Hi Everyone,
I've found some references to my problem in the topic M-410iB Greasing, but no solutions. A customer called after messing up their robot about a week ago, although it is still in service. The worker did the lubrication mostly right, but admitted that,
a) He used a pneumatic grease pump at full facility pressure.
b) He replaced the outlet plug immediately after filling, and before circulating grease.
c) He pumped until fresh grease emerged, but did not keep the old grease or measure the amount removed or filled.
d) The lubrication was overdue by an unknown time, and the grease was black and smelled burnt.
Workers noted in the days following that J2 was making a different noise, they described it as a whistle that changes from time to time, but not the typical servo sound. They called a company for whom I contract my services as a tech and they ordered a new J2 servo, and then they asked me if I would install it. My first question was, did they over pressurize the reducer and blow a seal, and then went to their facility to investigate. I found,
1) The sound is more a crunching/sqeaking. It's easy to imagine seals material being chewed up in a planetary gear while listening.
2) The servo quickly gets too hot to touch.
3) The brake seems to disengage when the servos activate, but I can't comment on whether it is dragging or not.
So main guess is that the seal(s) are popped off and caught up in the reducer gears and/or servo brake? No alternative explanations seem very likely to me.
I've received a quote for at the small bits (all in stock) and the reducer, which includes the seal, I believe, which is 4 weeks away! If the lead time is so long, I'm thinking, then this might not be a common problem, and maybe I don't need to be replacing it. And anyway, it's so expensive it might as well be gold. So, anyway, when the servo comes I'm going to put it in anyway, and then I can get a look inside.
Which brings me to practical problem #2, the balancer. The Fanuc tech I talked to described the J2 refit as "a very big job". Hopefully if you have read this far, then you know what he is talking about. Essentially, you cannot rest the arm on the floor to remove the servo, as the balancer tension will make it lift. The balancer needs to be disconnected at the (bottom?) clevis and the arm supported at the balancer's neutral point. Can anyone please comment on this procedure, specifically, finding the neutral extension before disconnecting. I want to be confident going in as failure has obvious consequences. Also if you know about any complications in the whole task that I'm not aware of, I would be very appreciative of your advice.
Complications:
- This palletizing robot is elevated 10'
- There is no overhead crane, only a forklift which I have not seen
I may take down the safety fence and put up scaffolding. I have also considered having an adjustable post fabricated to bolt to the floor, or using chains hung from the ceiling beams and connected to the lift points of link 2 or 3. Whew, sorry about rambling on, I want ed to be as precise as possible. Thank you for your time and thoughts.