[Ayrond]

Hi.
Whenever I try to rotate the spindle, whether through a program or using M3 or M4 in MDI mode it waits, sometimes a couple of minutes before it starts turning. If it's during a program, it will never time out it will just wait however long it takes and then continue once the spindle starts turning.
One day we just kept messing with it and trying over and over and over again, and finally towards the end of the day it started acting right. However, as soon as it was turned off for a little while the problem came right back.

Has anyone seen this type of problem before?

I would be so grateful for any advice.

[Algirdas]

Check the signal from sin cos sensor. Open cover to see the status of sin cos gear - maybe it is dirty.

[Ayrond]

Check the signal from sin cos sensor. Open cover to see the status of sin cos gear - maybe it is dirty.

Thank you for your response! We did open and thoroughly clean the encoder. Do you think that the encoder could be defective, or slipping?

[Algirdas]

Hall sensor is involved there. Very sensitive to allignment. Based on magnetic field action - the gap size is important. Re-allign it making gap small as possible. Double ( o multi ) channel osciloscope necessary.
If sensor is not damaged mechanically, no reason to fail.

[Algirdas]

Check tool clamp ( and spindle clamp ) signals stability. These are important to enable the spindle revolution.