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IndustryArena Forum > MetalWorking Machines > Milltronics > Milltronics Centurion 1 spindle not turning.
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    5

    Milltronics Centurion 1 spindle not turning.

    So, let me start somewhere near the beginning...

    I bought a Fryer MB-11 with a Milltronics Centurion 1 control to replace my old Bridgeport a couple of years ago. I’m a hobbyist with a reasonable amount of manual machining experience, but I wanted to learn more about CNC, and this popped up. It has worked well, the little I’ve used it; the conversational programming has helped me learn a lot quickly, and I’ve been teaching myself CAM, though I have yet to plug a file into the mill and cut chips. I was hoping to do that nest week, but my machine just died.

    Overall, the machine has been fine, but a few things have never worked. The flood coolant switch has always been funky - on the control panel sometime I’d see the flood on, sometimes not. The PO just used it manually, I just dont use it. For me, air/manual oil is fine for the simple stuff I do. I include this because I’ve heard stories about these needing to have the coolant on to have the spindle work, but personally I never noticed any relationship between this and the spindle. Also, the manual spindle controls on the quill head - fwd/off/reverse - which are suppose to be usable after you set set speed and spindle (S2100 M3) never have worked. Supposedly this system had a completely upgraded motherboard around 2005, and the spindle controls didnt work after that. Also, FWIW, there is no electronic spindle override switch that I can find - I make speed adjustments when needed via the variable speed head. So that is an unlikely culprit. Spindle speed always shows as 100% on the screen.

    It died while I was messing around with the coolant switching a few days ago, trying to see how I’d hook up an MQL mist system. I was just turning things on/off using M codes, when at some point I realized the spindle wouldnt start. M3, or M4 Sxxxx shows the spindle running on the screen, but nothing beyond that. The VFD is getting good fwd/revers signals, but the stop switch flashes when its supposed to run, and there is no voltage at the analogue input. If I put voltage at the VFD analogue input (I tried a 1.5v battery) the VFD (and spindle) work normally.

    So - according to the screen everything is fine, and everything looks good from the VFD down. But no analogue signal. I can trace the 0v signal right up to the plug going into the computer, and from there it gets dicey, and I have no internal schematic. So that’s where I stand....anyone have any pointers?

    As far as asking the manufacturer, I know Fryer will refer me to Milltronics. When I called them a couple of years ago, Milltronics implied that this is obsolete enough that no one really knows much about them and all they could do is quote repairs/replacement. I have no budget for this right now, so I really dont want to waste their time. Or anyone else’s, for that matter but, that said, I appreciate any help anyone has to offer.

    Thanks,

    Sam

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    5

    Re: Milltronics Centurion 1 spindle not turning.

    More red herrings, or data points; I’m not sure which:

    As mentioned, this was upgraded by Milltronics With a new motherboard around 2005-2008. I’m pretty confident that no one has been in there since. If I try to trace the analogue input inside the computer cabinet, I notice a single blue wire going from a through hole labeled “spindle” on the board with all the I/O plugs to a connector on the leftmost drive card. I also notice two wires going from the keyboard output on the main CPU board to the same drive card. Both of these look a little “hack”, ie, like not part of the original intended design.
    I”ve heard that some Milltronics controls use the keyboard output for analogue (as an aside, I’m curious as to what on a “normal” keyboard uses analogue), and others the x drive card, is it possible this is modified to use the keyboard analogue? If so, maybe I can find PC board species to test at that point.

    The other thing I’ve noticed is a software glitch: an M8 command shuts the spindle off...or at least makes the spindle show as off on the display. Spindle, of course, still isn’t running at all. I can use M3 or M4 to turn the spindle on and the display reads whatever speed is set and 100% of whatever speed is set. Entering either M5, the normal stop command, or M8, the flood coolant on command, makes the spindle display show off. M8 does not turn the flood coolant on.

    Thoughts? I’ll keep posting if I have any ideas or solutions.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jul 2010
    Posts
    548

    Re: Milltronics Centurion 1 spindle not turning.

    PM Me or call 952-288-6340

    Sportybob.

    " We got ya covered"

  4. #4
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    5

    Re: Milltronics Centurion 1 spindle not turning.

    So this is where I ended: no matter what I do, I can't get an analogue voltage output to drive the VFD. I'm still not sure this is a hardware issue, as I also can't get the spindle to turn on reliably and consistently. It appears to turn the output on, then shut it right off. One thing I've learned from all this is that this it *not* the same as the Milltronics, and I'm nearly certain there are differences between the "regular" Milltronics software in ROM, and whatever shipped out with Fryer. If it was possible to understand/edit the actual software I'd dig deeper, but its impossible to know whether this is a software or hardware issue (or both) w/o randomly replacing expensive boards, as far as I can tell.

    So, I looked at what was involved to make the spidle 100% manual. I entered a 60hz frequency in the VFD, and moved the wire going from the manual STOP pushbutton to the spindle input on the Milltronics to a permanent ground and *viola* I have a perfectly operational variable speed manual spindle! Fine for what I'm doing, so thats where I'm leaving it.

    Thanks a HUGE amout to SportyBob, who really helped me understand a lot of what was going on.

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