Gorton Tracer Mill Retrofit

[Fred M]

Hi, I'm new to the forum. I have a Gorton 2-30 hydraulic tracer mill that I'm retrofitting to CNC. This is a large mill similar to a Bridgeport, but a bit bigger. Original drive was hydraulic, with motors for X and Y axis, and a hydraulic cylinder on the knee for the Z axis. This was all controlled by a complicated 3 axis valve that would 'trace' a 3D master, and the machine would follow. I don't have a picture of mine, but here's a similar one.




I currently have the machine apart to clean it and repair a damaged gib. One of the oilers was clogged, and the surface was badly chewed up. I followed the thread on hand scraping, and it's not pretty, but at least it's straight and flat.

The plan is to use steppers for X an Y drives. The machine already has ball screws and timing belt drives to the motors. It sohouldn't be too hard to replace the hydraulic motors with steppers. I'm not sure what to do on the Z axis, try to do some sort of hydraulic servo control on the knee, or do a ballscrew and stepper on the quill, or both.

Comments, suggestions?

By the way, do any of the tracer components I removed have any value that could offset some of the cost of this project?

Fred M

[damae]

Very cool mill. I've got a BP tracer that I'm retrofitting ... well, it's second on my list of machines to retrofit. Anyway, I'll be following your thread with interest. My machine came stripped of hydraulics, but you might be able to sell some of that stuff on ebay, especially the tracer probe should be valuable as a spare to someone with such a machine. The hydraulic motors too might be easy to sell.

I'm no expert, but if you want accuracy, I would replace the hydraulics with a servo/ballscrew combo. Does this thing have a quill that you can use for the Z? Or is the knee your only option? There have been many threads recently about using the knee for the Z axis insted of just for positioning. Most people agree that you need an air-assisted knee to make that responsive enough. Otherwise it's too big a strain on the Z motor. I wonder if you could use the hydraulic cylinder in the knee as an assist only?

Keep us posted about the gib repair and scraping effort. I'd love to see a picture of your actual machine!

[sanjiv]

I'm also new to the forum. I have a Gorton 2-30 hydraulic tracer mill that I'm retrofitting to CNC.
Comments, suggestions?

sanjiv

[sanjiv]

Dear Fred
Any progress in retrofitting? Which motors you have selectd?

[Pressfit]

Cool! A Gorton 230 Tracemaster. A great machine. I set-up and ran one of those in the mid 70's doing 4 axis tracing. Good luck on your project.

[sanjiv]

Any progress?
Have you find suitable stepper motors?
Please share your progress