[samco]

I am a linuxcnc guy... You might really want to research lathe operation with mach3.. Things like thread pitch errors, css issues and such.

There are quite a few people that have converted chnc's to linuxcnc

Hardinge CHNC 1 with Linuxcnc rigid tapping - YouTube

Hardinge-2 CHNC Retrofit with LinuxCNC - YouTube

Hardinge CHNC1 with Linuxcnc threading - YouTube

Hardinge HNC conversion running EMC2 - YouTube

If you do a search on the linuxcnc forum
LinuxCNC Support Forum :: Advanced Search

I think you will find a lot of info

sam

[mike^3]

Great video! And I forgot to say, nice to meet ya!

I should make a short video of what we are doing, I know pics are great but a video would be cool too

[mike^3]

Hi Same, I did research it for quite awhile. The problem is the huge learning curve for linuxcnc. Although I love the user interface and the toolpath generation...It just is not heavily supported, and there really is no step by step guide to set up everything. I have seen some glossaries and such and some forums. But nothing like Mach 3. I do want a great machine. I am still interested in linuxcnc, but without much help from the community, I don't want to spend months trying to set up the system and learn code along with it.

Unless you have a rocksolid step by step guide?

Do you know anyone that has extra CHNC parts?

Thanks

Mike

[samco]

There are a bunch of threads on the linuxcnc forum - you would have to go through them and see what applies. 'learn code' has not been true for a long time. Between Hal and ladder within linuxcnc you can do almost anything without programming. Now if you have something really really complicated - you can still write a realtime component in linuxcnc pretty easy. (there are actually some turret examples on the wiki)

Conversion of Hardinge HNC Lathe to EMC
Hardinge CHNC I Lathe

as far as support you have the
docs. LinuxCNC Documentation - HTML version
wiki. LinuxCNC Documentation Wiki: LinuxCNCKnowledgeBase
forum. LinuxCNC Support Forum :: Advanced Search
IRC and mailing list info here..
Community

Good luck!
sam

Hi Same, I did research it for quite awhile. The problem is the huge learning curve for linuxcnc. Although I love the user interface and the toolpath generation...It just is not heavily supported, and there really is no step by step guide to set up everything. I have seen some glossaries and such and some forums. But nothing like Mach 3. I do want a great machine. I am still interested in linuxcnc, but without much help from the community, I don't want to spend months trying to set up the system and learn code along with it.

Unless you have a rocksolid step by step guide?

Do you know anyone that has extra CHNC parts?

Thanks

Mike

[mike^3]

So much cleaning!

I had the idea of pressure washing the underside of the lathe, it works well, but...the oil underneath the lathes is literally caked on. I will let some industrial parts cleaner degreaser sit over night, and try to clean it tomorrow.

Tired for today, upside is the ways are going to be reground tomorrow! WHOOT!

I also have one race stuck inside the spindle, not sure how to get that out . I can't get anything behind it. Perhaps I will get a turnbuckle and wedge the heads again the inner ball bearing rides then hit it out from the rear. Worth a try

Mike

Samco, thanks for the tips, when I sell one of these machines I will have to provide tech support as well as repair and mod advice. I am not confident at all about my expertise with LINUXCNC. I wish there was a well put together manual that would help new people with it...

[zmajmr]

So much cleaning!

I had the idea of pressure washing the underside of the lathe, it works well, but...the oil underneath the lathes is literally caked on. I will let some industrial parts cleaner degreaser sit over night, and try to clean it tomorrow.

Tired for today, upside is the ways are going to be reground tomorrow! WHOOT!





I also have one race stuck inside the spindle, not sure how to get that out . I can't get anything behind it. Perhaps I will get a turnbuckle and wedge the heads again the inner ball bearing rides then hit it out from the rear. Worth a try

Mike

Samco, thanks for the tips, when I sell one of these machines I will have to provide tech support as well as repair and mod advice. I am not confident at all about my expertise with LINUXCNC. I wish there was a well put together manual that would help new people with it...

Hi

For race on spindle you can try something like this

Harbor Freight Bearing Separator and Puller Set Review - YouTube

or cut bearing at 3 places every 120 deg and crack it with chisel or tool similar to that (in case that you have that kind of problem, I hope I understand you good)

I posted pic of those things in this thread (my spindle with cracked inner race).

[mike^3]

Thanks for the reply, I saw that video, the problem is the outerrace of the bearing is again the wall of the spindle headstock, the inner race and the balls broke out, heres a pic the first pic is the race stuck, and then the other one is the other headstock with the race out of the head.

Ill try to figure something out tomorrow . Ive got weeks of work ahead of me......I thought this was gonna be a quick project....WRONG haha.

I see your on day 45+, me too!

[zmajmr]

Thanks for the reply, I saw that video, the problem is the outerrace of the bearing is again the wall of the spindle headstock, the inner race and the balls broke out, heres a pic the first pic is the race stuck, and then the other one is the other headstock with the race out of the head.

Ill try to figure something out tomorrow . Ive got weeks of work ahead of me......I thought this was gonna be a quick project....WRONG haha.

I see your on day 45+, me too!

I see, I understood you wrong, then it looks little tricky, maybe you can weld something on bearing race so you can pull it out (I do not know is there any problems with welding bearings ) .

I am on day 60 approximately , I count every day when I make something for the machine, I estimate probably on day 200 will be done. When I saw how many things you pull out of the machines I knew it will not be quick restoration, I do not know will you even make profit how much work you will have. It is definitively easier when you have well equipped shop so you do not have to make all kind of tools to repair machine, so when you will be done you will see how much hours and money you spent. For me time is no problem, I do not have anything smarter to do (for now).

Well hope to see new pics or video soon :wave:

[samco]

well - I tried...

one last food for thought... Tormach is coming out with a new cnc lathe. They are switching to linuxcnc for the control.

Again - good luck. That looks like a fun project!
sam

Samco, thanks for the tips, when I sell one of these machines I will have to provide tech support as well as repair and mod advice. I am not confident at all about my expertise with LINUXCNC. I wish there was a well put together manual that would help new people with it...

[mike^3]

Hey Marco,

I've been retrofitting cnc machines for about 6 years now. It's not my fulltime job. I am actually working as a Registered Nurse, going to school to become a Nurse Practitioner (Basically a doctor here in the USA). And I am married, no kids though! I only work 3 days a week, long ass days though like 16 hours each .

I hope to make some money, but what else would I be doing? LOL

Ill make a video today, the guys at the grinding shop said they don't allow any kind of video or non-employees in the shop. I understand though, liability reasons.

I got my bearings in! I think Ill try to call up NSK directly and see how much they would sell them to me in the future, I plan to do these in the future .

So what kind of tolerences do you think you will be able to hold when you emco is done?

[mike^3]

That would be cool for them to do linuxcnc, then we would actually have some documentation on how to work it!

I still might go to linux cnc, im still debating. I am not at the electronics steps yet, but when I get there I will definitely make the choice. I think what I will do is load linuxcnc on a laptop and sit there and try to figure it all out.

I also think that the resale value would go up with having linuxcnc instead of mach 3, Linuxcnc matches the look and feel of most cnc lathes on the market today. Mach 3 does not. Take for example the tool path wizards, with mach 3 you can only set up a single wizard for a single job, it you want more than one thing, take for example, a face, then hole, then thread. You would have to click each wizard, copy the code, then add each code together, and hopefully mach 3 does it properly. With linuxcnc, you can see on your screen where each tool starts and stops and you can change it all live.

Just writing that wants me to try linuxcnc! I think I will try it this weekend, ill load it on my laptop and see how she works. The only question I would have now is how to interface all of my inputs and outputs, I need like 40 in and out.

mike

[zmajmr]

Hey Marco,

I've been retrofitting cnc machines for about 6 years now. It's not my fulltime job. I am actually working as a Registered Nurse, going to school to become a Nurse Practitioner (Basically a doctor here in the USA). And I am married, no kids though! I only work 3 days a week, long ass days though like 16 hours each .

I hope to make some money, but what else would I be doing? LOL

Ill make a video today, the guys at the grinding shop said they don't allow any kind of video or non-employees in the shop. I understand though, liability reasons.

I got my bearings in! I think Ill try to call up NSK directly and see how much they would sell them to me in the future, I plan to do these in the future .

So what kind of tolerences do you think you will be able to hold when you emco is done?

Hi Mike, I would never guess that you have connections with medicine, I had image of you like some kind of machinist, I saw mill in in your garage.
I am graduated electrical engineer, "specialist" for automation , while I am writing this I am laughing to my self because I finished study before 4 years ago almost, and I am "working" as machinist (I have small mill and small lathe) . Anyway I managed to save some money to buy this Emco and new electronics so now I have chance to do something what will have to do with automation, when you write in CV that you can work with machines I guess people think you are crazy, they expect that you need to work with programs . So I become self thought machinist and still having hope to will find job eventually in field of automation.

Man who sold Emco , told me that machine can hold 0.005 mm tolerances with no problems (while he was using it), I read in manual that input accuracy is 0.001 mm which is very very good, I know when I make manually something +/- 0.01 mm is excellent result, dial gauge on my hand operated machine is 0.2 mm and 0.05 mm and finest 0.01 mm, so 0.001 mm with CNC is science fiction for me, 0.005 mm is very very good. I can not wait to see how will machine work after ball screws are cleaned.

Try to google for PLC and PLC modules, digital input, relay output, maybe you find how to manage 40 inputs and outputs.

I decide to use Mach3 because I saw that you do not need to know G code, there are wizards, I watched John Grinsmo videos on youtube and after that I searched some kind of card that uses USB connection because I do not have computer with parallel port. Anyway maybe latter when I learn some G code and other stuff I will try Linux CNC or something else. For now this should be fine just to start moving cross slides and see machine making something.

I thought there will be no problems to record videos because maybe guys in machine shop are pride with their jobs and will gladly show how it is done, I saw 2 or 3 videos on youtube about that.

Nice to meet you Mike, I hope you will make profit on machines.

[mike^3]

Thanks Marco, I actually took the plunge and purchased some Mesa boards and touch screens today along with 2 comps. I don't like to get dirty at night so I save that time to play with electronics. On a machine like urs I would probably go Linuxcnc, because it's a lathe. You don't need to know Gcode, it's simple and it helps. Linuxcnc has wizards just like mAch3. Ill let u know how it pans out, also Linux is free

[Dea4arrison]

Well hope to see new pics or video soon

[mike^3]

Heres a small update video and some pics!

GOT by beds ways back! They took a total of 0.015" off the top and bottom, I ordered a 0.015" shim that will be put under the base when I reassembly everything. THEY LOOK Soooo GOOD!

Ill be cleaning and prepping the bases today, and hopefully getting some primer down!

Ill be cleaning the remaining little pieces over the weekend, and hopefully painting everything next week ;D

The Video is still being uploaded to give it an hour or so after the time of this post to view it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5op...ature=youtu.be

[zmajmr]

Heres a small update video and some pics!

GOT by beds ways back! They took a total of 0.015" off the top and bottom, I ordered a 0.015" shim that will be put under the base when I reassembly everything. THEY LOOK Soooo GOOD!

Ill be cleaning and prepping the bases today, and hopefully getting some primer down!

Ill be cleaning the remaining little pieces over the weekend, and hopefully painting everything next week ;D

The Video is still being uploaded to give it an hour or so after the time of this post to view it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5op...ature=youtu.be

Nice update, I think that tube is called bearing spacer. I see that top surface is reground, are side surfaces reground or bottom surface is ground, to me it is logical side surfaces. It is funny feeling to hear yours name, thank you for that. Try to find from Festo or Bosch valves/solenoids on ebay if you cant find original one.

[mike^3]

Hey Marco Gotta shout out to you man! Without your pics of your spindle work, I may not have figured out how to take mine out ;D

Your vids are so much nicer than mine

Im gonna get a new camera soon, instead of using my iphone HAha.

According to hardinge (multiple techs), they said if you are going to grind the bed, DO NOT GRIND THE SIDES. 99.9% of the wear is the top, so grinding the top and bottom are necessary for a rebuild. If you were to regrind the sides, you would be narrowing the bed, resulting inssues with tamming, and because your narrow the bed, the tapered gib may now be too small...you would then have to make a brand new gib, or add a shim behind it (Bad practice).

When I measured the sides of the bed, I could not detect any wear with my large micrometers that can be set at 0.0001" intervals. I measured this by taking a precision angle block on both sides and then take measurements along the axis.

Ill be cleaning the ballscrews up this weekend and I will have a tutorial on how to clean and remove the nut also. Wasn't hard, but some people are skiddish about taking them apart, hard part is putting them back together .

Mike

[zmajmr]

Hey Marco Gotta shout out to you man! Without your pics of your spindle work, I may not have figured out how to take mine out ;D

Your vids are so much nicer than mine

Im gonna get a new camera soon, instead of using my iphone HAha.

According to hardinge (multiple techs), they said if you are going to grind the bed, DO NOT GRIND THE SIDES. 99.9% of the wear is the top, so grinding the top and bottom are necessary for a rebuild. If you were to regrind the sides, you would be narrowing the bed, resulting inssues with tamming, and because your narrow the bed, the tapered gib may now be too small...you would then have to make a brand new gib, or add a shim behind it (Bad practice).

When I measured the sides of the bed, I could not detect any wear with my large micrometers that can be set at 0.0001" intervals. I measured this by taking a precision angle block on both sides and then take measurements along the axis.

Ill be cleaning the ballscrews up this weekend and I will have a tutorial on how to clean and remove the nut also. Wasn't hard, but some people are skiddish about taking them apart, hard part is putting them back together .

Mike

It is interesting that, what you say about grinding the sides, I thought that sides are worn because they have small surface. It is logical that tapered gibs need to be larger in some dimensions or maybe they can be more tighten,I guess it depend how much material they grind. I do not understand why they need to grind down side of bed. I do not have much experience about that, on my small lathe there are gibs but from one piece (from cast iron I guess) and on my emco there are tapered gibs, really some goofy design so it would be hard to make them in DIY manner . Anyway my manual from emco is really good, there are lot of things explained how to properly adjust and align ball screws and gibs, headstock, turret, cross slides, so I can send you manual if you want to study it. I would put link here to everybody can see it but unfortunately there is no any link as I know on net, I got manual from one man from USA.

I took apart my ballscrews , at first I did not want to do it but accidentally during cleaning, nut came down from screw and balls fell out. Eventually it was good that I took it apart because inside was so dirty, I even found damaged balls. I disassembled some different ball bearings that I collected over years and found some balls and I replaced damaged balls, but as I told here nut and screw are damaged so under pressure of all that metal things (cross slide, tureet, stepper motor) balls will be crashed again eventually.

My way of assembling nut and screws is as follows: you put grease in nut, and you insert balls in rows (in my nut design tunnel is inside of nut, there is no tube) . Grease will hold inside balls and after that I made plastic cylinder (machined on lathe) that have diameter same as smallest diameter of cross section of ballscrew. Plastic part will hold balls inside nut while you rotate screw through the nut. As you rotate screw, plastic cylinder will automatically be pushed out of nut and your balls will stay in their rows. I just watced videos about ballscrews , I saw how they sell packed nuts, there is tube that keeps balls from falling out, so it is very easy to clean and inspect ballscrew. The hardest thing is not to lose balls, couple of time ball fell out on floor (it can stick it on your finger and fell uncontrollably), and I only heard bouncing sound but did not see where is ball, eventually I found it. I have all that recorded just need to make movie. I recorded my videos with my mobile phone (Nokia 5230) but eventually concluded there is not much point to load material on youtube if picture quality is not good.

I wrote enough for today. Will be waiting for new pics or video (even better).

[mike^3]

On the chnc the bed is horizontal, on your emco it's at a slant so most of your wear would be the sides.

I have my hardinge manual pretty informative love the manuals, except made in the 80s lol everything is scanned in. I used my iPhone 4 but just bought a Nokia to use instead.

1080p soon lol

Ill record some test video this weekend

[mike^3]

So here is a new video, update. (its still processing so give it a bit after the post update to make sure it works).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYDU...ature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oDX...ature=youtu.be

Over the weekend I took apart the ballscrews, cleaned them, inspected them, and then reassembled them.

I tried dawn soap, and simple green to see which would work better, SIMPLE GREEN WON....

You can see in the pics how dirty they were, and how clean they now are . I inspected them and to my amazement, they were tight with no play at all. The bearings looked great and the shaft looked great also.

I am currently painting the underneath of the beds right now. 3 Coats of allsurface oil based enamel primer, and 2 coats allsurface oil based enamel BLACK low sheen. I am hand painting the underside, but the rest will be sprayed on for better finish and coverage.

I still have lots of work to do!

On the weekends I am training myself on how to use linuxcnc. Great program, goodbye mach 3 hello linux!

At this rate everything will be painted this week and starting the reassembly next week. So we are about 3 weeks out from being 100% done. (We will see how that works out haha

Not much more to report other then prepping the parts to paint is a pain, but worth it, so do it right!

Wheres your updates MARCO?! I wanna see some more EMCO! :cheers: