on connector J11 on the MTB board. There was a wire jumpered between position 2 and position 3. I removed the wire but the machine continues to go into fault mode about every 15 minutes. Could this be an incorrect parameter setting?

This machine was donated from a machine shop. They never saw this fault while it was there but it has been occurring every since we set it up at our place.

[RadlandRobotics]

I learned a couple more things but have not found the problem yet. I found the wiring diagram for J11 on the MTB board and there are 2 wires from the spindle override pot/switch in position 1 and 9. Also a jumper wire between pin 8 and 9.

When the epicyclic fault occurs if I remove wire #515 from pin 9 the fault message goes away. I can then hit reset and clear all the faults, however the spindle will not start because the spindle override switch is now open. When I put the wire back on pin 9 the "cooling of epicyclic box fault" message returns and I hear a faint click from the control cabinet. (Probably from in the spindle drive side but I haven't been able to track that down yet.)

Any suggestions would be appreciated.