Messages

21

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S

« 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.....

22

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S

« 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" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/4iIwQHlV_j4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1</a>

23

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S

« 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.....

24

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S

« on: October 07, 2008, 06:27:11 PM »

This will probably be the last update for a while, well until there is something of a more technical nature to show.   Probably when I get to the user i/f stuff and the custom turn screens for this machine.

It now has to earn its keep for at least another week or two!

The Delrin job in the recent video didn't really task the machine much, though the machine tasked me for a day or so;)

Todays job was more like it though, and all that clean paintwork is dirty inside again!   A nice steel job which I've made for many years, but a first for this Hardinge.   You can just make out the Gang tool holder I made for station 1 on sunday.  It holds a 20mm stub drill, and a 16mm boring bar in this pic, although it can hold 3 16mm round shank tools.

Wayne.....

25

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S

« on: October 06, 2008, 11:56:46 AM »

The trouble with projects that take so long is you sometimes mislay the odd item!

I was going to spend this morning putting the covers back on the machine as I want to use it tomorrow with coolant on.   Obviously I knew where the covers were as they are kind of hard to lose!   But the screws!!   I spent all morning looking for a container I was sure they were in, but ended up taking all morning tidying up in the hope of finding them.

A friend turns up and finds them within 5 minutes!  They were not in the container I thought they were in after all.

Anyway a couple of tubes of caulking and this is where I'm at today.


Wayne.....

26

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: October 04, 2008, 02:52:10 PM »

Do you have a pic of the mechanism?

Wayne...

27

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Ex-Cell-O Spindle Wizard to retrofit

« on: October 04, 2008, 10:06:41 AM »

Are the springs Belleville washers?    Basically a cupped spring steel washer.

They should be available fairly easy with a quick search of bearing etc suppliers in your area.

Wayne....

28

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S

« on: October 03, 2008, 12:06:18 PM »

Last night decided to bite the bullet and pull the whole turret assy apart to clean it all up and fit the brand new Genuine Hardinge (But oh so expensive!) seal kit.

It was obvious why the machine consumed so much air.   All the quad rings bar about 2 were very worn and so brittle none came off without breaking into little pieces.

The main Index cylinder had a nasty score down it's bore too.  Probably the result of a sloppy bit of maintainance  in it's past.   I had to make a new one (Pic linked) and was lucky to find a big enough piece of brass to make a replacement as I dont do much larger brass work.  The cylinder is 1 3/4" bore and 2" ok x 3" long.

I'm happy to report the turret assy is now silent when air is turned on!  It also indexes a lot smoother after having a good service.   I ran about 20 cycles of the above Derin part in air and the compressor never kicked in once.   It was refilling every 2 1/2 parts before!


Wayne......

29

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S

« on: September 30, 2008, 06:00:20 AM »

Thanks Brett.   Still a way to go yet.    Looking forward to the day I can replace all the covers and start on the user interface.

A Job I'm not looking forward to is fitting the new windows in the doors.  I have the replacement Polycarbonate ready though.  The doors are the only thing I didn't have powdercoated from the upper enclosure, so they will need painting too after reglazing.   Have to be wet paint though


Wayne.....

30

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Yet another Retrofit. Hardinge HXL-S

« on: September 29, 2008, 06:54:21 AM »

Had a few issues with the machine this w/e but hopefully we are over those now.

Here's another quick video showing the machine cutting it's first job as part of the shakedown.


Wayne.....


<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/XPHUgdHlcP0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&quot;&gt;" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/XPHUgdHlcP0&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&quot;&gt;</a>