Hardinge Superslant retrofit

thought id share some early on shots of our retrofit on a Hardinge Superslant Twin turret

this is a 3axis lathe with XZ top turret,
then just a Z turret on the bottom for drilling and bar stopping etc.
(4axis and 5axis(power tooled) versions where made)

machine uses C16 collets, bigger version of the C5.
machine has a 4.5M Multi tube Hydraulic bar feed.

Old control was Fanuc 6T which died needing a hefty repair bill so retrofit time it was.

here are some Pics from early on.

Machine its self.


The Two Turrets


Control Cabinet,
3x Axis Drives, DC Spindle Drive at the far end
relays and fuses at left end.


PC Board fitted, and IOs started to be linked in to the mesa cards
will find a photo of there grate big mount of cables and I/O Cards


all the I/Os in on the bottom of the cabinet


More pics to come soon, maybe even a video

thank, rob

Here are some quick videos of the machine up and running

theres still plenty to be done and finished

first video some CSS and feed/rev turning down 42mm bar


this video shows turning down some 2mm bar and threading also
putting a whitworth thread on.

Congratulations robh. Job well done.

Your success makes me lust for this one:
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260519370200

which is pretty close to me. I just can't find a place to keep it out of the rain, shucks.

Hi Kirk

thanks, it took around 2 or so weeks to convert it, most of time spent sorting out cables and connectors and also sorting out screws giving them a service etc.
some day i hope to take the DC motors of and fit some AC motors onto it, and lift up the rapid speed from 5M/Min to 7M/Min or 10M/Min
but keeping tools close to work area and good bit of program tweaking you can soon eat through a bar of metal in its current state

i must put some newer videos up of the machine in action now iv got the drive tweaked a bit more on response

now i just have the 2nd superslant to convert now, that one im looking to add power tooling to it as they where made with power tooling
as well as extra X axis on the bottom turret not just the extra Z, but you don't see many of them around.

that CINCINNATI looked like ti would be a nice convert little pricey through for a dead machine.

rob

Here is a quick new video of the Superslant doing some internal boring and threading.

You earned an "Ata Boy", good job. Robert.

Just finished adding a new video i took today on the 2nd Superslant i just finished.

this one got its old brushed DC motors dumped for some new AC servos and speed uprated

I happened to find my way to this forum because of the same reasons you had with your old superslant (my first post HI VERY ONE!) .... Really getting tired of fighting with the old siemens drives and I believe it has now developed a problem on the Fanuc side. I have about a million questions I could ask but I believe i will keep this simple till I get the time to ingest this whole forum. My biggest question is what kind of a back gound in electronics did you have? This project looks intimidating at a first glance. I'm mostly concerned with getting things like the tool changer to work and such. I'm not familiar with ladder logic ect ... For a newbie to attempt this project is it a good Idea? The machine I want to convert needs to be done in 4 weeks at longest. Is this crazy for a newbie to attempt in such short order?

hi there

Hardinge where very nice to us when they made the superslant as if like me you will have a full copy of all the circuit drawings for the machine with alot of good information on them which will help and speed up process rapidly

id ask, do you have the twin turret one like mine? 3axis or one with 4 axes (X and Z top and bottom)
if 4 any power tooling?

just wondering how complex yours would become?

also do you want to be able to use both turrets at the same time to machine parts? ie turn an OD and drill a hole?

on the old motors i still have one running on the old DCs ... as u say on there last legs but still do work, i put new bearings in the end of the motor where brush's fit this helped them along abit more... i find the brush housing are worn now which makes all the problems

what drives/motors are u replacing them with? as on X u are limited on space big time alot of motors out there u will not fit in.. plus if your changing the motors there abit of modding todo like i did unless u get lucky someone has something you can bolt right on.

if you find your want onto the IRC chat channel you can always find me and plenty of others willing to help etc.. my name on IRC is
rob_h

rob