Fanuc Robodrill Cleanup and Maintenance

[Djwade]

Hi All,

I appreciate the input that I've received thus far across a few topics, but felt it probably made the most sense to keep things consolidated under one thread that is focused on going through the machine, and relevant questions that come up that I haven't been able to locate an answer with searching.

Brief backstory: Spent a while looking for a CNC that would fit into my low ceiling garage. I work as a mechanical engineer doing medical devices for my day job, the vast majority of which is in plastics. As such, the only machine I have access to at work for internal prototyping is a Tormach 770, which, for our needs at work, is fine, but not exactly ideal for what I would like to do . I wanted something more capable for my own work, and after lots of searching for what would be in my budget, I ended up with a Fanuc "robodrill" Drill Mate T-Model 10. I've gotten it powered up and operational on a phase perfect, switched out the backup batteries, backed up my parameters, and really just tried to familiarize myself with the controls and the operation.

I've finally had the time to start digging through, cleaning things up, and trying to get a general idea of the condition of the machine. I have most of the manuals. The operator manual was missing half the pages, but I have a new one on order from Fanuc in the meantime, and have been reading through the recommended maintenance and lubrication, etc.

I've started pulling off the way covers to see the condition of the linear ways/trucks and ballscrews. According to the previous owner, the machine only ever saw delrin and acrylic for 99% of their work, and, well, the chips under the covers certainly support that.



Frankly, when it comes to inspecting things, I'm an utter noob, so I would welcome all input at this point. Looking at the trucks for the linear ways, it seems like a red grease was used, which, to my knowledge, is not the original.



I've heard mixing grease types is bad juju, and I've already ordered the correct grease as recommended by the manual, so therein lies question number 1:

What's the best way to flush or clean out the existing bearing trucks of the old grease and replace with the new, to-spec type?

I'm rearranging my garage a bit to a more ideal layout for my machines, but once I have it rearranged, and level the machine, I'll get around to measuring the backlash.

I've measured the spindle runout against the shoulder of one of my new holders and was seeing less than a tenth, but I'm not sure if this is truly representative, so I'll be measuring it again directly when I get the chance. (Video link attempt: Shared album - Daniel Wade - Google Photos)

I'm looking at potentially getting a spindle drawbar force gauge, though these machines already have such low drawbar force, I'm wondering if it's worth it.

Aside from what I've already started working on, any other recommendations for things to look at? At some point I may need some help deciphering some suspicious wiring in one of the cabinets, but first I really want to get on top of the mechanical health of the machine, and get started on a good maintenance schedule for it, even with the light duty work I do.

 

[Djwade]

I've been able to clean things up pretty well, and they're generally looking good from where it gets cleaned up.



No autolube, the trucks are grease pack.

I was able to see it running and operating, and I put some credence to their word, as it wasn't a machine seller but the shop itself, but yes, definitely a lesson for the future.

I'd be very cautious about flushing out anything.
Vacuum everything out and stiff brush (nylon/toothbrush) the crap from the seal area.
Surely everything is autolube - oil pumped around? The trucks aren't grease pack, are they?
And is the ballscrew under that pile???

Lesson for next time - ALWAYS pull way covers off machines when inspecting, PRIOR to purchase....

 

[GENERALDISARRAY]

a new spring and balls is probably cheaper than a drawbar dynamometer.

 

[Djwade]

a new spring and balls is probably cheaper than a drawbar dynamometer.

That was kinda my thought as well. I'll probably take care of the other clean-up and related items first, and at least for this first time around, just replace the spring as a "preventative maintenance", and then look at monitoring it in the future.

 

[Pete Deal]

As for flushing the grease...

The seals on the linear bearings are just one way lip seals. Grease just flows out when you over fill them. Then as you tram it around it leaves the grease behind. So what I did with the use Brother I recently bought is just greased the hell out of it. I generally use Kluber (NBU 15 I think) grease (white) and the grease that the previous owner used was red. So I pumped until I got white grease out. Then trammed it around and wiped the rails off real well. All this was done with the way covers off. Did more or less the same for the ball screws.

Personally, I think a good yearly PM for any machine is to remove the way covers yearly to have a look and give it a good cleaning. From what I have seen in my life auto lube systems work well enough long enough to make you complacent and then they quit working in some way and something is trashed.

Also, as was already said - buying used machines a good thing to do is to pull the way covers back during inspection. Lots to see under there.

 

[GENERALDISARRAY]

be careful with the zerks. The ones on my Mate fell right off when I tried to grease them.

 

[Corn]

be careful with the zerks. The ones on my Mate fell right off when I tried to grease them.

I agree. Zerks are really delicate and those which are 90 deg can't take hardly any force to fell off. I came up to this LocknLube grease coupler which you don't need force to push and pull inserting or removing it. Haven't yet tested it but that should solve this issue. If the head isn't too thick to fit..

 

[DavidScott]

As for flushing the grease...

The seals on the linear bearings are just one way lip seals. Grease just flows out when you over fill them. Then as you tram it around it leaves the grease behind. So what I did with the use Brother I recently bought is just greased the hell out of it. I generally use Kluber (NBU 15 I think) grease (white) and the grease that the previous owner used was red. So I pumped until I got white grease out. Then trammed it around and wiped the rails off real well. All this was done with the way covers off. Did more or less the same for the ball screws.

Personally, I think a good yearly PM for any machine is to remove the way covers yearly to have a look and give it a good cleaning. From what I have seen in my life auto lube systems work well enough long enough to make you complacent and then they quit working in some way and something is trashed.

Also, as was already said - buying used machines a good thing to do is to pull the way covers back during inspection. Lots to see under there.

Pumping grease through the system like this can blow the plastic ball returns off the ends of the blocks. If your seals are in good shape and your blocks have them along the bottom so they go all the way around, not just on the ends, then you could pop those returns off without even feeling it with the grease gun, they can produce a lot of pressure.

If you get two greases that are quite incompatible you could end up with them going so thick the only way to get it out is to take everything apart and scrape it out. Best to test on the bench before pumping the new grease into it.