[fraserbrock]

Hello,

I've got a Hit-8S that I've never used before and am now in the position of preparing it for sale. I replaced the battery and found instructions to get the machine breathing again. I've been able to home the X and Z axis, clamp and unclamp the chuck, and index the tool changer. I can move in X and Z in "Jog" mode. My last step is to run the spindle so that I can tell a potential buyer with confidence that everything is working.

I'm getting an error: "9207 tailspindle not in position"

I suspected some stuck prox switches but I open the little access door on top of the tailstock and don't even see any switches. I went into the User MD (machine data) and changed Tailstock from 1 to 0 and changed Tail sleeve limit switch also from 1 to 0 but the error comes back.

Does anyone know how to fix (or bypass) this error so that I can spin the spindle?

By the way, I have no experience running a CNC lathe so I was planning to use "G97 S100 M03" in MDA mode, unless there is an easier way to summon some rotation.

Thanks in advance for your help!!
-Brock

[fraserbrock]

By the way, I bought it ~10 years ago with full intention of learning how to use it but was never able to make the time. Now that it's time to sell, does anyone have a suggested price? (NC, USA)

[fraserbrock]

I'm offering a $100 reward (paid via Paypal or Venmo) to the first person who can tell me how to clear this error and how to get this spindle spinning! Thank you.

[atmosports]

Been a while since I looked at an 8S lathe. But on the larger 15s or 18s lathes there is two sets of promixity switches in the tailstock. One set of switches is for the tailstock sleeve position, the other set of switches is for the tailstock body position. Each set of switches has a forward & reverse switch to set position. If you open the access door on the top of the tailstock there should be a rod inside there, which you'll see is attached to a flange on the front of the tailstock sleeve & as the tailstocks sleeve moves in/out this rod moves, on this rod should be two small collars held onto the rod with a small grubscrew(2.5mm hex/allen key from memory), When the tailstock sleeve is in either the forward or reverse position it need the corresponding switch to be on, the rear collar I've never adjusted, the front collar I move depending on how far out I fun the sleeve, from memory the switches under this cover bolt into an angle bracket & you should be able to see the light on the end of the sensor if the collar is in position & the sensor is working, or you can pass something metallic across the front of the sensor & it should come on. For the tailstock body switches, you need to remove the bigger cover plate(Held on with capscrews, 5mm hex/allen key from memory) if you need to access them. There should be a plunger on each end of the tailstock just above the bottom slideway the tailstock runs on(Closest to the front/Closest to the operator), these plunges set the body switches & there should be an adjustable plate/clamp on the each end of the front slideway of the tailstock, the rear clamp I've never need to adjust, the front one(closest to the chuck/headstock) you adjust to set where the tailstock body runs to in the forward position. There should be also be a set of indicator lights on the control panel that tell you if the sleeve & body are in position & there should also be a switch for each on the control so you can manually advance/retract the body & sleeve. You can also control the tailstock using M codes, M11 should advance the tailstock body & M10 should retract it, likewise M31 should advance the tailstock sleeve & M32 should retract it, you'll need the spindle stopped to move either. If your lathe has a tooleye/tool probe then it also shouldn't be able to be used unless the tailstock is fully retracted on both the body & sleeve. Hope this helps somewhat but yeah it's be a while since I looked at an 8S lathe

[fraserbrock]

Thanks atmosports! Unfortunately, I'm still stuck. See attached pictures; I don't have any prox sensors in the box that would sense the tailstock sleeve position and I don't see any other access panels for tailstock body switches. As best I can tell, there are currently no electrical connections between the tailstock and the lathe. There are 6 wires (see picture) but these are not connected to anything.

Again, my goal is to spin the spindle. I'm not trying to get the tailstock working (hydraulically or electrically) so I wish there was a way to tell the lathe controls that the machine is not equipped with a tailstock so that it would not set the 9207 error in the first place.

Thanks again to you (or anyone else) for help. Sincerely!

[atmosports]

In your first picture with the top access cover open, it's definitely missing two proximity sensors from there, that is what should be plugged into the two yellow plugs. I can't remember the part number but ours have Balluff sensors, from memory it's an M12 Threaded body & the threaded body part is about 30mm long, also sure they are normally open style although it doesn't matter much as you can wire them to be normally closed if needed. Hyundai use the same sensor across pretty much the whole machine, so it should be much the same sensor as used for chuck position on the back of the spindle(If the machine is equipped, some are, some aren't) & also the same sensor is used in the tool eye/tool arm for up/down signals. There is probably a way of turning off the need to see the tailstock signal in the control as I know you can turn off the chuck position switches etc but without going through all the parameters I couldn't tell you which one. You could also jump the 5v power across to the signal wire for the tailstock retraction sensor & that should then make the control think the tailstock is retracted, you'd need to double check the wiring diagram in the manual to see which way the sensor is wired as it maybe that one need to see 5V or be ground & see 0V to confirm its in position.

It doesn't look like there is any sensors for tailstock body position, but then it also looks like the tailstock body movement is probably done manually by under the two clamp bolts & then sliding it to position before locking the bolts down again. On the larger lathes the tailstock body has automatically hydraulic clamps to lock/unlock it & then a motor & chain drive to more the body forward/back & hence why it has sensors for position.

So looking it the photos it would appear it's only the two sensors on the tailstock sleeve you are missing & I'm pretty sure you can also by those same plastic plugs/connectors as well, although it's not difficult to change them to another style.

[fraserbrock]

Atmosports, thanks again for your reply. On both of those electrical connectors, there is a P24 and G24 wire. My guess is these are power and ground. One connector has a third wire labeled "QFE" and one has a third wire labeled "QRE". Maybe F is forward and R is rear?

Like you said, I could jumper the appropriate wires to make the system think the tailstock is retracted. Does anyone have a wiring diagram handy? My HIT-8S manual does not have a wiring diagram, oddly enough. It has a maintenance section, mechanical parts list, and tooling guide but no electrical.

OK, now my really ignorant question: how do I turn on the spindle to test it? Will "G97 S100 M03" work as a single block program while in MDA mode? Sorry, I'm not a CNC lathe user and there's no "Siemens 840C for Dummies" guide that I can find online!

[fraserbrock]

Bump.

Does anyone have a HIT-8S wiring diagram that they are willing to share some tailstock position sensor information about?

Thanks!
-Brock

[fraserbrock]

Bump.

Does anyone have a HIT-8S wiring diagram that they are willing to share some tailstock position sensor information about? Maybe by sending a photo of that page of the wiring diagram?

Thanks!

[fraserbrock]

Update, just in case anyone reads this in the future looking for help with a similar problem. After I changed the User MD to disregard the tailstock switches, I failed to realize that these entries had to be saved to disk, not just stored in memory. Here's the process to save the User MD settings:

(make changes to User MD settings)
Press PLC MD
Press File Functions
Press Save to Disk
Input any name such as HIT-8S , another name, or another existing backup file
Press Save Start
Wait until data transfer is done
Press the ^ key two or three times until you see General Reset Mode
Press General Reset Mode
Press PLC Gen. Reset
Press End Gen. Reset Mode
Finally, power off and then back on the machine

And, for anyone wanting to run the machine manually, you can enter the JOG mode and in the "Overstore" section enter a speed such as 500 rpm and a forward direction which is M-code 3. So it looks like S=500 and M=3. Then you can hit cycle start!

Best regards,
-Brock