Hardinge HNC retrofit and where to start

I have just pretty much finished a EMC retro on an HNC.My set up is as follows.Mesa 5i20 and 7i33,gigabyte motherboard.I replaced the Hiack amps with AMC 25a20's and the resolvers with Acucoder 3000ppr encoders.I ditched the stock vari speed drive and replaced it with a 3hp Marathon motor and Fuji VFD with braking resistors,and a LONG varispeed style belt. In addition,I also replaced every inch of wire in the machine and scrubbed the oil tank,rebuilt the oil pump and replaced all the pnematic hoses.I use opto i/o,its easy....The timing on the pneumatic turret is the biggest Headache.I also suggest you replace the the axis drive belts,they are like 4 bucks a piece.I built my pendent from an old GE1050 box and mounted it to a hinge I snatched fro the original 550 control along with a bunch of the buttons.I have also since ditched the collet open button/close button for a foot switch and Im building a USB connected user pendent with more traditional buttons,knobs and switches.


I dont do ladder,so I wrote all my PLC's in c using comp.My suggestion is to mount and encoder on each screw,wire an amp(with a kill switch inline) and play around with jogging it.Its gonna take some time and its a big learning curve.The folks on this forum are very helpful.Mesa has a resolver board,if you want to keep the resolvers,you could then keep the tachs and Hiack amps,but they are big and take up alot of space...I prefer to do my machine logic in comp rather than in hal.I like my hal file clean.I bought most of my stuff surplus and I think I have about 1500.00 in the retrofit.In the end it also got a paint job and new lexan for the enclosure.It kills me,I paid 200 for the machine and 175 for the stupid plastic!!!!


Below is a link to the machine running parts.Let me know if I can help out . I wouldnt touch that centroid with a 25ft length of paper tape!!!

Thanks to both of you guys I am just putting it out there to see what my options are

I am not in a big hurry and am not super concerned with cost I know the lathe will pay

for itself in very little time, what does worry me is having to learn the software

language (worrys me alot) I have never really even tried to write computer code.




thanks again John and JR



Bob

Hey guys I am having trouble posting the photos that I took this weekend could somebody tell me how to make them smaller

so I can get them posted, I do not have a homepage or I would just put them there


Bob

Bob,

Writing G code is EASY,a lathe is even easier,its two axis!!! I am guessing you are a machinist,if not,you will have some basics to overcome.Probably the biggest hurdle to overcome in doing a retrofit is actually learning how a cnc control works and its associated hardware.I choose to program my PLC in C,because I have prior experience with another control that used BASIC for plc.You can use classic ladder ,which is graphical.The other hurdle is The Linux part,get used to the terminal.....

When I first started with EMC,I bought a couple used servo amps and motors off ebay,hooked them up on a bench and played with the control and motors for a week or two.I then rigged an opto board and some switches and led's to try out the I/o part.


Andy was a HUGE help with the Comp part.Id do some bench testing long before Id start tearing the machine apart.If you have 4k to spend on a Centroid,why not just buy a running CHNC with a Fanuc control off ebay??

If you are worried about programming g code,there are several low cost cam systems you can use,Vector come s to mind,I use it for all my simple stuff.Its quick and easy,'course,it dont run in Linux!!! Go for it...

JR