Thread: CNCToolCat's Cat-House

Removing part of the rear of the block, for the through coolant:

Wait .. what?

Did you forget your place while posting and skipped on past "the rest of the story"?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Ox,

For the “through coolant”, I just come out of the coolant port on the side of the blocks with a line (air hose, Loc-Line, or copper tube) to the newly-machined gap at the rear of the block, and connect directly to the back door of the tool. (As long as it has one...NPT style...lol)

The Mazak QT turret design only has about 3/8” clearance between the rear of the blocks and the turret box itself.

By machining about an inch off the rear of the blocks, it provides just enough clearance to sneak a coolant line in.

ToolCat

Oh.....

Mine have caps that bolt onto the back and have coolant plumbed to that - that way you can drown a holder that doesn't have pipe threads too.

Most any boring bar ends up gitt'n cut down to a useable length and loses it's thread anyhow....

What I have done on holders similar to yours is to drill the coolant bore that you have coming out the front - all the way through the back wall to hit the cap.
Only need to doo one side in this case...

You must be deleting the balls anyhow (and tapping out to NPT) if you are going to be running a line from one of those ports to the back?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Ox,

In addition to the two “eyeballs” in front, Mazak blocks have an NPT port on the side of the base, (between the two mounting bolts).

For coolant-through, I plug the eyeballs with golf tees (newer ones are tapped for plugging with a bolt), and use the side NPT port to feed the coolant line going to the back.

Cut-off boring bars and other tools without an NPT on the rear get sprayed by the eyeballs, or copper line coming out of the side port.

Have I mentioned how much of a pain-in-the-derrière coolant setups can be on older Mazak QT’s?!

Originally Posted by cnctoolcat

The Mazak QT turret design only has about 3/8” clearance between the rear of the blocks and the turret box itself.
ToolCat

My O&H has the same damn issue!

Originally Posted by cnctoolcat

Ox,

In addition to the two “eyeballs” in front, Mazak blocks have an NPT port on the side of the base, (between the two mounting bolts).
Cut-off boring bars and other tools without an NPT on the rear get sprayed by the eyeballs, or copper line coming out of the side port.
Have I mentioned how much of a pain-in-the-derrière coolant setups can be on older Mazak QT’s?!

I feel your pain! LOL
Only thing I don't like about my lathe.

For what it's worth, we drilled and tapped a new hole into the rear of the bore that we can connect to the existing NPT port to flood the pocket kinda like our older QT15. Then we just plugged the rear of the bore with a simple 1-1/2" freeze plug.

Originally Posted by wheelieking71

My O&H has the same damn issue!




I feel your pain! LOL
Only thing I don't like about my lathe.

lol, same. Can't have to much hanging out back. Found that out quick

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by J&H

For what it's worth, we drilled and tapped a new hole into the rear of the bore that we can connect to the existing NPT port to flood the pocket kinda like our older QT15. Then we just plugged the rear of the bore with a simple 1-1/2" freeze plug.

Freeze plug. That's genius right there!

As best I could deduce, the shop that owned the QT28 prior to me ran small parts, cutting them off from bar stock.

Well, with no parts catcher on the machine, the parts were free to fly anywhere and everywhere inside, and after some years of doing this the machine’s door was beat all to crap!

After some judicious pounding to get the door as flat as I could, it was time to fill, sand, and paint:



I use trusty JBWeld for body filler:



I had some “Mazak Cream” paint left over from rebuilding and painting the QT20 about 12 years ago, so what the heck, let’s spray it:





I use a 1/4” polycarbonate and a 1/4” piece of safety glass sandwiched together for machine windows, with the harder glass on the inside.

And there’s nothing like trusty black polyurethane caulk to secure the window sheets to each other, and to the door. No hardware needed, because once the poly caulk sets up, it’s there for the ages.

Proper cleaning is critical of course, and I had the window pieces cut several inches larger the the opening in the door, to allow plenty of surface area for the caulk.





A little weight and clamps for a couple days, as the poly caulk is slow to cure:



She’s not perfect, but after some basic refurbishing, the door is ready for service:



Next up is the mist collector install...

I was able to find a Trion “Mini M.E.” mist collector in like-new condition on EBay ($500 plus shipping, not too shabby), so now it was time to install it.

The square mist collector intakes on the bottom, and came with a manifold that draws in from the side.

After some head scratching, I determined I could re-locate the intake manifold to the side of the unit, then mount the unit directly to the right wall of the QT28.

Here’s a finished pic to give you an idea of what I’m talking about:



Al I had to do was cut the round intake hole in the lathe:





Then use the forklift to hold the mist collector in place while I drilled and bolted it to the machine:



And here’s a closeup showing how I shifted the intake manifold all the way to one side, so it would set flush to the machine:



Notice the clearance from the chip conveyor!

This Trion unit uses static electricity to charge metal filter plates, which “zaps” the mist particles as they are pulled though. The unit sounds like a bug zapper...a little irritating at first, but after a while you don't notice it.

My other mist collectors use standard filters that have to be replaced every so often, but with this unit all you do is wash the metal filters out on occasion.

The Trion also has a variable speed fan motor — which is nice, as we found running it on slow is plenty to keep up with the mist.

By shifting the intake manifold to the side, and bolting the mist collector directly to the sidewall of the lathe, it made for a fairly straightforward install that required no new ducting or manifold...a “win-win”!

So I set out to make a bar puller for the QT28, similar to a couple I’ve made before.

I wanted to take advantage of the 16-index turret by bolting the bar puller to one of the otherwise-unused stations.

I utilized factory-tapped holes in the face of the turret to secure the bar puller.

Slip-fit clearance between machined surfaces on the two adjacent tool blocks locate the puller on center in “Y”.

I always make two of this type tool, just in case!

You don't know how much you just inspired me! I have a box of hard serrated inserts for an unknown app. Now I know what I will do with them!

So - how doo you "half index" your turret?



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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Originally Posted by Ox

So - how doo you "half index" your turret?



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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

The tag on the center of his turret right there says it has 16 positions. That's good enough proof for me.

Ox,

The QT28 indexes 16 stations per revolution, all the time.

The 8 “even-numbered” stations are normally empty — as they are between the standard 8 “odd-numbered” stations.

To utilize the even-numbered stations, a tandem tool holder is required. It bolts to an odd station, and has a section that “hangs down” for the even station.

I have made several tandem ID blocks in-shop, as the ones from Mazak or Global CNC are big money.

And of course the even stations can also be utilized by using a custom tool like the above bar puller, that squeezes between the two adjacent odd stations.

The main drawback (aside from the cost/time of a tandem toolholder), is that the tools are fairly close together when using the even stations alongside the odd ones....so care is required to make sure tools above/below the tool in the cut don’t get into the chuck or jaws.

ToolCat

....so care is required to make sure tools above/below the tool in the cut don’t get into the chuck or jaws.

ToolCat[/QUOTE]

Yea Ill bet that gets your attention...! Thanks for sharing, I am sure this is inspiring for others who have these older machines and want to fix them up.

Charles

Originally Posted by CBlair

....so care is required to make sure tools above/below the tool in the cut don’t get into the chuck or jaws.

ToolCat

Yea Ill bet that gets your attention...! Thanks for sharing, I am sure this is inspiring for others who have these older machines and want to fix them up.

Charles[/QUOTE]

The new ones aren't much different. They just do things like index the turret faster and rapid faster. Problem with that is the older machines had a turret indexing system and speed that was basically forever proof. The newer ones give up some lifespan for that speed.

A little spline gloat:





Not bad for a couple of ‘ol Barber Colman 16-16’s.

Actually the two I have were a lucky find, because they are mid-70’s models, which is relatively late for the 16-16 production. They both have the optional adjustable tailstocks, which enable getting the spline taper down to a couple tenths!

So, I’m happy to report the newly rebuilt QT28 lathe is running like a dream. The new spindle bearings are nice and quiet, show less than a tenth runout, and are imparting smooth surface finishes on our parts.

And speaking of quiet and rigid, the new-era “caged ball” THK X-axis linear guides are really something. These linear guides are rated about 50% more rigid than the originals, and it shows in the cutting performance of the machine. This new machine cuts quieter, smoother, and with better tool life than our other non-rebuilt QT28.

This machine was a lot of work to get into good shape, but now all the extra work is paying off.

The only issue we’ve had is the coolant pump I installed...it’s simply not powerful enough for the deep drilling and tapping we do.

The first pump I added is a horizontal-style, and I wanted to use this type to prevent from having to add an external tank for a pump. These Mazak's have a small area for the original pump to set in, with only about 9" of headroom for the pump motor. So for a pump with a motor-section taller than that, you have to add an auxiliary tank to have enough room to mount the larger pump.

I actually used the original draw cylinder bracket to mount to first pump:



After a few months and some toasted drills, it became apparent this pump wasn’t going to cut it:



So, off to eBay for a higher pressure pump. The original horizontal-style pumps only get so powerful, so I was forced to go back to the vertical style. As luck would have it, I found a nearly new Tawainese “Walrus” multi-stage centrifugal pump for $150 delivered...not bad!



The Walrus pumps are a copy of the popular Grundfos pumps, which I have a couple in service already.

Next it was off to Northern Tool’s website to source a suitable hydraulic tank to use as an auxiliary tank for the new pump:

A little CNC milling work made the pump hole, mounting holes, and an oil skimmer access port in the top.



Next up is piping to the machine’s original tank — which came from Mazak with a 1-1/2” pipe threaded hole. I started out with a 1-1/2” nipple, but enlarged from there to 2” pipe sizes, to match the threaded hole in the tank, and to get maximum return coolant flow:



And soon the “Walrus” is mounted, wired, and ready to test:



The original pump was rated 4 amps at 200V, while the new pump is 11.5 amps at 200V. (And yes, I had to upgrade the original thermal-overload relay for the pump in the electrical cabinet.)

And by the looks of it, she definitely has about three times the pressure now. Me so happy!



Now, to find the pesky little coolant leaks...

What is it about leaky CNC machines?!

ToolCat

Great work on that QT !
Do you have a picture of the data plate on the Walrus pump ?
I have been looking for a bigger pump for my lathe too.
How much pressure are you getting from it ?