LeBlond Makino RMC 55

kdeshazer · Jan 2, 2017

need cutaway view of spindle

Milacron said:
Weird.....so in the spinde motor and not the spindle, eh ? I guess unless the pulley is loose must be spindle motor bearing sure enough. The main trick is if you do it yourself you may need a dummy rotor in there where working on the innards or you can loose magnetism. Or maybe that is only the case with DC servos...can't remember now. Perhaps ask in the Transformer Forum here.

I now have the spindle motor at a shop. I would like to take the spindle out as it needs bearings also. My manuals do not show the spindle assembly. Milacron, do you have one you can share? I am not sure how the spindle comes out and don't want to cause damage.

Milacron · Jan 5, 2017

kdeshazer said:
I now have the spindle motor at a shop. I would like to take the spindle out as it needs bearings also. My manuals do not show the spindle assembly. Milacron, do you have one you can share? I am not sure how the spindle comes out and don't want to cause damage.

I should have parts drawing of the KE 55 spindle, which I would think would be the same as the RMC....will try and remember to look this afternoon.

triumph406 · Jan 7, 2017

kdeshazer said:
I now have the spindle motor at a shop. I would like to take the spindle out as it needs bearings also. My manuals do not show the spindle assembly. Milacron, do you have one you can share? I am not sure how the spindle comes out and don't want to cause damage.

i tried to buy a maintenance manual from Makino for my RMC55 a few years ago. I even gave them the Makino part no to make it easy for them. I was pretty persistent in trying to get a manual. For some reason they couldn't or wouldn't sell a maintenance manual. I've never seen one, but I know they exist. In the past when I've done some work on the Z-axis leadscrew, I had somebody at Makino send me pdf's of the relevant pages from the maintenance manual.

I'll check the parts manual this weekend, I'm pretty sure there's a cross section thru the spindle showing the bearing arrangement. But that wouldn't be adequate to be able to service a spindle. Get somebody from makino to scan and send you the spindle section from the maintenance manual.How do you know the spindle needs bearings? I'd be surprised if it did.

Milacron · Jan 7, 2017

triumph406 said:
Get somebody from makino to scan and send you the spindle section from the maintenance manual.

That would be worth a try but I would be shocked if they would do anything other than sell you an operations or parts manual for $300... EACH ! And even for that they would act like they have to travel to Timbuktu and go thru a dusty basement to search the archives by hand.

dkmc · Jan 7, 2017

Milacron said:
And even for that they would act like they have to travel to Timbuktu and go thru a dusty basement to search the archives by hand.

I forgot, are they the ones that use the Steam Powered Copier
as well?

Milacron · Jan 8, 2017

dkmc said:
I forgot, are they the ones that use the Steam Powered Copier
as well?

I think the Timbuktu office has a mimeograph machine that runs off a bank of telegraph batteries.

Milacron · Jan 9, 2017

Milacron said:
I should have parts drawing of the KE 55 spindle, which I would think would be the same as the RMC....will try and remember to look this afternoon.

Just an update that I've only been to the shop once since I wrote above and forgot to look...will try again today.

Milacron · Jan 9, 2017

kdeshazer said:
I now have the spindle motor at a shop. I would like to take the spindle out as it needs bearings also. My manuals do not show the spindle assembly. Milacron, do you have one you can share? I am not sure how the spindle comes out and don't want to cause damage.

OK, for my KE-55, I have the parts manual and a 1.5" thick 3 ring binder "Maintenance Guide", KEMG-V01/E01/0295-1129/0. There is a 30 page chapter on the "spindle head unit, standard 10A type"

There is information on the drawbar force, adjustment, and removal/replacement of same. Info on spindle lock mechanism, belt tension, adjustment.

Unfortunately there is no info on removing the spindle, or replacing the bearings in there...one of those "contact your service group" deals.

Looking at cross section drawings, there are 2 pair of opposing taper spindle bearings at the tool area (i.e. 4 probably very expensive bearings). At the top of the spindle there seems to be just one bearing, which appears to be perhaps a roller bearing....maybe that's the noise culprit....

As an aside, I got this Maintenance Guide on eBay years ago dirt cheap...so perhaps keep eyes peeled for another one.

Spud · Jan 23, 2017

What is typical price for a KE-55 that is not clapped out / needs repair or rebuilding ?

Now this next question is most likely to cause a lot of consternation but I am newbie and am trying to get a feel for what the KE-55 is capable with very low operator Machining skill.

Assuming a newbie can familiarize himself with the KE-55 software , does it have a way lower learning curve to make parts (not complex parts typically made on a 5 axis ) on than a Deckel Activ or Maho Mh 600 C ?

triumph406 · Jan 27, 2017

kdeshazer said:
. I would like to take the spindle out as it needs bearings also. My manuals do not show the spindle assembly.

Here's a couple of scans from the parts manual, one has the bearing part no.

triumph406 · Jan 27, 2017

Spud said:
What is typical price for a KE-55 that is not clapped out / needs repair or rebuilding ?

Now this next question is most likely to cause a lot of consternation but I am newbie and am trying to get a feel for what the KE-55 is capable with very low operator Machining skill.

Assuming a newbie can familiarize himself with the KE-55 software , does it have a way lower learning curve to make parts (not complex parts typically made on a 5 axis ) on than a Deckel Activ or Maho Mh 600 C ?

Not sure what a good RMC-55/KE-55 would go for, in the range of $4-6k maybe.

It has a Fanuc 0M control which imho is very easy to use, with some instruction you could be up and running in a day or two.

alienturtle · Sep 7, 2018

I know this post is a little old but i am reaching out for a little help on the same RMC-55 machine listed above. It has the same 12 kva transformer bolted to the machine as the pictures show a few posts back. I am currently building a Rotary phase converter and already have a Baldor 10hp 3 phase motor. My question is will i be able to run that transformer and machine with a 10hp RPC?

Thanks in advance guys

Milacron · Sep 8, 2018

alienturtle said:
I know this post is a little old but i am reaching out for a little help on the same RMC-55 machine listed above. It has the same 12 kva transformer bolted to the machine as the pictures show a few posts back. I am currently building a Rotary phase converter and already have a Baldor 10hp 3 phase motor. My question is will i be able to run that transformer and machine with a 10hp RPC?

Thanks in advance guys

Those machines used all Fanuc servo's, even for the spindle motor, so in theory there should be a way to run the machine on single phase power only (except for the coolant pump)

alienturtle · Sep 8, 2018

Now you have me very curious haha. Im bringing the machine hime next week. But dont they run on 200v? I only have 240 single phase in my shop. I run vfds for my bridgeport and my lathe. How could you tell if it will run on single phase? Thanks for the help

alienturtle · Sep 28, 2018

I finally got my RMC55 home and powered up. I have been doing lots of research in regards to getting it up and running. So far i have got the machine powered up and controls seem to work ok. x and y all move. I tried to run the spindle motor and the spindle is locked up. I removed the spindle motor and belt and the spindle drive motor spins free. If seems someone left this guy outside and im guessing water has made its way into the spindle bearings. I only got a parts manual and the parameter sheet for the machine. I was able to remove the big draw bar cylinder on top and the 2 nuts holding the draw far in. I cant seem to get the next collar piece off that holds the pulley on. i believe its number 79 in the parts manual. Does anyone happen to know how to get the rest of the spindle apart to get to the bearings?

Thanks in advance

CNC PInc · Oct 12, 2018

Have you tried contacting Makino? 888-625-4664. They have always been great to work with. Some techs are better than others.

triumph406 · Oct 27, 2018

CNC PInc said:
Have you tried contacting Makino? 888-625-4664. They have always been great to work with. Some techs are better than others.

On the few occasions I've had to call Makino it's the same f'ing conversation.

What's your company?
XXXXX Engineering
Your not in the system
Yes I am
No your not, what's your machine serial no
xxxxxxxx
So your XXXXX Fab?
No that was 2 owners ago.
So we need to register you.
Again?
What do you mean?
I've been registered at least 3 times, I've told you 3 times I'm not XXXX Fab!!
Well I need to register you.
Again
Yes
I don't have much choice do I?
Nope.

Some techs are good, I used to have one who would scan and send me pages from the Maintenance manual when I was putting new bearings on the leadscrews.

On the other hand the parts dept is WORTHLESS. I have tried several times to get a maintenance manual for an RMC55. I even made their life easy by giving them the part no (provided by somebody inside Makino). After multiple inquiries as to when I could bye this manual, I gave up. Luckily the machine has been reliable. I know that manual exists, their parts dept doesn't think so, or is incapable of finding it.

alienturtle · Nov 27, 2018

Well my rmc55 is finally set in place and running. Iv been playing around with the controls a little bit trying to home and what not.

My question is what is the proper way to shutdown and startup these machines. Does it involve going "home" every time? Im a little confused about the homing procedure as well. I have a home button at the top next to jog and i also have a home start button
It is a fanuc OM controls

triumph406 · Nov 27, 2018

alienturtle said:
Well my rmc55 is finally set in place and running. Iv been playing around with the controls a little bit trying to home and what not.

My question is what is the proper way to shutdown and startup these machines. Does it involve going "home" every time? Im a little confused about the homing procedure as well. I have a home button at the top next to jog and i also have a home start button
It is a fanuc OM controls

The RMC55 I have hasn't been homed in 20 years.

I run in absolute mode. When I start the machine in the morning if it's a new job I will establish new X,Y,Z locations, load part/program, hit start and go. If I make a mistake in the program it will hit a soft limit and stop if I exceed the machines envelope..

If I'm restarting the same program in the morning then I will input the co-ordinates where the machine stopped the night before.

That's how I've been doing it anyway.

I always turn the machine off at night, make sure you have good backup batteries for the machine, you don't want to lose the parameters.

Do you have either a paper copy, or a software backup?

alienturtle · Nov 27, 2018

Ok cool thanks! I was given a bunch of parameter papers and a floppy disk that says backup on it. I guess im just not sure how the machine works yet so im not sure the steps to get it going. I wish there was a manual or something with a test i could do.

Thank you again for the help.

LeBlond Makino RMC 55

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