Can't Rotate Head!

[tall_penguin]

Hi folks,

Just in the process of moving my new (to me) SM1 into the basement, and went to rotate the head (clockwise or counter clockwise as viewed from the front) to fit through a doorway, and can't figure out how!

I've taken off the front cover and loosened three large bolts (two through access holes), and have removed the pin from the left side. Unfortunately, when trying to rotate the head via the bolt around the top right side, it moves a few degrees and that's it. The head doesn't rotate at all. It feels like it is still bolted, or some type of pin is holding it.

How does this mechanism work? Does loosening these bolts release some type of wedge? It is possible it is just "stiff" from lack of movement, and a quick jolt might free it?

Please advise ASAP, as it is sitting on my basement landing trying to get through the door to join the rest of the machinery!

Here are links to pictures that show what I'm talking about.

http://dalsanto.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=13390
http://dalsanto.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=13393

Thanks,
Tony

[KIMFAB]

I may not understand the problem but when turning the head you loosen the bolts and the head does not turn by itself. It must be cranked over with a bolt that turns a screw attached to a worm. Look for a bolt head at 90 degrees to the axis of rotation and try turning it.

[KIMFAB]

look at arrows

[tall_penguin]

KIMFAB, thanks for the quick reply. The problem is the bolt indicated by your left arrow. It will not turn (except a few degrees, then "hits" something). I can turn the bolt on the right (letting the head "bob down"/toward the operator) after loosening the three horizontal bolts.

Specifically, which bolts need to be loosened to allow the head to rotate clockwise, where for instance if it were to turn 90 degrees, the bottom of an end mill would be pointing at the left wall?

Thanks,
Tony

[KIMFAB]

You should have three or four bolts on the front of the machine. look carefully one of them might be hidden or behind something.
Looking at the pic it's hard to see where they would be. You might have to take off the z axis part to get at it.
How about tilting the head fwd or back just to get it in?

[KIMFAB]

Did you find that 4th bolt??

[tall_penguin]

There is a large block that rides on the ball screw that moves the quill. When the quill is all the way up (as it is now), the 4th bolt is behind it with no way to reach it, and even knowing where it is, I can barely see an edge of it.

With three screws loose and some extra "coaxing", we were able rotate the head and get it through the doorway.

Thanks for all the help,
Tony

[KIMFAB]

Must be nice to have double doors. I had to get my Lagun thru a 35"single door. took me most of the day cranking the table back and forth and reshuffling.
After looking at the pics again it is obvious where the bolts are behind the large round cutouts on the front.

I think you should be able to pull the round cuplike shield on top and turn the servo by hand to crank the z axis out of the way. What kind of control does it have?
Is that Rochester NY or MN?

[tall_penguin]

> After looking at the pics again it is obvious where the bolts are behind the large round cutouts on the front.

Well, let's say three of them are obvious! I'll have to take a look at the Z axis servo (as you say, under the cuplike shield) to see how easily it can be rotated without power.

As for controls, it has all of the original electronics (built in early 80s), boasting something along the lines of 16K of memory! Fortunately, it has been converted to load the control program via the serial port instead of the micro-tape. After that, you get a "conversational CNC" menu on the monitor, or can load G code via the serial port.

This is all based on my reading, and I've yet to fire it up. If it doesn't work (or when it breaks), I'll probably go with the Linux EMC software, trying to re-use all of the servos.

I'm in Rochester, NY. Yeah, the double doors on the basement are VERY handy. Unfortunately, my father and I had to spend a few days raising and reinforce my I-Beam gantry to carry the 3000 lbs of this beast. Of course, that just makes it easier to buy more toys in the future!

Thanks for the help,
Tony