Heavy Old Iron, new life - Lathe Conversion

[epineh]

I have always wanted to get myself a lathe and make a few of those nice shiny parts everybody seems to make, well that dream is a little closer. I happened to acquire a really heavy old lathe, about 5 minutes drive away. Packed it onto a truck and dropped it into my shed, photo's tell the story :

[epineh]

This is a work in progress kind of build and I am quite slow at such things so please be patient if you follow my build

First order of business is to start removing any and all electrical wiring, switches etc, here are the two main electrical enclosures before and after, I am not sure how I am going to go about fitting the electronics into these, my initial thoughts are to put an axis in each, though I may put the power supplies in here and build servo drives to bolt onto the servo's where they are, room is going to be limited.

[epineh]

I love the castings on this beast, check out the ammeter post, I wonder if I can get it to talk to MODBUS

[epineh]

There is a rapid traverse motor as shown in the first pic, this is where a servo will mount, next photo's show the limit switches already fitted to the machine, apparently it had some point to point type of functionality...not bad for 1966 vintage !

The last photo shows where the limits were on the front of the saddle, I do have the rest of the bits for this but it will probably not be needed for CNC, a limit at each end should do the trick.

Next on my list is to try fire up the spindle as this is really the heart of the machine, I will pick up a VFD tomorrow and see if I can get some life out of the spindle motor.

Long term plan is to incorporate a milling head and have a separate configuration as a milling machine, I am not too sure what form this will take, one step at a time.

Cheers.

Russell.

[ger21]

That looks like quite a project your taking on.

[multiplex]

looks like an awesome project! i love the old design characteristics

keep us posted!

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

You may want to contact Adobe since he has done a neat example himself. Your machine has a lot going for it as a candidate for conversion.

Dick Z

[epineh]

Originally Posted by ger21 That looks like quite a project your taking on.

Hi Gerry, yeah I may be in over my head but that has never stopped me before

Originally Posted by multiplex looks like an awesome project! i love the old design characteristics keep us posted!

I especially love the doors covering the belt drive, I can imagine the pattern maker that did that was a very cranky old so and so, lol. They would weigh a fair bit, wouldn't want one to fall on your foot !

Originally Posted by RICHARD ZASTROW You may want to contact Adobe since he has done a neat example himself. Your machine has a lot going for it as a candidate for conversion. Dick Z

Yup I have looked briefly at Adobe's log, I will go through it in more detail when I get the time. The best thing I like about this machine is its sheer weight, there is an awful lot of cast iron sitting there.

I was going to get the lathe running with manual controls first then use it to make some parts, but now I am going to go straight for the conversion, I think this will be the simplest option overall.

Looking at the rear limit assembly there is a nice big flat machined area, I think this will be the best option for the milling head to attach to, it may need some extra bracing but it seems like the way to go.

Cheers.

Russell.

[chich2]

Nice log Russ!!!
Photo's came out good. Does the original design of the lathe run the spindle motor continueously and engauge the spindle via a clutch or does the motor stop start?

Chich

[epineh]

Hey Chich, yeah there is a clutch that engages the headstock, I haven't got the VFD organised yet so I can't say how well it works, it all seems to work with me spinning the wheels by hand though.

Did a little more tonight, I removed the limit switch rail from the front, also the rapid transverse motor, this will give me the ballscrew bearing mount on the tailstock end. I removed a switch plate and some switch gear from the automatic feed at the headstock end, I am thinking of mounting the servo in there, should be enough room and it will be totally enclosed and protected from gunk.

Thinking about it the whole gearing/lever assembly above that space can be removed as it won't be used anymore, this may just give me enough room to mount a servo drive and possibly power supply, I will most likely need to grind away some of the gearing mounts inside the cover.

Russell.

[epineh]

Since it is late and I didn't feel like draining the oil from the auto feed gearbox, I thought I would finish off with cleaning the rails and T-slot bed, the bolts holding down the toolpost were quite hard to get out, and here is why, looks like a bit from every job this lathe has ever done ended up under the toolpost base, took a bit of shifting but now it looks pretty good, I forgot to take an "after" photo but trust me it looks a bit better than this :

[Sadheer]

Epineh,
The second hand lathe, How much prices did you buy?

Sadheer