[pete from TN]

guys,
Thanks and let me know when you are in the area. I don't know if it is fair to say I have been working on it close to a year LOL.... I bought it almost a year ago now but I have only been actually doing this retrofit for a couple weeks really. The machine sat for a LONG time without the funds to repair it and honestly not really knowing what to do with it. It was not until I met LEE and spoke to him about his retrofit that I came to realize it was even possible for me to do this. Then I had to sell off all the original pieces and find the money to buy the new pieces before I could do anything with it. After that came a LOT of research and time spent discussing the wiring scheme with Countrybubba and Connor and getting the system design in mind. Then it was an order and wait until everything came in and I could finally start the rework. Basically I think I tore apart and gutted the original wiring less than two months ago. It still has a lot more work to be done and the most difficult part still lay ahead in programming the toolchanger ladder logic and I just received the encoder for the spindle a week or two ago and I am trying to decide the best way to mount it on the spindle motor. This is no simple task to do this retrofit and I am amazed I have gotten this far. Despite all the let downs with the original control and the time wasted trying to find the monies for the new stuff as well as the coolant trays leaking it should be ready for a test run tomorrow. In fact I am filling the coolant tanks tonight. It has not been the easiest road that is for sure and it has not gone as planned since the beginning. I dunno if I am really committed or just plain stupid enough to not give up but I have done so much work on it and spent so much time and money now it is not really feasible to give up anymore on it. It will either work someday hopefully very soon or I will have to just sell it. I have NO PLANS to sell it....

The troughs are completely painted as of this point both inside and on the bottom of the outside and all of the paint is dry. Both tanks hold water for several hours without a drop of a leak so after dinner I will be installing them back into the machine and filling them with fresh coolant. I salvaged some of the original coolant I mixed and it is sitting in a rubbermaid container on the shop floor so I will screen the crud out of that and put it also back into the machine. I realized the other day that the coolant pump is already setup with a hose spigot that will allow me to run a washdown hose to the front of the machine to use to clean the enclosure which I have mostly done already by hand but there is still some cleaning that needs to be done. It will be nice to finally be able to spray it down with the hose and a pole brush. It will be really nice to make some chips with it and be able to wash down after. I already goofed around with the mill jogging it around to cut some aluminum recently but it made a huge mess with even a little cutting so now it will be for real... Peace

Pete

[Steph1ani1e]

It will either work someday hopefully very soon or I will have to just sell it. I have NO PLANS to sell it....

[pete from TN]

Okay sports fans, the coolant troughs are all sealed up and painted Ans have been reinstalled into the machine today. I then filtered the scavenged coolant and mixed up more to adequately fill the troughs. Once I got it all setup I fired up the VMC and put a bucket under the coolant nozzles on the mill table. Hit the flood button and the pump came on gushing some initially nasty coolant thru the lines that quickly cleared out to be nice clean blue coolant from the troughs. Pulled the bucket away and let it flow for a good while. Pump work great flood flow is real nice and I am very pleased with it.

Tonight I loaded up sheetcam and made a couple test patterns to cut on the mill initially in air then hopefully in aluminum. Was gonna do some air test cuts but couldn't find my damn USB cable for my phone to put the files onto like a flash drive. My old flash drive got crunched so until I find that damn USB I can't load the files. Probably find it in the morning and then can run some tests. Still lots to do here and gotta get back on tuning the spindle drive for this odd motor but glad to be able to run code now. Results soon....peace

Pete

[Maglin]

Did you say you are using Trim Sol for coolant? We use that stuff at the shop I work part time in. I'm actually there now waiting for parts to finish. I was wondering how you diluted it? Here on the refractometer we run between 3-7% Brix or however its spelled. Below 3% it will allow rust to form. Just cutting aluminum it does great at that percentage. For titanium we try to kept it above 12%. Even at that high dilution I still stink of the stuff even after I wash my hands with fast orange. Not to sure what it comes out when you mix it as advertised just letting you know what is working over here. With 3 machines we still go through about 5 gallons a week at least.

[pete from TN]

Maglin,
I don't have a refractometer yet, i just mixed it as my pal Joe said and so far it is great. It does have a smell but not too bad really.

Well guys, the machine is currently working with the exception of the toolchanger. I still need to get the spindle feedback working. I posted some photos and a video at the Photobucket account. I have been trying for almost a week to get in here and update the thread and so far I have only been able to do it on my smartphone. Cannot get on from either or my computers. Never had so much grief from one website before and don't seem to have any problems on any other of the many many websites I frequent. At this point I am gonna close this thread and post on the linuxCNC forum about the progress of this build. It is just too much of a pain trying to get on here let alone reply to posts and PMs. If any of you wish to contact me feel free to do so but as of right now I am not gonna post here any longer.

Thank you guys so much for all of your ideas and assistance as well as inspiration that has been so graciously given. You can find my thread on the linuxCNC forum under CNC machines. Here is a link to my photobucket account. Peace

Pete

[rwskinner]

Pete, you forget the link?

[FannBlade]

Pete clear your history on your web browser that should help since they updated the forum to latest version.

..........waiting for link also.

[Bubba]

I just got off the phone with Pete and he is having all sorts of troubles with computers, the net and aggravation in general this morning.

So I will try to post the links hereL
PhotoBucket:
Cincinatti Arrow 500 Retrofit Photos by matospeter | Photobucket

Linuxcnc thread:
LinuxCNC Support Forum :: Topic: Pete's Cincinatti Arrow 500 Retrofit... (1/8)

[pete from TN]

Well guys,
It has been awhile since I posted here and I have been pretty busy with the machine retrofit and other work so I have not updated this in awhile. I have been enjoying the Cincinatti Arrow 500 since I got the basic machine running. So far it seems dead reliable and I have made some parts with it. Still looking for a couple good paying jobs for it but I have made a few things for local people. My wife was off for the week here so I spent some time working on something I wanted to make for the machine. The factory spindle is only good for 6k which is not terrible really but I was doing a lot of engraving work before and I kinda wanted to do it with the VMC here so I drew up a simple router mount for the machine that attaches to the labrynth seal plate that goes on the bottom of the spindle. It will allow me to do the high speed engraving actually even higher speed than my RF45 could do without taxing the expensive spindle bearings in the machine. I managed to get it setup and machined this past week and it fits real good. It is also solid as a rock. I have ordered some engraving bits since I gave away a lot of them with the RF45 when I sold it. Should be getting them here this week so I am hoping to be able to make some test runs with it. I know that you can buy Cat40 high speed spindles and speeders but they are mostly quite expensive and this is pretty cheap made from material I had on hand. If it allows me to make some cool engravings I will be pleased. It uses a Porter cable 690 series router and that has like 1.5HP or so so I should be good for aluminum etc. Also a side effect is I can then make up a vacuum shoe to do plastic and wood without having to clean up the entire machine each time I do it.

So far the machine has proven to be EXTREMELY accurate. I am very pleased about this because I am used to struggling to get to .001 or so with the RF45. Lomach said he has been getting great accuracy so I was pleased to find similar results so far in the few parts I have made with it. LinuxCNC is awesome and truly stable and I have been haunting the IRC chat and the forum and there is basically nothing it cannot do. I am really glad I went with the system I did. The mesa Hardware is dead solid also and Pete from Mesa is a very helpful and knowledgeable guy who is seemingly always available on IRC..

The machine is still not finished and I have to get the spindle encoder mounted. I already designed a nice mounting bracket for it in freecad but have to get some larger material to machine it before I can install it. I have been kinda sidetracked with some custom woodworking including two different kitchens and a large built in requests. I have been trying to get to where I only do metalworking but with the economy what it is and the lack of work so far for the VMC I gotta do what I gotta do. I have been drawing the kitchens in Cad and getting quotes ready so should be starting on them soon here hopefully.

For some time I could not even get on here with all the issues the site was having and it was extremely frustrating. Now that is at least seems to be more stable I may pop in here from time to time to give you guys updates. In the mean time here is a link to my photobucket account with pics of the machine and the stuff I have been making with it. Peace

Cincinatti Arrow 500 Retrofit Photos by matospeter | Photobucket

Incidentally that plate for the router is over a foot long and 1" thick and fits the actual shape of the labrynth seal very snugly so it should repeat very precisely. Pretty cool. LOL

Pete

[skray775]

Any updates Pete?

[pete from TN]

Kelly,
Hey man nice to hear from you. Yeah actually I have not posted here in awhile. I have been trying to make a living here LOL. I had HOPED to be able to find some good paying work for the Cincinatti Arrow 500 but other than a few odd jobs I have not been successful in hooking up with people who want some small to medium production parts made. The machine is still working well and I have still not gotten around to installing the spindle encoder so the toolchanger does not operate yet. I have been approached by several people including a couple past customers wanting custom cabinetry work done including a large kitchen so I had to go back to woodworking mode here for awhile. I am about 2/3 of the way thru the kitchen and there is another custom cabinetry job after this one waiting. This is NOT what I wanted to be doing but in this economy I will do what I have to to make money.

The machine has been reliable every time I have managed to use it and it seems to be quite powerful and fast, almost too fast LOL. I cranked down the rapids to about half of the 700IPM plus it can run while I get used to the new control. I did manage to machine a real sweet router mount for the spindle face that will hopefully allow me to run some engraving work on the machine. I also got a decent 6" CNC vise and a few more toolholders for it. It is a shame I have not found any machine work worth doing with the machine so far. I am still looking for it and I am actually working on some of my own projects to make with the machine.

Also We have finally actually put our home up for sale here in Tennessee in an effort to move back to Florida where we have friends and family. That will open a whole new can of worms I think because it will mean again moving this heavy large machine as well as the concerns about finding a suitable house with a large shop big enough to fit the machine and all my other machinery inside. We are gonna continue here working and living and I intend to continue to get the machine toolchanger working in my spare time. Right now I am just real busy doing these cabinetry jobs as well as doing some renovations on our home to make it more appealing for sale. So things are just kinda crazy right now in that regard.

I hope you are having good luck with your IH clone and that you are still making cool helo parts LOL. Peace

Pete

[skray775]

Glad you got it working after all the hard work you put into it. It's a shame you will have to move that monster but maybe you can get on that show "shipping wars" and get a deal!

Did you ever get the original parts out of the machine sold? Hope that help offset your cost of the new stuff.

I would love to have a more capable machine but the IH has been good to me! I really have not had to do much to it since the initial build and the parts made, heli, bag tags, and custom work has paid for for the machine.

[pete from TN]

Kelly,
Yeah it is working pretty good aside from the toolchanger. I am nearly completed with this custom Kitchen I am building so I may be moving back in the machining direction unless another job falls into my lap in woodworking. I did sell off all of the parts from the original control and it basically paid for all the new parts. The machine is amazingly accurate so far and while I enjoyed my RF45 clone this thing is in another category completely. It still needs some more work to get the rest of the system running but it will come in time. If we do manage to sell the house we can worry about if and how to move the machine. Honestly with all the custom woodworking I have been getting lately I have considered selling or trading this machine to get into a large flatbed 4x8 CNC router with toolchanger and make signs and cabinets instead of metal. The metalworking has made me some cash but not nearly as much as the custom cabinets have especially lately. I had high hopes I would find customers for the metalworking but so far it has not happened. Sigh....peace

Pete

[pete from TN]

Okay folks, been thinking about this quite a bit lately and despite my best efforts to get work for this machine it has just not happened for me. I have been doing a lot more woodworking lately and just not really any machine work at all really. I have invested quite a bit of time and money into this machine and it is really fun and nice but I am afraid it is gonna have to go now. Right now it is still working as it was with all three axes and the spindle and coolant pumps working as well as all limits and homes. The power drawbar is working well and you can run it to make parts. The toolchanger is still not hooked up completely but everything works on it as it did before so it just needs finished retrofitted. The only problem with the machine is that the spindle is a loud. It spins and cuts good up to around 4k but above that it gets noisy. Not sure if it is the belts or the spindle bearings but it is what it is. Luckily spindle bearings for this type of machine are not too crazy expensive. Again it is runnung on,linuxcnc and working well. The coolant trays have been r and r'd and I have a bunch of toolholders for it. Would be interested in trading it for a large quality flatbed cnc router in similar condition or sell it outright. Machine,is located in Maryville, Tn. I am gonna post it in the classifieds here soon. This is a nice machine,it just did not work out for me is all. Thanks again to all those who have been so kind and helpful,along the way with my dream, I guess it was just not,meant to be. Peace

Pete

[FannBlade]

Lets us know when it's listed I know couple people that may be interested....wish I hadn't just bought my Hurco. Is it 100% single phase now?

[pete from TN]

Yeah man forgot to mention that. It has all brand new motors, drives,cabling,computer,monitor, basically everything,electronically speaking is brand new and the entire machine can be plugged into a single,phase outlet. You just need to get the toolchanger finished and hookul the brand new spindle encoder and you will have a nice working VMC yhat will fit inside a garage as long as it has a high ceiling. I really wish I coukd have found a way to make money with it but I cannot afford to dream about it anymore. If your friends are serious so am I. Lemme know. Peace

Pete

[mactec54]

pete from TN

When you first ran your machine in one of your videos, I though then that the spindle was not in good shape, Have you run the motor without the belt on, this would see if it was motor bearings or spindle bearings, the bearing noise could be from both motor & spindle, that need to be rebuild

[pete from TN]

Hey Folks,
Well today I am without work again unfortunately and after spending a lot of time cleaning up the shop I went ahead and fired up the VMC. Like I hoped everything fired up nice and smooth. I homed the machine and ran the flood coolant pump for quite awhile to get the coolant cycling again. It has sat now for almost two months as I built this Custom Kitchen. I ran a program that I had in the memory in air to give it some workout and again it ran nice and smooth. I am still considering selling this machine but I am now in a position that I need to make it work making some parts at least until I can find a suitable buyer for it. The machine ran the other parts I have made without issue before and the accuracy was quite impressive. I am looking for parts to make with the machine now. I could REALLY use some decent work for this machine and I am still trying to find work locally for it. If anyone knows of some decent paying work that needs done with a three axis machine please contact me.

This machine has been a LOT of work and money to get to where it will run without issue like it does now and I had real high hopes it would allow me to make at least some decent money with it making parts here in the shop. I did manage to get that nice router setup working but as per my current luck the router I made the mount for has a problem right now and sounds like crap. I am gonna try to get the thing apart here and see if it is just brushes or something silly like that and ifso I will try to get the thing setup so I can make some engravings like I was before. At least that made me some cash here and there. If not I think the porter cable routers will probably fit as well. At least I think they will fit based on what I recall of the diameters of the bodies.

anyways, wish me luck guys that I can find some work here for it. I have also applied to some local companies for a cabinetry position so with any luck I can get a good job and keep this machine and make it work for me in the spare time. At least that is the hope right now LOL> Peace

Pete

[Rescue35]

Sorry to hear that you are out of work. I know you have put a lot of work into this machine. Hopefully it pays off in the long run. I'll keep you and yours in my prayers.

If you consider selling the machine in the future shot me a PM. I am considering upgrading machines in the near future.

[pete from TN]

Thanks for the kind words man, yeah I have actually put a lot of work into this machine and no small amount of money. Thus far it has not been too great on my part for finding work for the machine. However while I am still on the fence about selling the machine I have had some luck lately with it. Last night I had been having some time tinkering with a program I am gonna be running and was on the Linuxcnc IRC chat talking with Pete from Mesa. I was telling him that while I was having great success with the machine functionality and everything that is currently working has been dead reliable I was getting some errors in LinuxCNC upon spindle startup that were quite annoying. He helped me troubleshooting it and I found that I had a tiny ground wire pop out of the long ground strip in the electronics cabinet. After I found it and got it secured again I went thru and checked all the rest of the Connections in the electronics enclosure. Upon testing it I found that it seems to have fixed the problem.

The other good news is that I am currently talking with a fellow who has a product which is quite interesting that wants me to start production on. It is a relatively simple part and it has an interesting design that I hope will sell tons of them LOL. Meeting with him again this afternoon. Hopefully we can come to an aggreement and I can start making quite a bunch of them. I am also working on a little part for myself to market. And last night I was contacted by a fellow who wants another of a part I made awhile back so I may make a run of them. Hopefully something of this stuff will come to fruition and I can start making some money with this monster LOL. If not then who knows I may be interested in talking to you about selling the machine LOL. Thanks for the offer....peace

Pete