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Johnford vmc 550

Ray2824

New Member
We just bought this used cnc mill and wondering what should the level (psi) of compressed air coming into this machine ?

And how do we change tool in mdi ?

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Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor
Interesting Mill. What year is it? Post pics?! Have you tried googling for the manual?
 

Ray2824

New Member
Interesting Mill. What year is it? Post pics?! Have you tried googling for the manual?
I did but no luck.
fa2da3c275074016b0de65bdd4653130.jpg
4869e443126a3ec0bd9989ac7e0d80e2.jpg


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Alexander

Ultra Member
Administrator
Ray nice machine you have here. Were you able to test it yet? I have a similar vintage machine at home. I learned allot about upgrading old machines whenIi bought mine. If your machine still has a floppy drive i highly recommend picking up a floppy drive emulator on amazon. it will allow you to use a USB stick to upload and save your files.
 

Ray2824

New Member
Ray nice machine you have here. Were you able to test it yet? I have a similar vintage machine at home. I learned allot about upgrading old machines whenIi bought mine. If your machine still has a floppy drive i highly recommend picking up a floppy drive emulator on amazon. it will allow you to use a USB stick to upload and save your files.
You are life saver. Can you please send me Amazon.

Do you know how to do a tool change in mdi?



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Ray2824

New Member
Still no luck with tool changing. I have tried boody everything but seems like it does not want to do a tool change in mdi.

I really need some help. So, I have this johnford vmc550. I am trying to do a tool change in mdi using t1m6 but the machine is not doing anything. All the other commands in mdi are working but not tool change. I am sure there gonna be 1 stupid thing that I am not doing right but what the hell it is lol.

I have tried, end of the block as well. Tried from home position and from g30 too.

Can someone help me with this???????

Thank you

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Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor
Will it change tools through some sort of manual activation? Does the electronics send a signal to the tool changer visible on a multimeter? I’m wondering if the mechanical mechanism is working and or if the electronics is sending signals telling the mechanism to move? Is the problem the software (wrong command?) the hardware (electronics not working) or a mechanical problem? Isolating the different systems may help.
 

Ray2824

New Member
Will it change tools through some sort of manual activation? Does the electronics send a signal to the tool changer visible on a multimeter? I’m wondering if the mechanical mechanism is working and or if the electronics is sending signals telling the mechanism to move? Is the problem the software (wrong command?) the hardware (electronics not working) or a mechanical problem? Isolating the different systems may help.
Hi, yes it does. While running the program, it does o a tool change no problem.

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Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor
I don’t follow your reply. It works how exactly?

Are you defining a tool table and tools in the program? Maybe that is required? @Alexander?
 

Ray2824

New Member
I don’t follow your reply. It works how exactly?

Are you defining a tool table and tools in the program? Maybe that is required? @Alexander?
Hi, thank you for the quick reply. sorry for the typo. I meant to say that it does change the took while running the program. We bought it used. I do remember that the guy we bought it from showed it but I can not remember it now.

While in mdi, does the machine has to be that the tool changing height before(g30) or the tool change can be called from any spindle position?

Can I request you to please type it here the way you would do it at the machine.

Thank you for the help!

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Janger

(John)
Administrator
Vendor
I unfortunately don’t have a tool changer (yet!) but @Alexander does and I think @Tom O does as well. Maybe they can help.

I think I understand now. The tool changer works while executing a complete program but not if you’re just standing there typing in ad-hoc commands interactively in mdi mode?

That is interesting. If you execute t1 m6 in a program will the Spindle lift to the right height from any z position or do you need to move it there with a G0 Z tool change height first?
 

kylemp

Well-Known Member
I've got no idea what your machine requires but if it's letting you do a tool change on program I'd check the gcode and see what it's sending right before the tool change.. Janger is likely right about position and there probably is something it's telling the controller before the tool change.

Looking at some other people with the same controller you should have something like G91 G28 Z0 then t#m6 but again I'd just check any working gcode first and figure it out from there.
 
Last edited:

Alexander

Ultra Member
Administrator
It is worth saying that the tolchanger will have a program weather it is EIA format or a macro i dont know without looking. Hitting single block during the toolchange will help you analyze it. I haven't had many cnc problems in my manufacturing career but most of the problems i have had were during a tool change. There are many things happening in just a few seconds. I dont know enough to diagnose the problem on the internet
 
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