Messages

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Lagun and Supermax retrotfit advice sought

« on: July 27, 2011, 05:57:06 PM »

It appears that I botched the video embed and missed my window of opportunity to edit the post. Below is the video I intended to post.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqnj3NPvVh0

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Lagun and Supermax retrotfit advice sought

« on: July 27, 2011, 05:39:46 PM »

As if I didn't have enough on my plate, as of this afternoon I am the proud owner of a Bostomatic BD32TSG VMC. I may move the retrofit of this machine to the front of the list. Below is a video of a similar unit.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqnj3NPvVh0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqnj3NPvVh0</a>

It will be a week or so before it arrives, I'll be sure to post pictures.

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General Mach Discussion / Re: Lagun and Supermax retrotfit advice sought

« on: July 27, 2011, 05:38:08 PM »

BR549/HimyKabibble

Thank you for your replies. I definitely intend to go the VFD route and given that some of the spindles have exhibited noise, if a bearing replacement is in order I'll make sure the replacements are rated for greater speeds.

Regarding the quill design, Lagun produces a factory conversion based on their FTV-2 model which has a Z axis design which I hope to find more detailed images of. Given the choice, I would follow your lead and try to make as few modifications to the machine as possible.

Thanks to some of the designs posted and a review of the Elrod product, I have a much better understanding of how to approach the matter.

4

General Mach Discussion / Re: Lagun and Supermax retrotfit advice sought

« on: July 27, 2011, 05:26:34 AM »

Thank you for the reply. I went out on a limb and made the assumption that I'd probably need to upgrade servos given the vintage of the machines. I believe the Supermax is a 1991, but I am unsure of the Lagun's. I hope to pick the machines up this weekend, as they're about an hour away and given the tonnage I'll have to make multiple trips. Once I examine the servos I'll be sure to post up the information about them along with some independent research to see if they'll be suitable for ongoing use.

I also need to verify that proper ball screws were installed when the CNC conversions were performed. I hope this is the case and I find that the screws are in good condition. At least 2 of the machines have excessive noise coming from the heads, so I'm also counting on bearing upgrades for some if not all of the machines. I believe the Lagun's have 2HP motors and the Supermax is at 3HP. Addition of a VFD is definitely part of the plan which I neglected to mention initially.

Since my initial post, I've been contemplating whether placing a CNC controlled servo on the knee is necessary. I've read varying opinions on this matter but my initial thought is moving this type of mass excessively could cause abnormal wear.

In closing, which controller did you end up with? If your build has been posted, I'll make a point of reading up on the work you performed.

5

General Mach Discussion / Lagun and Supermax retrotfit advice sought

« on: July 26, 2011, 09:45:11 PM »

Never having owned a mill, I recently took advantage of an opportunity to purchase 5 mills with 2 axis Crusader II contollers. 4 of the mills are Lagun FTV-1 units along with 1 Supermax YCM-16VS. I'm told that the controllers do not work, which did not deter me as I intended to perform a conversion regardless. To that end, I'm looking for a bit of advice on the best way to proceed with the conversions. I intend to upgrade 2-3 of the machines with new servos after they are scraped and the tables are ground. I'd also like to have more spindle speed as most of my projects involve aluminum.

Questions:

- What size of servo is recommended for each axis on mills of this size?
- Do solid designs exist for the quill Z axis conversion? To date I've only been able to find information on the Elrod kit but I'd prefer a somewhat DIY approach.
- What's the best way to approach the spindle speed increase requirement? I'd like to be north of 6000RPM if it's feasible.

I intend to open source the designs of any components developed during this conversion process for others to benefit from.

Any advice the members here are willing to share will be greatly appreciated.






I also picked up a really nice Mighty Comet in a separate transaction with a 10x50 table that I'll probably keep manual for the time being.