Update on this:
(a) I have connected 220v power to the machine and have confirmed that the drives and servos all work. I will be able to use this machine in its entirely with 220v single phase input on 12HP spindle (will run it at 4hp max) and run all the drives (8 of them, XYYZ, AA BB). These old amp drives were set up to run the DC brushed servo at max rpm if the signals (10V,tach,EN) were all OPEN - sort of insane. Thankful I had the foresight to disconnect the ballscrews from the servos. I don't have workspace - working ON the bed of the machine with the controller. See pic. Could have been a final destination sort of outcome.
(b) Hunted down faulty monitor display to a few bad connections and once those were fixed, my LCD display is actually perfectly good, this allowed me to actually test out the machine's ability to work. The linuxcnc mindhive (grumpy old dudes who have forgotted more shit than I will ever learn) helped me out immensely like with everything else. Have to look at the fagor 8055 manual to understand what to expect from triggering the limit switches but other than that, I have a big functioning CNC router. There is some weird stuff going on which I do not understand - the servos are not paired corrected, meaning, moving "controller Y" physically turns one X servo and one Y servo. A few wires need to be fixed and I need to make sure stuff turns in the right direct and get synced and what not. Maybe its a controller setting. I have no intention of using the Fagor controller and will likely not waste time on it.
(c) Mechanically, Y axis is good. Z axis is good. the X-axis is "grinding". Will remove rust with neutralized citric acid and starch to get me a chelating paste. and repack the bearings on the X axis. I hope it is not a bad ball screw. The blocks that glide on the linear rails are these things that have 2 rows of bearings that slide along the groove. I have no experience whatsoever with these. Any and all tips super appreciated.
(d) Ordered my 5in rotaries. Found this design where the 5in chuck is connected to a wormgear with 20:1 reduction. backlash (10arcs) seems acceptable. The reduction gives me holding power that will all but eliminate any issues with holding the word steady. Adding up the 2 chucks, I'll have in the region of 200Nm of torque on my work pieces. Happy about this.
(e) Gambling that it will be OK to hang 200lbs off the gantry for the swivel head + spindle. Found some implementations of this with older heavier hardware so I'll take my chances. I might have to upgrade the air balancer, or add a counter weight to the gantry. In any case, its too late. Stuff is ordered and they don't do refunds.
(f) Fun times. The entire manual for my spindle contains one single word of English. It says No! on page 19. See attached. Everything else is in Chinese that I can't read. Hopefully AI translation is decent. Same company with spindle and swivel head. Very happy to have found them. Not pushy. Don't give bullshit answers. Take pride in explaining stuff in engineering speak. Feels like a bunch of guys trying to make the best damn product they are capable of making.
Some questions that remain:
I wonder if I can reuse the dynamic brake and reactors. They are rated for the amperage that I will use with my 9kw spindle. I don't see why not, but I do not know for sure. I also don't understand from first principles what a reactor does. I think they are inductors to smooth out ripples in the outgoing current from VFD to spindle.
Grease. What should I use? I wanted to change the color of the grease so I know which lines are blocked, but someone cautioned against mixing stuff.
Ball bearings. Should I just put new ones in while I'm at it, or, do they last a lifetime? Do I caliper them? Is it even meaningful to? Surely the precision needed would be far more than my 0.02mm caliper.
July 4th. This has to make a chopstick by then.
