Another Maidstone member

[spluppit]

Many thanks for the warm welcome, Well the first project I need to look at (I have 3 in fact) is a full blown Mazak slant bed turning centre. I think this one will be the easiest to learn on as it already has ball screws and fanuc servos in place, so its purely a matter of the control side. The machine does have an existing control (Fanuc 6t) which is now non operational. I cant really justify keeping a control of some 25 years of age running. So im thinking the way to go is the way home build cnc kit style. At least this way i will be able to learn and fault find myself and maintain them and stay in business, without the worry of earning a few quid then having to pay a fortune in spare parts costs and engineers cost to keep them running which I simply cant afford any longer.

The second project will be my 3 axis mill. I had this retrofitted with a brand new commercial control some 5 years ago, costing a small fortune. Even so the spare parts costs are a total joke now, and have in fact risen some 60% in the last 2 years. Alas, as a very small one man band, I again can not justify spending £1500 for one board. I will sell that control off in parts to raise funds for a home build retrofit, if it is doable as a project.

The third one is really the jewel in the crown. This is actually an old capstan lathe a Herbert/bsa 2d. This machine has a peg board control which derived into the emi mec air over oil peg board system. There are no engineers left in my neck of the woods any more so its a matter of time before the machine dies totally. This machine is an ex college machine, doing no work at all and mechanically and wear wise its is impeccable. My thinking was to cnc it with indexing tool turret when funds allow. This one will be a lot more involved as its not really suited to ball screws being fitted. Plus up to 3 servos as its a turret lathe. This one will be very involved as the spindle motor is ermmmmmmmm well its a 4 speed motor with a high/low gear box. How you integrate a motor like that is totally beyond me, as is just about the rest of it lol. So that one will be the last of the projects if money ever allows me to do it at all.


Kind regards,


Scott