WTB: 5C Indexer with control box

[DocsMachine]

Looking for a good 5C indexer, including control box, to use on a small Trak 3-axis CNC mill.

Manual closer is fine, Haas and Hardinge are known-compatible with my control, but willing to consider any brand. Included tailstock a plus, but not a requirement.

Will need to box/crate to ship either all the way to Alaska, or to a forwarder in Washington.

Thank you!
Doc.

 

[DocsMachine]

... Anyone?

Doc.

 

[Garwood]

I have some Erickson indexers I should sell. I have two model 400's and one model 600 plus a reprinted manual. These are air powered with solenoids and switches to work directly with CNC's. The 400's would probably fit in a flatrate box.

I'm sure if you search "Erickson 400 indexer" you will get troves of info on this site about how they work.

They are not integral 5C I don't believe.

 

[DocsMachine]

Hum. That's one I hadn't seen before... And yeah, there's a fair bit of info here on the board, but also kind of mixed. A couple of regulars suggest they're fairly problematical.

I'd be curious to know how they'd connect to my mill controller, as I'm given to understand the mill will issue a "start indexing" signal, and then wait for an "I'm done indexing" signal in return.

I suppose one could just program in a simple delay of a safe number of seconds....

What would you have to have for one of the 400s?

Doc.

 

[jmm03]

Hi Doc, you may have already looked here: SMS ENGINEERING AND MACHINERY SALES, but if not give him a call. No affiliation other than a customer who has bought machines from him and was happy. Jim

 

[Big B]

I recall a thread on another board probably at least 10 years ago where a guy converted a spindexer into a cnc indexer like you're talking about.

He started making it on a Sieg or some similar machine and kept improving it with things like a braking systema and when he finished his last one it was a very nice indexer.

I lost track of the thread but always wondered what happened with his indexers. I expected to see them sold commercially but have never seen and ad for them in spite of my looking for them.

Does anyone else remember this and if so do you have a link to the thread of any other information on it?

 

[Garwood]

Hum. That's one I hadn't seen before... And yeah, there's a fair bit of info here on the board, but also kind of mixed. A couple of regulars suggest they're fairly problematical.

I'd be curious to know how they'd connect to my mill controller, as I'm given to understand the mill will issue a "start indexing" signal, and then wait for an "I'm done indexing" signal in return.

I suppose one could just program in a simple delay of a safe number of seconds....

What would you have to have for one of the 400s?

Doc.

$400 + shipping. At a glance one will not fit in a large flatrate box. Looks to be about 12" tall, 6" thick and 18" wide. The air cylinders stick off both sides making it pretty wide. They have a small through hole, about 7/8" and the workface is a 4" flange with 6 threaded holes to mount your workholding to.

 

[DocsMachine]

Hi Doc, you may have already looked here: SMS ENGINEERING AND MACHINERY SALES, but if not give him a call. No affiliation other than a customer who has bought machines from him and was happy. Jim

-I hadn't checked that particular one (and nothing comes up on the search) but I have been looking around at other machinery dealers. Thing is, any decent one is either out of my price range at the moment (typically being $5K or more) or it's either a known hunk-of-junk, or a really iffy pig-in-a-poke.

I mean, I know they're worth a certain amount, and trying to find a "cheap" one is like trying to find a "cheap, yet also somehow really, really good VMC".

I recall a thread on another board probably at least 10 years ago where a guy converted a spindexer into a cnc indexer like you're talking about.

-Been thinking about the same idea. The project I need to complete at the moment is small-diameter drilling, no milling, no 4th-axis mill-on-the-move. Local guy has been using a Taig (!) rotary as his indexer for years, though obviously limited to size and rigidity.

A decent stepper, a belt reduction, a fair-quality spindexer... the only thing I'd really need would be some kind of control. And as far as electronics go, I'm the kind of guy that can usually get the batteries back into the flashlight the right way up, two tries out of three.

Looks to be about 12" tall, 6" thick and 18" wide. The air cylinders stick off both sides making it pretty wide.

-Unfortunately I don't think that'll work for me. I'm trying to fit this into a Trak 2Op, which is kind of a compact machine. 18" is right at the limit of the table, and I can't have any overhang, else it hits one of the gantries, the door, the tool-changer, etc.

Doc.

 

[Garwood]

-Unfortunately I don't think that'll work for me. I'm trying to fit this into a Trak 2Op, which is kind of a compact machine. 18" is right at the limit of the table, and I can't have any overhang, else it hits one of the gantries, the door, the tool-changer, etc.

Doc.

Sounds like a non-starter then.