[damae]

By the way, making your own machinery skates is not hard. Who says you have to use expensive Hilman rollers? I made mine out of 5/8" drill rod TIG welded to 1/2" plate. The drill rod is a cheap way to get a precise shaft to fit the bearings. Press four pairs of R10 skate bearings onto the drill rod and you're done!

And the toe-jack is a must-have for any home shop. It's just a modified 4 ton bottle jack, the $12 kind from Harbor Freight. I bought mine off ebay from a guy who fabricated the "toe" plate. But it was unusable the way he supplied it. So I modified the system, welding a 1/2" base plate directly onto the jack. Now it works great!

Lift one side of the machine with the toe jack, place two skates pointed in the right direction, then do the same with the other side of the machine. The skates keep the machine moving only in the direction they are pointed. To rotate the machine, imagine the pivot point about which you want to spin the machine, then place the skates perpindicular to the radius leading to that imaginary point.

My 13 year old (teenager, he reminds me) son was able to push the 5500lb machine around the shop with one hand. It took us less than 30 minutes to rotate and finesse the machine exactly where we wanted it. I wish I had known about this technique years ago when I did all that egyptian-style grunting and prying with crowbar to move my bridgeport BOSS3!

[nlh]

I have an SL-1. The only difference is it has a slightly older version of the 2000G (no crt). It uses optical encoders along with a brushed tachometer. These are all packaged together into what Yasnac calls a Feedback unit. They are mounted on the end of each servo. Should be a part number something similar to TFUE-05ZC7 or something to that effect.

Hope this helps

[JHCHOPPERS]

Nice Machine Skate ! Glad your back on it too.

JH

[damae]

A few photos from my move-out of the SL1H.

I rented a 8000lb Gradall forklift based on past success. It's a great way to maneuver off-road and into small door height garages. For those curious, it was about $320/day +delivery @$50 each way + tax + fuel.

Reached right into the garage, picked up the machine and drove it 1000' up the neighborhood street, and to the main city street where the flatbed semitruck was waiting. With that all done in less than an hour, and given I had a full day rental, I was able to use it to do a little redneck tree-trimming - with a pallet & a chainsaw.

Here's a photo of the 'Foreman,' (my son) who's been helping me with all my home shop and equipment jobs.

[damae]

.... It uses optical encoders along with a brushed tachometer. These are all packaged together into what Yasnac calls a Feedback unit. They are mounted on the end of each servo. Should be a part number something similar to TFUE-05ZC7 or something to that effect....

Yes, indeed that does help! Curious why they would use a tachometer _and_ an encoder in tandem. I might just pay a visit to US Digital (they're located just a few miles from here) and see about swapping encoders for something I know I can work with.

[JHCHOPPERS]

We are just starting on our SL1 to Mach3! Looking for any and all documentation on the SL1s.....

http://www.machsupport.com/forum/ind...c,18110.0.html

I did find the datasheets for the Servo Motors and Encoders... Still looking for data.

Thanks,
JH