Retrofitting a 1986 Maho 400E

Hi Chris,
I think this completes this:
You can see another build like ours with the hand adjuster on the top slide and the Kipps handle on the quill clamping assembly
Cheers,
David

Hi David
Sorry I have been away for a few days
Thanks for the photo and the description of the Z hydraulic pipe work .Now I am back on the job. I am reluctant to dismantle the Z hydraulic spring loaded tool gripper as I simply don't know what I am doing and risk damage to the unit. I will have another look tomorrow. I can remove and adjust the gripper but I cant get to see the spring washers and they could be the problem. Further the Z tool changer worked before I renewed the spindle grease so it has to be something I have done.
Cheers and thanks for your interest
Chris McMullen

Hello David
Yes I have had the spindle our several times and lubricated the bearings with the special Kluber grease. The hydraulic unit comes off no problem but I cant get to the spring washers
On mine the very long drilling to the sight tube was clogged and it took a lot of rodding out to fix. It's hard to read through the sight hole
I will check this out. Thankyou
Cheers Chris .

I did recall you said you would be away.
I'll have a quick try on mine by simply loosening that clamp bolt. I didn't realize before that is all it takes.
With the hydraulic pipe elbow removed the assembly should come out whole.
Then the only tricky part was warming the thread on the hydraulic ram so the Locktite came free.

David
Yes and mine has the hand adjuster on the top slide same as the one in the photo
Makes it easy to adjust the Z spindle.
My phone camera is damaged. I have to replace it so I can send you some images
Cheers Chris

A photo would be nice. If I pull the quill in my top slide forward, it would break the hydraulic pipe at the rear elbow. It would be nice to see how your one allows movement. It's too blurry in your photo.
Before you remove the hydraulic ram you have to remove the screw in the clasp claws and unscrew the claw assembly. The when the hydraulic ram is removed all the springs come out with the ram. Maybe you draw rod is broken?
Cheers,
David

I'm wrong again. It occurred to me that if your one has the hand wheel on the top slide then you will have to pull that whole assembly out before pulling out the quill as the rack teeth don't go the full length of the quill. I don't know how you do that on your version and my manual for the vertical quill didn't have an explanation that there was a scotch key retaining it.
Cheers,
David

Guys, rather than burying all this good MAHO 700C retrofit information deep on page 173 of a thread on the MH400E, why not start a specific thread on the 700C so that people in the future looking for that information will have a chance of actually finding it.

I was beginning to think the same thing. This latest string is very very specific to a particular Maho and not really about taking it to LinuxCNC. I've put stuff where I think it may be use already and I can see nobody looks at it. Maybe you guys can suggest where and how? It's basically a dead area except for people resurrecting these old machines on LinuxCNC. Good Mahos and Deckels that cost hundreds of thousand dollars are going for less than $5K. Interestingly Tormach has shifted from Mach 3 to LinuxCNC for their machines, so it's really active. Heidenhain's position there is the really nice encoders that some of these machines have.
CNCzone and Practical Machinist are spotty. Heidenhain TNC programming with Valter Isander Valter Islander has a good Facebook page dedicated to keeping all Heidenhain controllers going. But unfortunately I have to say that for ones as old as mine linuxCNC is a better option. While my TNC 155 is remarkably good for its age. It's really the ability to accept programs through it's serial port that is keeping it alive. And Fusion 360.
Cheers,
David