[panaceabea]

I am looking at a decent 78 sl1 and am curious about retrofitting the old tape drive controller. Do the amps/drives accept pulse and direction or analog input?

[cnc_guru_guy]

Are they Yaskawa DC servo drives? CPCR-MRxx I believe... If so, they are analog...

[underthetire]

Analog for sure. And the spindle drive is NLA. Plan for a FULL retrofit with new motors/drives etc. The cost of that old stuff now will knock you off your chair.

[keithmech]

Did you go for the lathe?I have a sl1 that is getting close to running again.
Stripped everything off and started with all new motors ,drives ,hydraulics.
Repainted everything as well.Looks good now.Once it is up and running I'll post some pics.Good lathe for refitting as I only had to make adapter plates for the servo motors, drill and tap 4 holes for the new 7 1/2 hp ac spindle motor .Electrically I changed every thing, but with an older control this is due anyway.

[damae]

Did you go for the lathe?I have a sl1 that is getting close to running again.
Stripped everything off and started with all new motors ,drives ,hydraulics.
Repainted everything as well.Looks good now.Once it is up and running I'll post some pics.Good lathe for refitting as I only had to make adapter plates for the servo motors, drill and tap 4 holes for the new 7 1/2 hp ac spindle motor .Electrically I changed every thing, but with an older control this is due anyway.

Hey Keith, how is your retro coming along? I'd love to see some pics of the work done so far!

[JHCHOPPERS]

Ping.... any progress on this ?

Thanks,
JH

[keithmech]

here are some pics of what it is turning into.
I will have to search for some pics of the original
machine.Looked like a pile of crap.Cuts as advertised.
I used a freqrol drive for the spindle and Viper drives
from Larken for the servo motors.I replaced servo motors with new Glentech
dc servo motors.I have a manual chuck mounted now but
it also has a hydraulic chuck.I also used a smooth stepper as
I have had great success with them. No original wiring is on the machine,
I found it is best to trash everything and start from scratch.

[JHCHOPPERS]

Nice looking Lathe! Please look those pictures when you can. I haven't started on my SL1 yet, still in the collecting information stage.

What did you do with all the old parts? eBay?

What where the biggest challenges?

Thanks,
JH

[Adamsmetalshop]

Did you go for the lathe?I have a sl1 that is getting close to running again.
Stripped everything off and started with all new motors ,drives ,hydraulics.
Repainted everything as well.Looks good now.Once it is up and running I'll post some pics.Good lathe for refitting as I only had to make adapter plates for the servo motors, drill and tap 4 holes for the new 7 1/2 hp ac spindle motor .Electrically I changed every thing, but with an older control this is due anyway.

How is the retrofit going? Have any photos to share?
I have an sl1 I may retrofit.im pretty sure mine took a poop.
Anyways feel free to text me any pictures or to share your progress! Thanks! Adam 717 693 3458