Messages

221

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

« on: September 20, 2006, 01:55:05 PM »

Well Santa came early with the new 5port valves for the hardinge.

The only trouble is the old git also gave me a bill for 550 UKP (about $900 US)   So much for being good!

These SMC valves are cute though, much nicer made than the Mead stuff already in the machine.   At least the new ones are mainly all alloy not Glass filled Nylon like the Mead ones.

222

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

« on: September 16, 2006, 02:41:31 PM »

Got the billet for the Z Axis motor mounting plate yesterday so spent part of today machining the replacement with a larger offset to get the pulleys alligned correctly.

You can see I have stuck with the original design mainly, except the recess for the motor is now round to suit the new motors.   I shall also be getting a sheetmetal working friend to make me up some splash guards to protect the motors from the flood of cutting oil in the machine.  These will bolt to these plates.

Hopefully tomorrow I can try the Z axis with the Teknix drive, and see how well it performs with room to accelerate over that longer distance;)

223

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

« on: September 13, 2006, 07:33:55 PM »

It's a good start.

Got to order a big 45v transformer to give me close to the 65v the motors are rated to, then we can really see what happens!

Tuning the drives will improve things too, I was never able to run the old motors with these encoders at anything above 25v on Gecko 340's.   But the old motors were pretty weird and shagged out..   I've just been tweaking the PID terms and got it to be quite snappy, but think the current on the psu is not anywhere near enough. 35v 150VA.  which is 4.28A only 280mA above the continous rating of these motors!  I have a 1kvA transformer in the stores somewhere, I may try that tomorrow.

Wayne...

224

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

« on: September 13, 2006, 05:38:25 PM »

Got the CNC Teknix TEK10 drive quickly setup a little while ago.

Test Power supply @ 45V not quite enough to give me full speed or full current probably.

Setup with divide by 8 to give me reasonable speed with this high count encoder (2500count or 10,000 per turn of ballscrew).

Tuning no where near where it needs to be, but effective.  I'll need to make a lead to connect to the scope.

But so far so good!

Quick video you can downloaded from here. http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fdosdesign/temp/tek10_test.wmv

225

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Just got a lathe to retrofit

« on: September 10, 2006, 06:43:11 PM »

Good stuff..   But why you so scared of the tailstock? LOL.....

I'd recommened while you got it working, that you check to see what relays/solenoids etc are being operated and in what sequence when you operate all this stuff.

I had to do it the hard way by trial and error, as I was reluctant to put power on my machine before I ripped the old control out. 

Wayne...

226

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Waynes Leadwell VMC Retrofit

« on: September 10, 2006, 05:50:51 PM »

Took a break from the Hardinge today, and spent some time sorting out the carousel on the Leadwell.

One thing that always worried me was that there was no index signal on the ATC to detect any of the stations.  How the Meldas control handled it I have no idea! 

So I decided that all I needed was a signal to detect station 1.   This is with a microswitch operated by a cam squeezed onto the carousel which has just enough clearance under the Geneva wheel.   Space is very limited...

Also made an Adjustable bracket for the switch which clamps around the hub.   

Pics below.

Wayne...

 

227

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

« on: September 09, 2006, 07:09:15 PM »

LOL....  Well I'm just glad the encoder works.  They cost a fortune from hardinge. I tested it last night, and one of 4 hall sensors outputs goes low for each station.

Today I very carefully used a die grinder and carbide burr to dig out the epoxy potting from around the cable entry, the old cable is now gone and I have enough of the tails to solder a new one to.   Then I can repot that section.

Wayne...

228

Show"N"Tell ( Your Machines) / Re: Just got a lathe to retrofit

« on: September 09, 2006, 06:59:28 PM »

Thats good Hood.    Might want to check all you cables too LOL  (See the update to my thread...

Any idea how you are going to drive those huge servo's or are you able to keep the old drives?

I've got my turret off at the moment to give it a going over.   Almost ready to try the Teknix drives sometime next week too.

Wayne....

229

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

« on: September 09, 2006, 06:54:24 PM »

Well you know what I said about the cutting oil preserving the machine    Well thats true regarding the iron, but not so good for the cables!

The pic below is the turret encoder, as you can see the once flexible cable (BICC Brand Rex so not cheap stuff) can now defy gravity HEHE....

Needless st say I can't leave it like that, so all the affected cables will be replaced, as I can't afford them cracking up later when the machine is back together.

Also for those interested I found an old vid I did of the turret and tailstock working. This was the day I spent working out the logic of the turret sequencing.   You can also hear the air leaking from all the 5 port valves.  and the compressor comes on part way though for a top up!.

Link is here http://homepage.ntlworld.com/fdosdesign/temp/hxl_turret2.mpg

The turret should NOT do the little clockwise rotation on the way back down, thats now fixed.  The Air cushion that the turret indexes against needed adjusting.

Wayne....

230

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

« on: September 07, 2006, 06:13:06 PM »

Well the Hardinge had options of vertical partoff slide and Parts catcher.   Both not fitted to this machine, but I will add a parts catcher.

The partoff slide was hydraulic but driven by an air motor powered pump.

I'd expect your machine has hydraulic chuck, and maybe turret locking.   Usually the racks are air driven.   You will soon tell if you find any 5 port valves on the machine.   Just hope they don't all leak like mine did!   They are expensive....

Wayne...