[kirby]

Not sure if this is a fanuc or machine problem but since the machine has a fanuc controller and i have had good luck getting help here in the past i will put it here.

I have a 1991 Kiwa Excel 1310 mustang mill. Every now and then the spidle fails to orient during a tool change(or loses its orientation and goes to the wrong spot). A big pain but not the end of the world. I just reset it and re-orient it.

But today i lost it. I reset it and it might work for one or two changes or 5 or 7. But it always messes up.

I know how to reset it but how does the machine itself know where home is? Is there some kind of switch on the spindle? Could the be something loose inside that needs to be tightened?

Some things i have noticed:

1. More apt to happen if the spindle has been run. I can manually program several changes and it works fine. But once the spindle is turned on its only a matter of time.

2. Normally happens first thing in the morning. Rarely ever after the first half hour of running for the day.

3. when it loses it orientation the new orientation is random


Thanks in advance for any help...

Kirby

[Stebedeff]

Hello There,

There's a magnet on the spindle. And a sensor on the housing or something fixed not to the spindle. When you do the orientation the spindle stops exactly where the magnet and sensor meet. There's your problem.
Try cleaning or checking the cables.

Good luck

[stevo1]

And pull the magnet and check to make sure it is clean and there are no dings on it. This happens when it either gets damaged or the placment of the magnet gets moved a bit.

Stevo

[kirby]

thanks guys...i will have a look in a day or 2 and post what i find... have to do some welding in the AM so not sure when i will get a chance...

but i did get it working this afternoon enough to finish the parts i was making..

[KEESWETERING]

hi, although its an old lead, how was this problem solved?

[kirby]

It was a simple fix. What happened was the timing belts that went from the spindle to the encoder were old and stretched. When the quick snap of the spindle orient would happen it would jump a tooth on the belt. Two ten dollar belts and it has worked ever since. While we were at it we changed the drive belts as well.