Hardinge Conquest T Lathe - Parts Catcher

New-to-me lathe:

I have this parts catcher ... thing, but IDK how to make it work.

IDK if this is an OEM unit or not?
This machine has the POS overhead gantry style unloader, so that makes me question this thing.

If you have one of these - what M codes fire it?
Just to be clear, the pic is of the headwall - just under the main chuck.


---------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

All of our hardinge equipment fires the part catcher off an m26 (extend) m25 (retract) looks like a cobble job though lol

Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

That's the funny thing....

25 and 26 say "Invalid M code".


------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

I have never seen a gantry style unloader for a conquest. Gonna have to look that up.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Could the code to fire it be the regular air blast code? Not sure what that would be on your machine. I take it no original programs were left in the machine.

I went through the M code list in the Menuell, and I tried anything that seemed possible, but I got nothing.

The codes that are tied to the overhead gantry set-up "Fwd/Center/SS/(and maybe Rear)" all accepted the code, but no movement, and the control hangs - apparently waiting for feedback that the actuation has in fact finished, which it's not getting, so ...

But when I fire the "extend/retract" codes (which should be for the gantry) both of those come up as not good code.
But I will check to see if that thing has air pressure. Normally if it doesn't have air, then it will unfold and back away from the HOME position, and then that will alarm out, but we don't seem to be dooing that, so - I'm ass_u_ming that it has pressure.

This little thing up front does NOT have pressure to it, but I was watching the indicator light on the sol, and no signs of life there either.
I will have to pursue more yet - especially if this is not an OEM unit.


For above - here are some pics of the gantry system.
They doo werk, but are not overly rigid, and gobble up cycle time. But if you have a part that is delicate, then maybe the added time is worth it to you.

I have removed it from my original T51 as it needs to come out to pull the turret out, and it never went back in.
The '97 machine (brown) has a small tray in the back that it fills up, and we absolutely laughed at that when we seen it @ Elmira, and figgered that we would need to put a conveyor or sumpthing under it in stead of that little drawer, but we seldom ever used it to begin with.

Then the '94 machine (white) has a lot more sheet metal back there, but seems to be missing some components.
Like the bottom of the hickey is open. Not sure what originally went there.

In one pic you can see the unit all folded up and at the HOME position at the rear (RH side) of the machine.
Another pic you can see the rail system that comes up to the headwall.


I was just wonderin' if this unloader/chute up by the chuck was OEM or not.
I thought it odd that it would have a front and gantry unloaders - both.


-----------------------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Sorry to Necro but did you get this figured out? I've got a GT-27SP with a factory parts chute on it and the manual says the same thing (M26/M25), but I'm getting an Invalid M Code error.

Just FYI our Hardinge GT uses M25

Just looked up a program on our GT. It was purchased with the parts catcher so original extend is M26 and M25 to retract it. We added air blast with a kit purchased from Hardinge and M46 turns it on and M47 turns it off. I am fairly sure we had to enable a parameter to make the air blast work. Would assume the same if the parts catcher was added later.

On our parts catcher it had a tendency for the extend adjustment to wander. I counterbored the 2 split clamps on the adjusting rod and put o-rings in the conterbores to add friction. Works great and the o-rings soften up the impact on both extension and retracting.

I just took it off.

That machine is mostly just going to be a chucker anyhow.

There's an abortion (complete secondary PLC) that lives in the electrical cabinet - labeled "barfeeder", when you can hook them up to the factory machine just fine. Just may need to have the option turned on?
I decided that I don't want to tackle it. We'll just use it as a chucker...

This machine will need a "front load" (left hand?) feeder, and I found a carcus (spell-check doesn't have a clue either) in Oklahoma, and I was going to go fetch that, and finally just decided to say Piss-On-It Potsie!

If I need another 51 bar machine, I'll just buy whole 'nother machine and be done with it.


---------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Thanks, gents. I did make some progress on it today; one of the keep relay parameters had a few bits off from the factory list I have and when I looked through the ladder it seems someone purposefully turned it off. The air blast works for the slide block but the spindle wall one doesn't. In fact, I think they have been reversed. The backlight sucks on the LCD so reading the ladder there is a pain. At this point, it seems like the air solenoid for the parts catcher for some reason isn't working on the extend but it is on the retract. FWIW, the keep relay bits that had been changed enabled something to the effect of "M-code error in MDI" so that may be what I was running into.

Lots of fuckery going on in the cabinet. Looks like at one point someone installed a high pressure coolant system? Maybe? I'm going to have to reverse engineer all the add-ons (because of course they didn't make notes on the paper copies of the ladder) before I get it running, I think.

I at least got the collet out.

Used machines suck!

Ox said:

I just took it off.

That machine is mostly just going to be a chucker anyhow.

There's an abortion (complete secondary PLC) that lives in the electrical cabinet - labeled "barfeeder", when you can hook them up to the factory machine just fine. Just may need to have the option turned on?
I decided that I don't want to tackle it. We'll just use it as a chucker...

This machine will need a "front load" (left hand?) feeder, and I found a carcus (spell-check doesn't have a clue either) in Oklahoma, and I was going to go fetch that, and finally just decided to say Piss-On-It Potsie!

If I need another 51 bar machine, I'll just buy whole 'nother machine and be done with it.


---------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Click to expand...

Hey Ox, have you had a chance to get your Hardinge Swiss machines running? We just got in a refurbished T42 big bore with sub spindle and live tools from Iverson in Chicago. We are pretty excited about it. I need to track down a chip conveyor tank and probably a conveyor for it.

AJ

[my BIL] Just stretched hydro to one yesterday.
(he does a REALLY nice job with EMT!)
I'll try to git some air to them maybe yet this weekend.


-----------------

Think Snow Eh!
Ox

The machines where m26/m25 don't work....are they in chucker mode?

Our GT doesn't allow the part catcher in chucker mode I don't think. Sometimes we have trouble with the part catcher not wanting to work if we switch modes.

I have an Elite II that doesn't seem to care what mode your in, so maybe it's just an older machine thing.

Mine is an older one (1996) and I do not even think it has a chucker mode. I have used the parts catcher when chucking parts with the bar feed turned off. On ours each option like the parts catcher is turned on and will stay active till it is turned off no matter how many times the machine is turned off and restarted.

JBolts - YouTube

The video is me using the parts catcher while chucking. I called it a "unique set up" on the video but after it was uploaded I think "different approach" would have been a better description.

FredC said:

Mine is an older one (1996) and I do not even think it has a chucker mode. I have used the parts catcher when chucking parts with the bar feed turned off. On ours each option like the parts catcher is turned on and will stay active till it is turned off no matter how many times the machine is turned off and restarted.

JBolts - YouTube

The video is me using the parts catcher while chucking. I called it a "unique set up" on the video but after it was uploaded I think "different approach" would have been a better description.

Click to expand...

Mine is a 95 I'm pretty sure it has it, the elite is a 2006 or thereabouts and I'm positive that it has it. Chucker mode just changes what interlocks it looks for before it will cycle. On the GT I thought it killed the part catcher also but it's been a while.

Mine is a '95 with an 18T Model B on it and it does have some kind of chucker mode lockout option. My impression was this was for when you use the adapter ring on the outside of the spindle face to install a 3/4/6 jaw chuck in front of the 5C nose? Makes sense the parts catcher would be locked out, then.

I found that the parts catcher works just fine in Auto mode, it just would throw a alarm that it wasn't home when I called a retract in MDI. There might be some kind of timer parameter but it shouldn't be an issue.

I also discovered (i.e., was told by my Hardinge guy) that if you E-Stop, and then hold the "E-Stop Release" button, then other buttons on the keypad turn options on and off. This actually changes the keep relay settings, which explains the behavior I was seeing earlier. Having options "turned on" meant something totally different to me before learning how Hardinge does (or at least did) this on the keypad.

I'm about ready to make chips, just waiting on tools now I guess! Appreciate the help and suggestions. I'm going to try that other air blast M code.

Yes, that is how you tun on/off options like the barfeeder and whatnot.

Like I turned off my gantry style unloader on one of my T51's.

I don't know what they all doo.
I guess they outline this in the Operators Manuell, but I don't think that I have one of those?
Not sure if one came in with the newsed machine last year or not.


----------------------

Welcome to Decemburrrrrr!
Ox

The parts catcher on my Conquest T42 behaves the same way - alarms out if you try to retract it in MDI. Pressing reset button works fine to retract it. I believe the way the ladder is written, you can't MDI anything while the parts catcher is extended. It must be a safety thing.

And yes, you can turn options on and off using the secret keys while in E-stop. They're not really secret, though, as they're all in the manual. I turn my bar feeder on and off quite frequently.

Yeah, yeah I tried to go through the 10,000 pages of manual before fingerpokin' the machine but must have missed that page.