Hardinge CHNC retrofit- Another one on the way!

The collet/chuck controllers I've seen are foot operated, so you can use both hands for loading unloading if needed.

My vote would be for mpg, mpg scale and e-stop, then leave the rest off. I don't think you'll be using run/pause or single step while the door is open. A pendant axis display might be nice, but I haven't used one yet. A place to store a favorite touch-off pin might be handy.
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Kirk Wallace
www.wallacecompany.com/machine_shop/index.html

Wow thanks Kirk, I like that idea, straight to ebay I go, lol. Also I did find some thing I thought you might be intrested in. Hardinge 16c spindle assemlby, might be able to retrofit your hnc with it.

www.ebay.com/itm/HARDINGE-CHNC-1-CHNCI-C...&hash=item25784b41aa

On a chnc/hnc I found the following to be nesesary :

Cycle start /feed hold buttons.
Physical coolant button
Foot operated collet/open close switch.I had buttons and found them to be inconvienent.
Mpg
Axis select switch.
Jog increment selector.010,.001,.0001
ESTOP and a machine power button that locks a contactor for machine side power.


The older hnc/chnc's had a top rapid speed of 200 ipm.They will trip the following error above that.I would want the spindle running the same speed ALL the time for threading.You may have to use an encoder,the stock hardinge did,if only for the pulse. If you are getting fluctuating speed with a motor with a tach,something is wrong. Either your tach isnt working correctly ,you have noise on your input signal or the spindle resiolver is not working correctly. You could probably set up the parallel port to read two encoders(mpg and spindle).Dont buy a Fanuc MPG,they are made for fanuc by Nemicon,go direct,unless you already have it. I find using the mouse to be a PIA when setting up a job,I like buttons,I then dont have to take my eyes off the machine to hit feed hold or cycle start.
Eventually you will want to write some m codes to open and close the collet, fire the parts chute, and the overhead cutoff,if you use it(I dont).

Well the lathe finally had to get off its ass and make some parts . Or, it was at the poitnt it could get off it ass and make some parts. Had to make some delrin spacers for a project at work. This was technically the first time I have used a CNC lathe, so setting it up took awhile. After I figured out the tool offsets and how to set a work offset it went pretty smoothly.




Still need to finish the control design, right now its just a rats nest of wires and some sheetmetal. I settled on following imputs

foot switch for collet closer
momentary cycle start
momentary pause
momentary coolant on
Mpg pictured earlier in the thread. Has axis select and increment on it.

Here is a photo of the switches I intend to use, they are 22mm vandal proof versions from ebay



Here is the monitor, inverter, touch controller and touch screen



And here is the control, still needs a bit of work,

1. figure out a bearing system for the pole mount on the machine side
2. design a keyboard support tray and a mpg mounting bracket.
3. add a cooling fan
4. figure out some better wire management

Alloy craft,
Hey man congratulations on getting the machine working. It looks to be working quite well in the video. Once I finish my Cincinatti Arrow 500 retrofit a nice CNC lathe like this one is next on the list of things to do. You see those CHNC machines occasionally pop up for reasonable prices especially if the control is blown. I had a small Hardinge manual lathe for a little while and it was a nice machine. I did not get to use it too much and it actually had no leadscrew so it had limited use anyways. I would like to get into another cincinatti or maybe a japanese machine that is not terribly large or heavy but has a toolchanger either like yours or a gang tool setup would be fine. Anyways, looking good and I like your renderings of the control panel. Peace

Pete

Yes I have seen a few Chnc's go on ebay for pretty cheap. last week a newer one than mine went for $1300.00, the week before I saw one go fro $1500, so they come up frequently. Anyway I finally finished the control design and will be making parts for it in next few weeks. Ended up only putting start and stop/pause buttons on the panel, as I like to keep things simple. I still need to test the parallel port to make sure it is the correct type for use with my MPG. I have the vertical slide working, after a rebuild on the air motor but need to create a ladder program to run it. . Also need to hook up the bar feed and make a m code for it.

nice rendering, what software is that you are using? Peace

Pete

Thanks Pete, the software is solid edge.

Having a bit of trouble with my z axis all of a sudden. I was making parts for the control arm and all of a sudden the Z axis is throwing following errors. Not sure why, but for some reason the following error goes into run away during steady state moves. Some times it errors out as soon as I try to move the axis, other times it errors out after 2 or 3 seconds of movement. I tried decreasing the jog feed rate but it still errors out no matter how small the feed rate. Attached is a hal scope of the ferror in green on top during a constant z axis move at around 17 ipm. X axis scale is .5 sec per division. Any ideas guys?

Plotting the PID output will help determine whats gone wrong

One guess is problems with the tachometer, (needs cleaning) or drive.