The Epic Saga of the Slant-Bed

[ipmmiller]

what no pics? ...no illustrations? , a good read though with a good ending. Been there to some degree on 2 of my mills....rewarding when it turns out good, I bet she works for many years now that you've taken "ownership" of her.

 

[helterskelter]

This thread needs pictures of both the lathe and the parts. Thanks for posting, I read it all (over a couple days), it was a good read.

 

[bryan_machine]

It is stories like this that make me buy only new CNC machines.
It is stories like those of 47_waffles that cause me to have nightmares anyway.
And the stories of travel hell are only too similar to my own.

 

[sawmill]

After reading this i am a bit sad that my writing skills and my way with the english language is as poor as they are.
If not, maybye i would be able to tell how much i appreciated this nail biting story of yours in a better way.

And as someone who also bought an old cnc machine (1987 mazak h400 now running fine after fighting what turned out to be a bad circuit board and some apparently common issues with the X wire harness) a couple of years ago, i think i can somewhat relate to a few of the feelings that you have experienced during this time.

This line below alone made reading the whole thing worthwhile. It almost had me spraying coffe over my new laptop.

Many priced in the 50K range look like they had been used as the puck in a weekly game of forklift hockey

 

[timvercoe]

I also find writing a very therapeutic activity. I currently have no machine story's to tell. I found your piece enlightening, my story will undoubtedly start with a Mazak QT10 and a Bridgeport Boss 8, as you have stated seemingly affordable technology, only time will tell.

Thanks for the long write, well written I might add ...........

Tim

 

[Milacron]

Funny story, I could relate to much of it except for having a tech come over...I've always had to fix everything myself. I could write a novel about my most difficult repair, a 1991 Deckel CNC mill with Dialog 11 control. Ironically the newest Deckel I ever owned was also by far the most problematic. It was really like it was sabotaged to purposely test the will of anyone trying to repair it. The most bizarre thing was an important EPROM was the wrong software version...complete with hand scribbled sticker (whereas the other thirty had proper printed stickers). I will never figure out how that came to be. One could speculate someone switched it with another Deckel in attempting to trouble shoot but then that would not have fixed the other Deckel so it would be nutty not to switch them back. Not to mention the fact that far as I could tell, this company never had another Deckel.

But that's just the tip of the iceberg....the things that went wrong during the troubleshooting process are nearly as bizarre...i.e. things that were not bad at first but went bad....one of which I never would have found if not for a good sense of smell (blown up transistor and IC)...but enough ....the human aspects of canceled flights and foggy brains make for better stories... my Deckel repair novel would probably not sell very well..

 

[metalmover1974]

I had to reply to this one....
Last March (almost 1 year) I bought 2 Hardinge Superslant lathes from the original owner....I paid 5k for both machines....one being a 2-axis...and one being a 3axis with 2 turrets.....a hella good deal....these guys took excellent care of them....the paint was still perfect.....but in this last year...I too, have become the master of repairs.

I like to think there is a guardian angel looking out for me.....and my new shop's next door neighbor is a guy (obiwan like) who worked in the robotics industry his whole life....now retired....he spends his days making cnc machines from scratch....big ones for his own purposes....he enjoys a puzzle and at times these superslants have been up there in complexity to get them to run again....LOL

I hope your machine is still running.....watch out for the 401 and 424 axis servo alarms.......
this will happen when your resolver is slightly outta timing.....best way for me to fix that when it happens (once every moth or 2) is to manually move the axis until the resolver gets back in time.....doesn't take much......when you move the ball screw.....you gotta go back to the control and shut it down and bring it back up.....eventually Ive had those alarms go out.

I must say....Im tired of praying that they come on every morning.....but.......they are awesome pieces of iron and really deserve a retrofit to bring them into the new century. The hold tolerance all day long (when running) and Ive made money on both of them.....

right now, my 2-axis is down.....I had to rebuild the resolver and make a new coupling.....now Im having a hydraulic issue (startup) and have decided to start the retrofit on it.....just hope the 3-axis makes it while I do that.

Im attaching some pix of my superslants and my paintball gun that I made on them for you guys....enjoy

 

[ipmmiller]

I had to reply to this one....
Last March (almost 1 year) I bought 2 Hardinge Superslant lathes from the original owner....I paid 5k for both machines....one being a 2-axis...and one being a 3axis with 2 turrets.....a hella good deal....these guys took excellent care of them....the paint was still perfect.....but in this last year...I too, have become the master of repairs.

I like to think there is a guardian angel looking out for me.....and my new shop's next door neighbor is a guy (obiwan like) who worked in the robotics industry his whole life....now retired....he spends his days making cnc machines from scratch....big ones for his own purposes....he enjoys a puzzle and at times these superslants have been up there in complexity to get them to run again....LOL

I hope your machine is still running.....watch out for the 401 and 424 axis servo alarms.......
this will happen when your resolver is slightly outta timing.....best way for me to fix that when it happens (once every moth or 2) is to manually move the axis until the resolver gets back in time.....doesn't take much......when you move the ball screw.....you gotta go back to the control and shut it down and bring it back up.....eventually Ive had those alarms go out.

I must say....Im tired of praying that they come on every morning.....but.......they are awesome pieces of iron and really deserve a retrofit to bring them into the new century. The hold tolerance all day long (when running) and Ive made money on both of them.....

right now, my 2-axis is down.....I had to rebuild the resolver and make a new coupling.....now Im having a hydraulic issue (startup) and have decided to start the retrofit on it.....just hope the 3-axis makes it while I do that.

Im attaching some pix of my superslants and my paintball gun that I made on them for you guys....enjoy

wow! ....the lathe looks like new in those fuzy pics.....and that gun is NICE!, did you 3axis the scroll work on the sides or is it applied somehow ?....
..certainly no wimpy little "Cricket"

 

[T. Jost]

A few (not quite as blurry) pix of mine, and yes it is still running.
Next time I have issues I'll be PMing you to swap stories! Seriously, it is really good to hear from someone else who is trying to run on of these beasts!
The third picture is the drawer full of live tools and the chuck. The 4th is some PEEK parts I've been making for the past week.

 

[metalmover1974]

wow! ....the lathe looks like new in those fuzy pics.....and that gun is NICE!, did you 3axis the scroll work on the sides or is it applied somehow ?....
..certainly no wimpy little "Cricket"

Thanks and Thanks!

The milling of the body was done in my Kitamura Mycenter1 with Fanuc OM and my Akira Seiki 2002 with Mitsubishi control. All the round parts were done on these 2 superslants.

The coolest thing about the superslant....in my opinion....was the turret options and center option (extra axis and whatnot).....the iron, like I was saying, is top notch, just that 6t and old motors that make me cringe every morning....LOL

The paintball gun is an Autococker and Im calling it the Nemesis. Autocockers were the most popular markers back in the day.....they are no longer made and there is a collector world to them.

without hijacking the thread.....

I can give 2 plusses to my superslants.....they got the jopb done.....and got my shop going for 5k investment total.....with a lot of elbow grease.....not to mention Im 100x the repair man I was....LOL!

 

[Antarctica]

Wow - What a tale!

I read it the other day but this is my first opportunity to respond. I've been wondering what happened. Not sure how I feel about being 'party' to the whole thing!

I do hope the machine continues to run and proves the trial and effort worth it. My own machines are old and worn, but its all I could afford, so I have to be a proponent of suffering with another man's garbage. Others will disagree, but I think in a very small/one man shop, being able to solve problems on old equipment goes a lot further than calling up a tech for anything that goes amiss. It probably wasn't a goal of yours in this project, but like it or not, you're probably one of the more knowledgeable people about these machines at this point. With my old Matsuura, Takisawa and Yang, I try to keep notes of how things are fixed on a public web page. Hopefully, my efforts prove useful to someone else. I know gaining knowledge on old iron is hard to do, and getting harder as they get older.

I hope all continues to go well.

Brent

 

[metalmover1974]

A few (not quite as blurry) pix of mine, and yes it is still running.
Next time I have issues I'll be PMing you to swap stories! Seriously, it is really good to hear from someone else who is trying to run on of these beasts!
The third picture is the drawer full of live tools and the chuck. The 4th is some PEEK parts I've been making for the past week.

cool.....I have a lot of info for you in case you do.......Ill send a PM to ya....heck I have a few questions..LOL!

 

[T. Jost]

Brent;
I considered PMing you prior to posting the epic. You have nothing to be worried about, you can feel good about your "part in the party." I've got no hard feelings for anyone involved (with the possible exception of an electrician who didn't look closely at the wiring diagram or didn't really care.)

I actually wrote the post to play it for laughs. Looking back on it it is funny to me. I actually had to leave out a lot (for example; I had to take delivery at 9:00 at night because a Hurricane was blowing into the East Coast and the driver feared spending the night in KS would result in him driving into that storm.) Not many big forklifts available at that hour! But it all worked out.

How is Bob? I should probably email him and let him know of my eventual success.

Thanks for checking in.

Todd

 

[claya]

Epic Saga

...Once again, only time will tell.[/QUOTE]

Is there a forum for well written Machine Sagas? (Group therapy) There needs to be, and this one gets added first...
I have at least two of my own to contribute. I am sure some of the rest of us do too.