Does anyone have any experience with an older Iemca barfeeder?

I was given (ish, if it works they want a couple bucks but it's pretty cheap) an older Iemca barfeeder, a 1997 65TALauto. It has rubber guides in it and a big ol' pusher rod and things such as this that are all 'sized to the stock' and you can't seem to get them any more, but they have an operating range... I think that the stuff that is in it is a 43mm, which has a range down to 20mm or so. The smallest bars I run are 16mm (well, 5/8" but who's counting...), does anyone have any idea if this thing is going to explode or run 20 gallons of hydraulic fluid on the ground or what it might do? I have no barfeeder experience at all, have only ever had one lathe which has a subspindle, and I just pull my bars and used an old LNS hydrobar that isn't even hooked up just as a tube to hold the stock. That works ok, but I just added a non-subspindle lathe and need something to feed that one with.

OR am I being stupid messing with a barfeeder at all, and should I just do the same thing with this second machine and try my hand at a bar-puller tool? If that is a smarter idea, does anyone have a favorite bar puller? (hopefully not a $1500 royal... ha!)

Thanks so much for reading this weird rambling question. I hate this new stuff I don't know anything about...

-Parker

Parkerbender said:

I was given (ish, if it works they want a couple bucks but it's pretty cheap) an older Iemca barfeeder, a 1997 65TALauto.

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Hi Parker.

We have a couple of TAL 65 bar feeders here. If the TAL is cheap enough you could probably use it to feed against a stop on the turret - move the turret into position, open the collet, feed your stock out in Z, close the collet, etc. You'd need to wire it into your machine and program for it.

New guide channels are expensive. Somewhere around $4,500 to $6,000 for a complete set.

As far as problems, ours have been pretty tame. Worst thing that's ever happened is the controller went out on one of them.

~aj

I wouldn't dump much money in it as of a couple years ago when I sold an old LNS on E-bay older bar feeders were going for a couple hundred bucks. The only way to find out if it is going to pee hydraulic fluid all over the place is to fire it up. Get the floor dry, rags and a mop ready. Leaks and older bar feeders go together like love and marriage.

CITIZEN F16 said:

The only way to find out if it is going to pee hydraulic fluid all over the place is to fire it up. Get the floor dry, rags and a mop ready.

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Good point. Check the drain-back hoses and ports. It's only been an issue with either of our TAL 65s once. But it wouldn't hurt to check.

Hey AJ,
Do you have any idea how to wire one of those up (a diagram or anything)? It obviously has a big cannon plug on it from whatever it's past life entailed, and I am sure I need to strip those all off and run it more 'manually' probably as I think I only have two outputs on my lathe at the moment...

What kind of range in stock size do you guys get out of your guide channels? Are they pretty touchy, or can a guy get away with something if you don't spin it up too fast?

Yeah, if I can make it work I think the guy is going to take a thousand bucks for it. It cleaned up kinda nice, not 100% if it is gonna hole oil, but sure seems like it might.

OH! And that last round bushing, does that have to be different for every size bar, or I guess it probably fits the pusher doesn't it?

-Parker

Parkerbender said:

Hey AJ,
Do you have any idea how to wire one of those up (a diagram or anything)? It obviously has a big cannon plug on it from whatever it's past life entailed, and I am sure I need to strip those all off and run it more 'manually' probably as I think I only have two outputs on my lathe at the moment...

What kind of range in stock size do you guys get out of your guide channels? Are they pretty touchy, or can a guy get away with something if you don't spin it up too fast?

Yeah, if I can make it work I think the guy is going to take a thousand bucks for it. It cleaned up kinda nice, not 100% if it is gonna hole oil, but sure seems like it might.

OH! And that last round bushing, does that have to be different for every size bar, or I guess it probably fits the pusher doesn't it?

-Parker

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I think wiring would be a question for Iemca. They have a pretty good tech support staff that can usually take care of you over the phone. A lot of machines are already pre-wired for the big plug on the end. It's usually just telling the controller to look for it. Check for a matching plug on your main electrical box.

If you're talking about the collet at the end of the pusher, yeah, that has to be different for every size stock. Again, the tech staff at the dealer here in NC are really helpful when it comes to ordering them.

Running 43mm channels you can probably run all the way down to around 1/2" or 5/8". They're pretty forgiving.

As far as oil, ours run for months without adding any oil. It takes a bit if it's been shipped empty. 80W-90 gear oil or equivalent.

~aj

Parkerbender said:

Hey AJ,
Do you have any idea how to wire one of those up (a diagram or anything)?

-Parker

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If it didn't come with manuals, let me know. I'll copy ours and send 'em to you.