Denford Cyclone -turret positioning error

[Dangle_kt]

Hi,

You might have read of the nightmare I had with a little denford starturn 8, which went up in a puff of smoke a few months back.

I bought a replacement denford, a cyclone fanuc (red top servos)

Machine was tatty but had a demo and it all seemed to work except an air leak on the collet chuck

Finally got it hooked up to three phase, and it started up fine.
Thought I'd index the turret so jogged it up and out the way and turned the job on the front and pressed the green button.
It went nuts, just spinning and spinning the turret, so in reflex I hit the e stop and now I have 1003 turret positioning error I can't clear.
It won't index anymore, just hums and gives the error again when I try and index.

I assume I can manually free it off and reseat it? Could anyone help me know how?
Also, how do I know which tool goes where so if I can index it and reseat it, it's not on the wrong tool?

I've literally turned the machine on for the first time and then off, then on a few days later and this happened. I've never got it cut anything or run a programme or anything.

I really stretched myself to afford this lathe, so any help would be really well received.
Thanks

[Dangle_kt]

By way of update, I'm still completely stuck. Until I can release and reseat the turret I can't even re-try to see if the turret does it's funny spin spin spin thing anymore.

If anyone could help i'd be really grateful - forgetting the original turret issue, essentially I hit E stop mid turret index, there has to be a reset procedure, as that can't be that rare an occurance?

Can anyone help please?

[Martin]

It may be as simple as swapping over 2 of the Phases on the mains input.

What toolpost do you have fitted? If it's a TOE80 then the shot pin in the top may be jammed.

Try the phases first though.

[Dangle_kt]

Hi,

I am not sure which post I have - attached is a photo. I tried to do this on my phone but I couldn't do the attachement.

[Dangle_kt]

So I am loosing the will to live with this lathe.

Powered it on today determined to have a go at fixing it.

I had read elsewhere it can be the phase in the wrong order, so I swapped out the wires, powered it up, and got

spindle drive fault 1008
414 servo fault x
424 servo fault z


So I powered it down and put it back
Started up again and I get the same faults.


It's about to get sent to the scrap heap
424 servo fault z

[Lone_Ranger]

Regarding the Spindle 1008 error message that will quite possibly be a "peripheral" that is causing that, Fanuc does a sequential test of everything on the machine at start up and will show an error for the NEXT item on it`s list because it has found an issue and hasn`t been able to test the next item which in this case might well be the spindle drive, so it is unlikely to be the Spindle drive, first thing to look at is the Oil resevoir, I used to have a couple of Cyclone Lathes with Fanuc on them and that is a known cause of the spindle 1008 error, I had it a few times at start up when I forgot to fill the oil up

The turret issue I also had once and it turned out to be the Rotary switch behind the tool carrier, over time coolant gets into it and it gets "gummed up" for want of a better expression, a turret strip down and a good clean of the switch and everything in there should do the trick, a fair bit of work but not too hard or complicated as long as you lay everything out on a table in the order they come off should be OK to rebuild

Sorry, that`s all I have on your issues, couple of "shots in the dark" for you

BTW do you know which version of Fanuc the control is, OTA,B or C ?

Regards
Rob

[Dangle_kt]

Thanks its FANUC OT-B

The weird errors all cleared themselves after a few power up/down.

So if I was to strip the turret - would I lift it off the machine? Any experience of doing it, looks to heavy to be done by hand - engine crane?

[Dangle_kt]

UPDATE!

After spotting a picture with a very similar turret to mine I believe I have a Baruffaldi RH80 turret, but not the 6 position like most, I think it's an 8

Anyone have a diagram of the internals on these? I need to get it apart or to try to get it to rotate! Thanks

[Dangle_kt]

I will post photos at some point, but for now I have managed to get the turret working!

Me and a friend removed the turret and tore it down.

Actually it is a surprisingly simple mechanism.

Turns out some of the pins in the connector were damaged, a wire had snapped inside the turret and the phases were in the wrong order.

resoldered the wires, pulled the pins and replaced, and switched the phases and it's all good now!

I still need to refit it and indicate it in properly, but its working spot on when its hooked up on the bench.

the steps to remove:

1) remove the 4 large allen head bolts - hold turret, its only held by bolts not pins
2) pull the turret face off the mechanism (5 bolts)
3) remove large circlip to access the wiring inside the unit (oposite side to the turret face)
4) inside the wiring is a 8 way position switch on 3 small bolts that can rotate a bit to align it - check wiring is all in place - I have 1 wire to resolder, and then another 2 when I was ham fisted and snapped two more wires!
5) motor is held on with 4 small but long allen head bolts, there is grease inside and a seal - stripped, cleaned and regreased
6) replace motor, replace 8 way switch (dont forget earth strap), replace plate and C clip, replace turret face, place turret on the lathe, replace 4 long bolts, indicate in

[Dangle_kt]

Finally got it up and running! I managed my first cuts yesterday and I'm cheffed.

just a simple face, profile, and part off but it cut nicely.

Axially mounted tools seem to be an issue as there is not enough Z depth if I run a 5c to 3 jaw adapter chuck to allow any reasonable length drill to get in there.

Still, it should work fine if I just use a normal 5c collet, I was just trying to get away without buying loads.