Machsupport Forum
General CNC Chat => Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) => Topic started by: piv on February 22, 2011, 01:54:07 AM
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Ive got a 1978 Mori Seiki TL5 lathe with a Fanuc 2000 controller. The controller is ancient and has to go. So its going to get a DSPMC with Mach3 to run it. It swings about 500mm, has a 300mm chuck, is about 1100mm between centres and has an 8 place auto tool changer. The spindle has a two speed gearbox and a 22kW (30hp) mitsubishi DC motor on it. Back when it was new it probably cost as much as three or four houses. It spent the later part of its life making mining drill bits and drill pipe adapters. So it has done some work, but all credit to its makers as it is in fine condition for such an ancient monument.
Thanks to the Mach3 forum, it seems practical to keep the Fanuc Gettys DC servos and drives and the Mitsubishi Diarol DL SCZ spindle drive and DC motor.
Ive got some before photos to show once I figure out how to upload them.
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Looking forward to the pics, just use the additional options button on the reply page to attach them :)
Hood
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Here are the before pictures of the TL5
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And a few more.
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TL5 before pictures
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Last before pictures.
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So you can see I got a few of the guards powdercoated when we took them off to move it. Once its up and running again we will give the rest of it a paint job. Its amazing how a coat of paint makes them look like (almost) new. The fridge size control box used to sit in front of the machine with a LED indicator panel (the one labeled Fanuc Mori) to show what G code was active and show the numbers. It did have a dnc connection to a PC. But its all too hard to use. We will put the "fridge" behind the machine and a PC display at the front. I will start putting the DSPMC on it in about a week or so as I have a customers five axis router to finish off first.
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Nice looking lathe, seems to be a few popped up here recently, not sure if any are retrofitted yet though.
Hood
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I'll be watching this build !!! Can't wait to see your progress.
JH
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Nice lathe. I'll be keeping an eye on you project. I wish mine was as big.
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I wish mine was as big.
Well they say size isnt everything ;D
Hood
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They are just being nice. Size dose matter. In fact some times size is every thing, but your woman probably want tell you that. Some day I hope to have a CNC lathe that big, but for now it's the little guys for me. If something that size fell into my lap, I wouldn't know ware to put it. Sure is fun to watch some one breath new life into these nice old machines. I love to see the pride that people put into the retrofits that they do. The VMC that JHChoppers has been working on is a perfect example.
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Well mine has occasionally been too big but more often its too small ;D The worst is the spindle bore, its 72.5mm which is a PITA, if only it was capable of passing 3" it would be great, lots of boats have 75mm or 3" shafts.
Hood
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Thanks for comments. Ive just swapped the DSPMC on the router so now Ive got one to put in here.
These big old lathes are heading towards scrap yards so they need to be saved.
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BTW, my manual lathe is a Myford Super 7, its got a 5/8" spindle bore, so dont worry about your bore being too small hood. Smallest thing I ever made on it was a little valve spindle as a prototype for an aerosol spray can part, 5mm long, 2mm diameter with splines on the outside of it! I cut the splines just by using the handwheel to force a tool through like a slotter. And I worked on it with a magnifying glass!
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Well I have never done anything that small on the Computurn, did do a small spindle for the hyraulic lever on the tailstock of the lathe, it was about 3mm dia 50mm long with a 5mm dia ball near the end, I was surprised how easy it was. In fact I made 3 just to make sure the first one wasnt just luck ;D
Worst job I have done on it was turning 6.5mm dia x 100mm long Mu metal down to 3mm dia. That stuff is a nightmare to turn, one wrong move and it wraps itself in knots and it was about £1000 per meter if I recall correctly.
I prefer the big stuff though, hearing the chips rattle off the tin work is nice :)
Hopefully you will get some progress now you have the DSPMC, certainly looking forward to the pics and of course the vid when its up and running :)
Hood
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Message for Hood and PIV. Don't know if Hood's machine has a hydraulic Chuck and actuator but we used to put front actuated air chucks from SMW on the Mori TL5's to gain an extra .5" dia, by removing the draw tube.
Ray.
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I am still struggling with my Fanuc motors bouncing all over the floor, so I really want this machine to work.
Ray.
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Ray
mine came with a hyd chuck but was closed centre so I took it off and replaced with a manual chuck. Would love a self contained chuck but never seen one second hand, well at a price that suits my deep pockets and short arms :)
I have been toying with the idea of putting a hyd chuck back on in the last few weeks but I dont have an open cylinder but my friend may have one shortly. Have a Pratt Gamet chuck but no hard jaws, just the masters and I can remove the centre part of the original chuck and get 2" through which will probably be ok for the most part. Will just have to see what comes along. Could make or get soft jaws for the Gamet but the type of work I do hard jaws are more suited.
Whats the probs with the Fanuc motors, is this the DSPMC build you are doing?
Hood
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I just scrapped a mori SL3 and didn't take the through cylinder off..I did take the 10" hydraulic chuck off it. I am now trying again to run the Fanuc motors and drives but it's a hard slog. I tried last last year until my 3-1 Fanuc drive crapped out ( $2,000) repair bill, then I found out from Machmotion the first generation DSPMC was the problem.
I haven't found anybody as of yet that has used Fanuc, even machmotion haven't tried Fanuc.
I hope Piv's machine works because I have lots of customers with old Mori's. I still have have info for the old Mori's and sent Piv the electrical drawings for a 1977 TL5. I started servicing them in 1980 here in Canada after emigrating from the UK.
Ray.
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I have heard the Fanuc stuff is often awkward to use, heres hoping Piv gets it done :)
Hood
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Its just about time to stop thinking about this one and start pulling stuff out and putting stuff in. Ive had a few dramas with a five axis router Ive been upgrading. One of the drives seems to be putting out lots of noise on its simulated encoder output. Baldor reckon there is nothing wrong with it but I can put another drive in its place with all the same wiring and the problem goes away. Thats what got me to upgrade my DSPMC, but that only helped to hide the problem, not fix it. Thats the problem with upgrading machine tools. One little thing can be hard to track down, it gobbles time and no one gets paid in the meantime.