Linley Jig Bore

[xjdubber]

anybody ever cnc a linley? Im thinking of it

[Adethelathe]

Originally Posted by xjdubber anybody ever cnc a linley? Im thinking of it

Hi.
I am new to cnczone and don't know all the ins and outs.

I have UK version of the Linley which is called an Elliot MK2. Check on the link http://www.lathes.co.uk/elliott%20mini%20jig/ to confirm if it is the same machine.

I have only just started and am just working on the "y axis". Progress will be slow as I am still in full time employment and thus only get odd evenings and a few hours at weekends.

I have made a new block and bearing unit for the Y axis, together with a new block to fit the ball screw nut. I am just assembling this and hope this will act as a learning curve for the other 2 axis.

One issue is the x-axis as there is not a lot of space and I will have to use smaller Ball Screws than I would have liked. For ease of manufacturer I have opted to use flange ball nuts rather than threaded. Threaded ball nuts only seem available over here with metric threads such as M26 and I didn't fancy buying a die this size or cutting an internal thread using my lathe.

For the Z axis, I am thinking of using the whole movement of the head rather than trying to modify the quill feed which I will lock in position. The head seems well counter- balanced and does not seem to have any inclanation to move up or down or its own accord. This may change when I add the stepper motor to it.

Finally I am thinking of using Mach 3 software.

I have produced some drawings on TurboCad - which I am also learning at the moment.

Hope this helps.

[merl]

lakeside, I don't know wear you're at with your Linley project but, seeing the Linley name on the forum listing caught my eye so I'll give you my two cents worth if you like.
I have a very late modle Mark 1A, by the serial # it was probably made in the last year or two befor they stoped production. I have been in the prosess of repairing/restoring it for a little over a year (little bit here and there as time alows)
It was given to me by a friend who baught it from HGR Indusrial Surplus in Ohio.
It was sent a few hundred miles to his place in NE Wisconsin by FedEx Ground.
Apparently when the driver left HGR in Ohio the machine must have fallen over on its pallet and rolled around in the back of the semi all the way here.
As a teatiment to the strength of the machine nothing more than a hand wheel was broke and only a few more things were bent.
The scratches and gouges in the piant are painfull to look at and most of them go right through the body filler (used by the maker to give a nice smooth appearence) down to the bare casting.
Long story short, she's comine along nicely and I expect to start using it this winter.
I guess in the long run FedEx was not the cheapest way to go.
As to the Phase converter issue. In my basement shop I have nothing bigger than 1.5 hp dual speed motor on my Harding horizontal mill and I have three of the five machines that require three phase power everything else is 220 single phase.
I built a rotary phase converter using a 3hp three phase idler motor and a static phase converter rated at 5hp max.
My converter simply starts the idler motor and is then taken out of the loop and the machines are run on the 3 phase that is produced by the still running idler.
The whole thing cost around $200. to put together and I can run any number of motors from it at a time (within reason I'm sure) so long as I start the bigest motor first (spindle motor then feed motor then coolant pump if so equiped )
In my case I am the only one useing the machines so I don't worry about stalling out a running motor by turning on a bigger one on another machine.
As I understand it you could just hook a static phase converter to each machine that needs it but you don't get full power as with the rotary modle.
So far I'm very happy with my set up and when I want to add another 3 phase machine to the throng I pull it off a buss bar in the three buss distrobution box I salvaged from a company I used to work for.
BTW I would not be tempted to try and covert your machine to CNC. Take Geof up on his offer and put that towordes a Bridgport CNC if that is what you're looking for. The Linely is just not designed to be a CNC.