# Mori Seiki Fanuc 6T question



## rgray (Feb 4, 2018)

I had a week moment and ended up with a CNC lathe all 10,000lbs of it.
Steep learning curve, but I had figured out how to load programs to it from a lap top and then transfer them back to the laptop also.
Not sure how necessary that is, but the memory is limited so thought it would be good to get to know how to do it.

So after doing that successfully a few times, I was transfering a program from the machine and it just hung there and wouldn't complete.
I think I changed something in the program...like added a G28.. and then didn't run the program and maybe it would have had an error...maybe that's not it at all.
Anyway it wouldn't finish transferring and I eventually shut it down.
Now I have a 101 alarm code for turret 2. I have all the books and this code is supposed to clear by holding "delete"&"reset" when turning on the power.
It doesn't clear and the book has no further help that I can figure out.
The delete and reset buttons work fine. I can still load and run a program to turret 1, but turret 2 is non functional with this alarm code on.
Anyone with any tricks or help for this?
I'm at a loss for how to clear this bubble memory I guess it's called.


----------



## dlane (Feb 4, 2018)

I am by no means an expert but is #2 turret in its home position ?. 
Didn’t know bubble memory ever went public


----------



## rgray (Feb 4, 2018)

dlane said:


> I am by no means an expert but is #2 turret in its home position ?.
> Didn’t know bubble memory ever went public



Yes homed. Turret 2 is still usable manually, it will move normal and zero return.
Screen says "bubble read" when starting up. I think it always says that. Book talks about the bubble memory...probably just rom...it was 1982 maybe the bubble name didn't stick.
There is a section that deals with corrupted memory cards and they can be "fixed" but only on turret 1's cpu...Maybe that's a clue. The fixing
is for damaged memory where turret 1's cpu tests and locks out damaged blocks and the card is usable again.
I didn't think I had a damaged card but maybe that is a way to clear it?
The computer/electronics in this thing are terrifying to me. It amazes me that they still work, or maybe I should say worked.


----------



## JimDawson (Feb 4, 2018)

Is it possible to swap the memory cards and apply the ''fix''?  I have no idea, just throwing out a possibility here.


----------



## rgray (Feb 4, 2018)

JimDawson said:


> Is it possible to swap the memory cards and apply the ''fix''? I have no idea, just throwing out a possibility here.



I'm thinking about it...Hate to convince myself it's the thing to do when I really am in over my head.
Also have seen chatter on the web of other people with this issue (usually not fanuc 6t unfortunately) that have done a more major reset to clear this same 101 alarm...talk is it clears the parameters so they back them up first...Just throw a floppy in and back them up...yah right ..not on this machine. Floppy in 82...maybe a 5 1/4 lol, but not on the machine. Book tells how to do it with the tape drive. That's one of the worst things about the books. They were real proud of the tape drive like it was gonna be the thing. Didn't happen. If the books were written like the tape drive was not gonna be used they would be so much better.
15 pages of parameters per turret....thought about taking a pic of every screen so I could reload them......Makes swapping the bubble cards seem much easier.  Worst thing is it worked fine before I got my hands on it.


----------



## JimDawson (Feb 4, 2018)

I think I saw a tape drive to usb converter somewhere.  Maybe these guys have something useful.  http://www.highlanddnc.com/


----------



## Wreck™Wreck (Feb 4, 2018)

If you are operating it in MDI and made a change to a canned cycle in a program it is possible that the control will not load a program with a code or math error. 

If it worked before you made a change then stopped working after the change it is fairly obvious where the problem lies, some controls will require you to resequence the program after edits in the lines of code. If you add or delete a line it may add a line number out of sequence.

For instance

General programming data which is required, inch/MM, spindle start/stop, spindle direction and so on which may take many lines
goes here. Lines 0001 to 0044

The actual part may look like so without feed rates, I do not want to type the extra numbers (-:
0045 g0 X1.490 Z 1.000 (rapid to start)
0046 g1 X 1.490 Z 0.000 (beginning of chamfer)
0047 g1 X 1.500 Z -.050 (end of chamfer)
0048 g1 X 1.500 Z -1.000 (turn 1.500 to shoulder 1.000 long)
0049 g1 X 2.000 Z -1.000 (end of maximum stock diameter)
0050 g0 X 4.000 Z 3.000 (rapids away from the part to a position where the next part may be loaded)
0051 m0 (program stop)

Depending on the control if one were to edit the program and add a worthless G28 without  regard to the line numbers it may look like this:

0045 g0 X1.490 Z 1.000 (rapid to start)
0046 g1 X 1.490 Z 0.000 (beginning of chamfer)
0047 g1 X 1.500 Z -.050 (end of chamfer)
0048 g1 X 1.500 Z -1.000 (turn 1.500 to shoulder 1.000 long)
0049 g1 X 2.000 Z -1.000 (end of maximum stock diameter)
0050 g0 X 4.000 Z 3.000 (rapids away from the part to a position where the next part may be loaded)
0001 g28 (out of sequence line number)
0051 m0 (program stop)


----------



## rgray (Feb 4, 2018)

Wreck™Wreck said:


> If you are operating it in MDI and made a change to a canned cycle in a program it is possible that the control will not load a program with a code or math error.



I was in edit. Didn't have any canned cycles. was a small program. For some reason he was returning to a different spot than his G50 line...I think he typoed. So I removed that and put in the G28 (didn't know that was worthless)



Wreck™Wreck said:


> If it worked before you made a change then stopped working after the change it is fairly obvious where the problem lies, some controls will require you to resequence the program after edits in the lines of code. If you add or delete a line it may add a line number out of sequence.



If I had run the code after editing I'm fairly certain it would have alarmed and made me fix it. However I attemted to transfer the code from turret 2 to the laptop. It wouldn't complete. I don't know if I edited the program wrong and if that was really the problem, or if it just happened.
So that program # is no longer on the machine. Attempt to delete all programs (o-9999) are fruitless as there are no programs on the machine at this point.
However the 101 alarm is there and persistent. I'm not worried about my G code in the least....just can't get 101 alarm cleared.
Thank you for the response. Realise that I know almost nothing about Fanuc 6T...or any cnc. I read and read and more things are making sense, but the learning curve is steep for me and the translation to english while not as bad as the chinese/english translation still makes understanding the book difficult.


----------



## rgray (Feb 4, 2018)

JimDawson said:


> I think I saw a tape drive to usb converter somewhere. Maybe these guys have something useful. http://www.highlanddnc.com/



I had seen that and saved the site to my favorites already.
The laptop file transfer process was working smoothly until now.
That may make a better drip feed. Not sure if the laptop is capable of drip feeding, but i'm thinking it is.
That's quite a ways ahead of my learning curve at the moment. but I'm hoping someday I'll have this BIG cnc file that I'll be drip feeding to my machine as it's spitting out parts but it's just a fantasy for now.


----------



## Wreck™Wreck (Feb 5, 2018)

rgray said:


> I was in edit. Didn't have any canned cycles. was a small program. For some reason he was returning to a different spot than his G50 line...I think he typoed. So I removed that and put in the G28 (didn't know that was worthless)



Not worthless but usually unneeded, Return To Reference for what reason?
You have a closed loop machine.I could understand Return To Reference on an open loop machine with stepper drives as it may have lost steps and you wouldn't know it, the lost steps would remain until a return to reference is commanded and completed.

This is an old machine you are dealing with. When you start it does it require a Home command?

If it simply will not recognize an axis or turret check the limit switches, it quite likely returns to reference at start up and if one of the switches is stuck open or closed it will give an error code.


----------



## rgray (Feb 5, 2018)

JimDawson said:


> Is it possible to swap the memory cards and apply the ''fix''?



Was going to call Fanuc this morning, but I'm really a do it yourselfer. That doesn't always go in my favor but today it did.
Reading the info about correcting corupted memory on turret 1's motherboard had me convinced to try it.
Works great. Alarm is then on turret 1 and can be cleared by the book method (hold delete&reset on startup).
I would think the book would make some reference to this and the 101 alarm.
I sure found a lot of threads on 101 alarms with no answers. Closest to an answer on one site was he had the Fanuc service guy
come out and fix it. Posted a thread stating that and the service guy said he changed some parameters or something. It may have been
a different Fanuc than I have.


----------



## rgray (Feb 5, 2018)

Wreck™Wreck said:


> When you start it does it require a Home command?



When turning it on anytime it requires zero return to do anything by program. Cause it doesn't have cartesian coordinates. 
Or so I read.  Couple of years down the road before that "became" ...it does sound nice. But I'll just have to make due with "old school".


----------



## Wreck™Wreck (Feb 5, 2018)

What coordinate system does it use?
Does it not have a choice of systems such as incremental, polar or absolute (Descartes)


----------



## rgray (Feb 5, 2018)

Wreck™Wreck said:


> What coordinate system does it use?
> Does it not have a choice of systems such as incremental, polar or absolute (Descartes)



Book says absolute and incremental.
Do I understand it right that absolute would show radius size of part machined and incremental would show atual part size on the readout?


----------



## Wreck™Wreck (Feb 5, 2018)

rgray said:


> Book says absolute and incremental.
> Do I understand it right that absolute would show radius size of part machined and incremental would show atual part size on the readout?



Not exactly. You may however use radius or diameter, G190 is radius, 191 is diameter
Absolute is Cartesian, absolute position from 0,0 in 2 axes in this case, G90 is absolute
Incremental is a move from the current position. G91 is incremental

I always program lathes in absolute and diameter, this does not make it the "best" way just the way that I like to do it.


----------



## JimDawson (Feb 5, 2018)

You could just do what I'm getting ready to do, rip the Fanuc control out and install your own.


----------



## rgray (Feb 6, 2018)

JimDawson said:


> You could just do what I'm getting ready to do, rip the Fanuc control out and install your own.



I imagine when completed the old computer cabinet would look empty. Could make it into a tool box or something.
I've sure thought about doing that. 
One has to wonder how long these computer boards will last. If Voyager 1 is any indication, I guess they will last a very long time. I've not had that luck with my desktops.
I had better learn to make a part first.
This 20hp is incredible to me....a little scary too!


----------



## JimDawson (Feb 6, 2018)

I suspect there is going to be a pretty big pile of cables and hardware on a pallet when I'm done. 

I'm running desktop boards in my other machines and have had really good luck with them, and the good news is that they are easy to change out if there is a problem.  Normally the weak link is the power supply, but those are only about $30, and I keep a couple new ones in stock.


----------



## brino (Feb 6, 2018)

Hi Russ,

I know nothing about Fanuc or CNC in general....just trying to pitch in and help.

A while ago I posted about a site with various CNC manuals:
https://www.hobby-machinist.com/threads/found-a-site-for-cnc-and-other-manuals.63358/

I searched it for "Fanuc 6T" and found this:
Download PDF Fanuc 6T Maintenance Manual

PDF page 29 (of 389; or page 27 of the original manual) shows this for alarm 101:



Is that the procedure that you do NOT want to use because it would clear the 15 pages of parameters?

Good Luck!
-brino


----------



## rgray (Feb 7, 2018)

brino said:


> Is that the procedure that you do NOT want to use because it would clear the 15 pages of parameters?



No.. That is the fix that is supposed to clear it. I was lucky enough to get all the books with the machine, so I had that info.
The gotcha was it wouldn't clear the "hung" memory from turret 2. Once I got my courage up and switched the memory card from motherboard 2 to motherboard 1 that cleared the problem. In the books there is info telling of motherboard 1 being the only board that could fix corrupted memory.
My understanding in reading that section is that it would lock out bad sections so they are not used making the memory card usable again although at a reduced capacity.
This is not the problem I had but putting 2+2 together I figured it would also fix my hung memory. Machine always boots up to turret 1 and attempts
to quickly switch to turret 2 when booting didn't work to clear the memory ...now knowing that board 1 is the only one that can do it that makes sense.

So I was up and running again.  Made a few changes to my code... Made one single part.. Pushed the button for a second cycle and the # 1 turret released and indexed and failed to reclamp... and the machine just stopped movements (good thing).
I was thinking what did I screw up now! If I turn the machine off the turret will index to any tool you want 1 time only, and there is no clamping.
Turret 2 works normal. I thought I was going down a deep rabbit hole in electronics. Back to the book. Machine stops so it knows something is not right, but no alarm code is set.

Turret 1's hydraulic solenoid has no indicator light on. There are 2 one for clamped and one for unclamped. The two solenoids next to it have these indicator lights and they switch ends when the hydraulics switch. These lights are on the solenoids themselves under a cover next to the headstock.
The voltage is applied the ohm readings are the same as the other solenoids, so I guess I have a stuck hyd valve.
I haven't had a chance to take it apart yet.


----------

