Mori Seiki Fanuc 6T question

[rgray]

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]

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

 

[rgray]

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]

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

 

[rgray]

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]

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

 

[Wreck™Wreck]

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]

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)

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]

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]

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.