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Lagun manual & cnc. Finally getting into my hurricane Harvey salt water flooded shop

diesel-xj

Aluminum
Joined
Sep 27, 2011
Location
South Texas
Lagun manual & cnc. Finally getting into my hurricane Harvey salt water flooded shop

I took a direct Hurricane Harvey hit, A little over 6 feet of Gulf of Mexico salt water took out my shop, and house. Yes it has been a long time to get back in the shop, but that is just how it worked out. I just got the shop dried back in and mostly mucked out last week. So for the last year and a half, I would go in to the roofless shop and try and exercise the machines a bit. I thought this was working ok, but maybe not.

So like I said I was exercising the tables and gears a bit, but I guess not enough. Todays problems are 2. I have a early 80's Lagun FT1 step pulley manual mill. The high low gears were changing ok, but had not tried to go full locked in LOW gear until last night, when I moved FULLY into low gear. The mill is now stuck in low gear and I broke the ?shear pin on the high low gear change handle. I am assuming that there is some rust on a shaft that the high low gear slides on, and when I finally went fully into low gear, now the gear is stuck on some rust. I am working on getting a parts manual. I think I finally found a step pulley manual, most manuals seemed to be variable speed.
Does anybody know how much I have to take apart to get to the high low gear mechanism? Can I get access to the gear if I tear down to just below the step pulleys, and above the quill level? Or do I need to down to the quill?


Next problem. I have a 1985 Lagun/Anilam CNC mill with a Crusader M control. Same sort of problem I think. I had been working the table a bit, but not all the way to the stops. Recently I was moving the Y axis and it started getting stiff and springy close to one end of the travel. So I stopped and went the other way on Y toward the column, all good in the mid travel, then getting close to the column again it started getting stiff and springy. I decided to try and work through the rough spot, MISTAKE, I kept going and it got stiffer still, and now the Y Axis is good and stuck about a inch from max Y travel near the column. Any thoughts on if this sticking would be in the ways and gib? or is the ball screw jammed up with I guess rust. Does anyone know if I can clear the jam up by trying to remove the Y-axis gib? Is the Lagun like a Bridgeport with a only 1 adjustment screw for the gib, or is there a lock screw and the adjustment screw?
If it is the ball screw is there any saving a stuck ball screw?


The lathe seems pretty good, except for the motor. I am thinking about doing a full submerge on the 3hp electric motor in "EVAPORUST". Has anyone tried a full submerge on a electric motor in Evaporust??

I am thinking the VFD's and CNC electronics are not even worth messing with? But I could be wrong. Most all the electric motors have come back If I let them dry out enough, they all have bearing noise, but they are working. The mill motors were both above the high water mark, I think they will live to fight another day.

any help with ideas for the stuck Lagun's is appreciated

thanks
 
One thing to note salt needs to be washed off with fresh water, just oiling it won't stop it rusting as the salt is still there.
This is from marine equipment that took a swim in the ocean.
A week being under can do a lot of damage.
sounds like to have a a lot of work to do fixing things.
 
The electronics may be toast. If they were turned in while still damp, then they very probably are toast.

If they have not been turned on, then giving them several rinses out with fresh water and a final one with distilled water, may save some of them. They still have to be DRY before power is applied. I would rinse, wait, re-rinse several times, then with distilled. One or two of the early rinses may be with something like Dawn detergent in the water to clean up dirt and slime. You may have to scrub with a soft brush.. DO NOT use dishwasher detergent, it has other things in it.

But, chlorine (chloride ion) is rough on many components, especially electrolytic capacitors. Some of the electronics may not be saveable, due to corrosion, visible or hidden.
 
thanks for the reply. I am not too worried about the electronics for the CNC. I am planning on doing a control retrofit. I will pull the Anilam boards out and wash them as you said, and then sell them if anyone would be interested. I also want to look into using a dual frequency ultrasonic cleaner on them. My old ultrasonic machine was not big enough, plus it is very dead now. Of all the electronics, if I can save the servos and the servo amps that will be ok. Before the storm I was looking into a control refit. it turns out the linear scales from that era are not really worth a poop in the modern world. so I was looking at new encoders for the old servos. Now I also hope the Y-axis ball screw will survive. Is there a way to flush out any contaminants from the ball screws??
I really want to see if anyone has ever dunked a whole electric motor in any of the rust chelation chemicals. I have a 5 gallon bucket of Evaporust, I am waiting to see if anyone has any actual experience with this before I give it a try. If I do a full dunk I want to do it in a new virgin chemical not already used chemical.

I was working on the air compressor today, The compressor was the first machine I got back up and running over a year ago, and I am using it regularly. The motor sounded like crap but it was working pretty well. then it just quit last week. After I bought a new used motor, I found the actual problem was a failed half of a new (6 months ) GE circuit breaker, in my new main circuit breaker panel. So my old Hurricane compressor motor is actually still kicking. I might try and put the air compressor motor on the lathe with a VFD to turn down the speed. while I work on refurbishing the old lathe motor. It might be a pretty good time to refit the lathe with a single phase motor and a small VFD. I was running Made in USA Lenze VFD's before the storm, As much as I like made in the USA, they are almost double the cost of the china VFD's as of todays prices.
I got a parts book for the FT-1 mill today, and it will help, but it is not like a typical parts catalog, it just has the part assembly with part #'s only, but not really a exploded diagram.

I would still like to talk to someone that has some teardown experience on the Lagun FT-1 step pulley head, back gear area


thanks
 
Motors and their bearings rust, which may be the biggest problem with the servos, Flooding is bad enough, seawater is rust promoting, especially when the salty water is in there for a while after the flood recedes, as it dries out.

Ultrasonic is not usually good for electronics, the intense vibration can do damage.

At least if it was seawater, it may not have carried a lot of sewage, the way most freshwater floods do. They carry sewage, chemicals of various types, general pollution, and usually you do not much want anything that has been in the water very long.
 
Well we had all types of water here, maybe not so much river water, but I'm sure there was plenty of sewage mixed in. At least the water did not stay up for weeks. I think one thing that may have been a positive is that there was enough open buckets of oil and petroleum in the shop that as the water rose everything got a good oil bath first, and when the water dropped it all got coated with oil again. Immediately after the storm everything in the shop was nice and oily. It was the Year and a half of sitting with a partial roof that made my problems worse. But I had to prioritize, and the shop came after the house.

You can tell the motors are damaged, there is a obvious rough spot in the rotation where they got rusted stuck for a bit, but I have been freeing them up and work them by hand back and forth through the rough spot, then run by hand all the way around for a few revolutions. Then hit them with the power. So far they have all come back, except I think my pressure washer. I think it was important that they all had significant time to dry out first, and maybe the pressure washer was a bit fresh when I plugged it in. I'm not saying the motors are good by any stretch, but they are good for now, and with the local cost for rebuilds or replacements I am going to run them until they actually stop.
It may be some time before I can power up the servo motors however.
Without having any first hand experience I am going to have to respectfully disagree with you on the ultrasonic cleaner. I think that one of their main uses is specifically for electronic boards. There are a bunch of you tube vid's on cell phone repair that all use ultrasonics on the boards. Apparently it is important to have a multi-frequency machine. I think there is one common ultrasonic frequency that is a bit more powerful than others. I had a ultrasonic machine, I was never impressed with it's performance. I am looking for a one with multi frequencies.
I still would like to talk with someone that has some ball screw experience, and experience with the back gear on the Lagun FT-1 step pulley head.

thanks for your help so far
 
a little good news sort of. I don't think my stuck y axis is the ball screw. I think the gib is jammed up. Of course the end of the gib broke off when I pulled the adjustment screw out, and left the gib behind.
I am able to get the saddle to move out incrementally by using a wedge technique to loosen the gib about a 1/16 of a inch at a time. I am hoping to get a little push block in there and use the ball screw and saddle to push the gib out.
has anyone got experience or a easy way to remove a jammed gib?
 








 
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