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Author Topic: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S  (Read 111456 times)

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Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #130 on: October 10, 2008, 08:25:57 AM »
Wow. Just got done rereading the entire thread. I am exhausted just from reading LOL

Absolutely incredible work Wayne. My head is spinning as I don't have a lot of experience in the electrical end of things, though I'm learning from trying to keep 20-25 year old machines running.

My HXL is down right now with a spindle drive problem. A friend of Hood's (waving hi to Hood! man it's been a while, I hope things are well with you!) is trying to help me trouble shoot it long distance. It's been difficult with my lack of expertise. I am wondering if I could just bypass all the original electronics with a retro-fit. The iron is in excellent condition, as are the axis drive motors, and the spindle motor itself. It's just the electronics that keep breaking down.

I absolutely loved the surgery you did on the pickup for the tool changer. You, sir, are a craftsman!

I'll be in the shop today and will get you a list of all the manuals I have, which is fairly comprehensive.

On a side note, I have a Wells Index CNC mill run by an oooold Sharnoa controller. Been keeping that going with minor tweaks here and there, too. A prime candidate for a retrofit. Again, the iron is in excellent condition.

Mark
Don't try to outwierd me, six eyes. I get stranger things than you in my breakfast cereal.

Offline fdos

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Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #131 on: October 10, 2008, 11:02:07 AM »
Mark

Well as you might have noticed a vast part of the progress was made in the last month!   I kind of took time out of real work to get it done, otherwise it would still be here able to do nothing.   As I type it's working, so it's been worth it.

I'll try to do anything to inspire you to do yours!   Its really worth it in the end.   OK I've had a few glitches on the way, but I think I came up with good solutions.   I know what it's like to try and earn with a machine suffering from a flaky control, i still have one or two here like that.   I'm also that not the type to go out spend 60K on a new machine, my money or the banks doesnt matter.   I know so many people like that who have paid dearly for the convenience.   

As you well know these old Hardinges if run on cutting oil all their lives, tend to last forever in the iron dept.  Thats worth a lot, and where else would you find a machine of the same capabilty that sits on a 6ft x 3ft footprint?

In your case with a lot of work done here, I think you could be onto a winner, I'm more than happy to give you all the information on what I did.

Wayne.....

Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #132 on: October 10, 2008, 11:10:39 AM »
Thank you very much Wayne. You've already inspried me to get back to work on it. Mine, too, was run with cutting oil, hence everything being in excellent condition. And you're right, I went with this for it's footprint size, too. I just need to figure out where to get started (and will reread all your valuable information a few times). I will definitely be picking your brain :) Thank you for the offer.

I know it'll definitely be worthwhile in the end. I changed jobs recently and haven't had a lot of time to play with it, but that's changing now :)

I just sent you a list of manuals I have. Hope they can help in some small way.

Mark
Don't try to outwierd me, six eyes. I get stranger things than you in my breakfast cereal.

Offline fdos

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Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #133 on: October 10, 2008, 06:48:32 PM »
Mark

Here's another vid done tonight which may inspire you some more ;)


Wayne....

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/4iIwQHlV_j4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/4iIwQHlV_j4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>
« Last Edit: October 10, 2008, 06:51:41 PM by fdos »
Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #134 on: October 10, 2008, 11:21:20 PM »
LOL Very cool Wayne! Not only are you inspiring me, but you're making me jealous! LOL Looks great!

I will set about scanning that info for you, will take a while so be patient ;)

Great videography! Thanks for sharing :)

Mark
Don't try to outwierd me, six eyes. I get stranger things than you in my breakfast cereal.

Offline Hood

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Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #135 on: October 11, 2008, 05:13:28 AM »
Looks like your almost there Wayne :)

Mark
 Good to see you here again, hope you get your issues sorted.

Hood

Offline fdos

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Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #136 on: October 11, 2008, 11:13:22 AM »
Mark

No need to feel jealous!    These Hardinges have to be kept going they're classy! ;)

What type of Spindle drive/motor does your GE based machine have?   AC or DC?  I have real issues with those old DC drives, hence the reason mine got removed.   So far I'm more than happy with the 3kW AC setup I now have.   Siemens Micromaster 440 drive and matching braking resistor and Siemens 4 pole Iron Framed motor.   The motor after milling the round flange square like the original was a drop in replacement.  I think the original motor was either 3.5 or 4 kW.

I think actually when I think back over all the purchases that spindle setup was the most costly. 2nd was all the replacement 5 port valves, and then the servo motors and drives.   All the rest added up to quite a bit but I'm happy now!


Wayne.....

Offline fdos

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Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #137 on: October 21, 2009, 12:39:32 PM »
Well the machine has been running about a year now, and I been fairly happy with it.

Been a few issues along the way, but recently the X axis servo decided it didn't want to work again!

Actually it was the 2nd time, but the 1st time (about 3 months ago) I was able to rescue it.  Sadly last week no such luck, so bit the bullet and swapped out that axis motor/drive for a new 400W Brushless AC Setup.   Quite an eye opener really, although very close spec to the Brushed DC that came out the Brushless motor out performs it in every way.

Anyway here's a vid of the machine running recently.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

Wayne....


<a href="http://&lt;object width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowscriptaccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://&lt;object width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowscriptaccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;</a>


<a href="http://&lt;object width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowscriptaccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://&lt;object width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowscriptaccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot;&gt;&lt;/param&gt;&lt;embed src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/v/P4L2hoPV04g&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; width=&quot;425&quot; height=&quot;344&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;</a>
« Last Edit: October 21, 2009, 12:41:14 PM by fdos »
Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #138 on: October 21, 2009, 02:07:08 PM »
Very very cool video Wayne!! Congratulations and job well done!

Just realized it's been almost a year to the day when I was last in here :( Been trying to get hold of you!

I finally got the maintenance manual onto a zip drive and tried emailing to you some time ago. Not sure why, but it wouldn't go.

I am at the point where I am ready to start parting my machine out. I just don't have the skills to work on the electronics. It's sat, untouched, for a year now and is taking up valuable space! I'll be putting it on Ebay again soon, but don't have high hopes. It went unoticed in the Practical Machinist :(

If you're interested in anything, send me a wish list. Shipping could be an issue, though LOL

Hope all is well with you and thanks for sharing the video!

Mark
Don't try to outwierd me, six eyes. I get stranger things than you in my breakfast cereal.

Offline fdos

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Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S
« Reply #139 on: October 21, 2009, 03:08:51 PM »
Mark

Shame, but maybe offer it on here?  or the EMC guys.   The HXL is really a good machine and someone should want it. 

Not many machines capable of the same accuracy for little money day in day out.

I'd be interested in a Parts catcher if yours has one!

Wayne....