[uli12us]

My manual says: If you want helical interpolation you add the destinationpoint and the pitch of the thread to a circular sentence. That works only in the actual plane (G17,G18,G19)
ie. G2 Z100 I200 J200 K50 F500. where Z=targetpoint I-J = circlecenter K=pitch and F=feed. Before you must position your tool to the startpoint, ie X230 Y200 Z0 therefore you make a helix with a diameter of 60mm. Sorry all measures are mm, because I write it down, like in the manual.

With the movement of the 4th axis. I'm not sure, but I think you can move all 4 axis but eventually they have all the same speed and you reach your destination in different times.

In your case with guitar outline and inline milling, its a lot better you make your contour from many coupled circles. Sure its more work than simply take thousands of short linear parts from a cam Program, but the machine have less to calculate and at an outer area, it will be a better surface.

In your features list, you have a coolant tank and a chips conveyor. Normally these to features are in combination. only the tsc is a separate item. I think you have somewhere a "small" pump with 1,5kw or so for the normal coolant.

[ihavenofish]

My manual says: If you want helical interpolation you add the destinationpoint and the pitch of the thread to a circular sentence. That works only in the actual plane (G17,G18,G19)
ie. G2 Z100 I200 J200 K50 F500. where Z=targetpoint I-J = circlecenter K=pitch and F=feed. Before you must position your tool to the startpoint, ie X230 Y200 Z0 therefore you make a helix with a diameter of 60mm. Sorry all measures are mm, because I write it down, like in the manual.

With the movement of the 4th axis. I'm not sure, but I think you can move all 4 axis but eventually they have all the same speed and you reach your destination in different times.

In your case with guitar outline and inline milling, its a lot better you make your contour from many coupled circles. Sure its more work than simply take thousands of short linear parts from a cam Program, but the machine have less to calculate and at an outer area, it will be a better surface.

In your features list, you have a coolant tank and a chips conveyor. Normally these to features are in combination. only the tsc is a separate item. I think you have somewhere a "small" pump with 1,5kw or so for the normal coolant.

i have one small coolant tank with a pump and gauge that ready 120 or 150psi (forget exactly). its green and german, so likely goes with the machine. the way the specs read.. and the way the chip conveyor coolant trough empties, its mostly likely a pump just for the through spindle coolant. ive seen pictures of the 150 gal unit, its got several pumps. i dont have that unit.

[uli12us]

If you have tsc you must have any kind of filter. Unless its a bulletfilter or a cloth. Without it, you have constant problems with blocked tools and if not, with a bad surface. And the pressure isn't really high, I have constant problems with the imperial composite units.

But for your workpieces from timber, you don't need any coolant. You should better have an exhaust of the dust.

[ihavenofish]

If you have tsc you must have any kind of filter. Unless its a bulletfilter or a cloth. Without it, you have constant problems with blocked tools and if not, with a bad surface. And the pressure isn't really high, I have constant problems with the imperial composite units.

But for your workpieces from timber, you don't need any coolant. You should better have an exhaust of the dust.

well i need coolant for the metal bits, but yes, not for wood. ill figure it out. the tank i have now does have a filter sheet in a tray.

the trick with it as is, is that the coolant empties out the chip conveyor at floor level, with a hose fitting on the side. from there, it must somehow make it into the coolant tank, which hast its filter tray some 16" above the floor. i may need to rig an intermediate pump to put it into the tank.

[chinli]

it didnt sell for scrap, it sold for less. :P

any yes, it does actually all work, so lick me.

It does?
It's been sitting for years in pieces and you have yet to wire it up and turn it on.
Either you're psychic or overly optimistic, anyway good luck, I need a doughnut.

[thebodger]

Item 1. chinli, are you a troll?

Item 2. Fish , I have the following machines in our shop. 2 MAHO 600E 5 axis simultanious contouring, CNC532. 1. MAHO 1000C 5 axis simultaiuos contour, CC432. I will post pics (as soon as someone teaches this old fart how). I think I can give you some idea about the coolant tank thinggy your pondering, plus maybe a thing or two about other stuff your dealing with. I have about 20 years experience in older (CNC432, 532), MAHO mills. I've worked on tons of the beasts when i was with ferro technique, and i'm still servicing our dinosaurs.not bad mills really. just too many models. i still see some that i have never come across, like yours.

[ihavenofish]

hi...

1: yes, hes a troll.

2: thanks

the tech manual shows the coolant system clearly. its has a collection tank at floor level connected to the chip conveyor, and a pump that feeds it into the large tank with filters.

mine does not have any of those. instead i have a trough that seems to lead into the floor. quite strange. theres also a small pan that has a hose fitting at floor level. then i have the small tank with filter and pump.

it seems to me that if this is the equipment used by the previous operator, they must have had an intermediate pump to get from the pan to the tank.

either that or its just not the tank that belongs... in which case the above will be my hack.

i have another possible problem though...

i have a v500 control. i have a v500 constant "range" chart, but no actual values for the machine. i do have a v311 constant chart with values. now, id imagine they could be transposed with minimal fuss... except one is in german, one english. ha!

[uli12us]

How much metal work will you do? If not really much, than I recommend you an oil mist lubrication. You have, I think at least 1/2" tubes/hoses to the coolant nozzles. In these you must lay 2 small hoses with 2 or 3mm or +/- 1/10" inner diameter to the nozzles in which the liquid flows. The remainder volume of the tube is used for the pressure air to atomise it.
Somewhere here is a good thread for building it from simple parts.

But I agree at least a bit with chinli, don't believe, the machine will run. I have bought a machine last year, at this nearly all mechanical part don't work. I have changed all pneumatic hoses, new pressure reducer, mistoiler, some new solenoid valves, new fittings. A complete test of the electric parts, brings some dead Proximity switches, the motor of the pallet changer or better the controlcard for it, don't works and many other problems. Now the machine runs but unfortunately not the control and the manufacturer don't support these old parts from 25 Jears ago. The only thing I can make is, to remove the control and change it to a new one with Ethernet communication. You don't have these problems, because your machine have only 4 or if the toolrevolver is NC-controlled 5 Axis. In my machine I need 7. That don't works with all simple solutions, cos they can't more than 6axis, most less.

The german manual is not a problem, you can scan it and send me the files. I will try to translate it.

[ihavenofish]

How much metal work will you do? If not really much, than I recommend you an oil mist lubrication. You have, I think at least 1/2" tubes/hoses to the coolant nozzles. In these you must lay 2 small hoses with 2 or 3mm or +/- 1/10" inner diameter to the nozzles in which the liquid flows. The remainder volume of the tube is used for the pressure air to atomise it.
Somewhere here is a good thread for building it from simple parts.

But I agree at least a bit with chinli, don't believe, the machine will run. I have bought a machine last year, at this nearly all mechanical part don't work. I have changed all pneumatic hoses, new pressure reducer, mistoiler, some new solenoid valves, new fittings. A complete test of the electric parts, brings some dead Proximity switches, the motor of the pallet changer or better the controlcard for it, don't works and many other problems. Now the machine runs but unfortunately not the control and the manufacturer don't support these old parts from 25 Jears ago. The only thing I can make is, to remove the control and change it to a new one with Ethernet communication. You don't have these problems, because your machine have only 4 or if the toolrevolver is NC-controlled 5 Axis. In my machine I need 7. That don't works with all simple solutions, cos they can't more than 6axis, most less.

The german manual is not a problem, you can scan it and send me the files. I will try to translate it.

the machine will cut metal mostly. aluminium and stainless and copper and brass. wood parts is a fairly small portion of the work. so i do need to get the coolant working. i dont thing it will be a big deal, just need and intermediate pump.

the machine was fully operational 2 years ago and the hydraulics checked by dmg, so aside from needing a good clean up i dont expect anything to be non functional.

the guy i share my shop with is german and can read the manual. hopefully everything correlates.

[uli12us]

Good to know you have a german spoken "slave". If I have strange words, for which I don't find a good translation, than I can use the german word as well. Btw, I used oilmistlubricating for years, as well with steel like 316TI. It works better than cooling with Emulsion. Unfortunately, compressed air is expensive and you need lots of it.

[ihavenofish]

Good to know you have a german spoken "slave". If I have strange words, for which I don't find a good translation, than I can use the german word as well. Btw, I used oilmistlubricating for years, as well with steel like 316TI. It works better than cooling with Emulsion. Unfortunately, compressed air is expensive and you need lots of it.

i am german too.. but i dont speak it. searching for info on this machine was alot of google translating :P

mist coolant would be nice, but for the moment id like to get the flood tank working.

[uli12us]

You need only a small tub, ,Maybe 1'*2' and the height of your chips conveyor and then you make a sheet to split the area with a height of 3/4 of the liquid level. In one half you make a hoseconnection with the conveyor, in the other is the pump. Eventually you can put a thin material like a pantyhose or so in the tank above the sheet. Than most of the chips and tiny particles don't reach your pump.

[ihavenofish]

so, they mystery of the coolant system is solved. the original system was replaced with one that sits BELOW grade. they build a custom drain to send the coolant into the small tank that would sit below the floor level of the machine. they also built a chip tunnel to send the chips from the conveyor down below the floor too.

so, basically, i cannot use this setup. i will need to modify it with an intermediate pump and tray.

they also removed the through spindle coolant valve and hoses. the control solenoid is still there, so i could put it back on if i wanted, but im thinking at this point ill do it up the way they did, only with the addition of a pump to use the tank above the floor.

i cant imagine why they did this to the system, but at least its all figured out now.

[uli12us]

Some bigger companies have a central coolant management, in which all machines were delivered from a central tank. If they use this, they can cool down the liquid, filter it, hold the concentration constant and fill the evaporation losses up. Eventually they have a heat recovery as well, that is only possible with a central tank.

[thebodger]

Fish, IMHO, I would forget the through the spindle. I my experence the rotary coupling that is fitted to the end of the spindle is prone to failure. Maho use a complicated coolant system to keep the rotary couling's mechanical seal cool and lubricated. Experience has proved to me that even with these precautions taken, something may fail. The result is coolant being leaked and pumped into the rear of the spindle. End result - spindle bearing failure.

[ihavenofish]

the drawings suggest if it failed it would flow through the spring stack or and out the back, not into the bearings. but in any case, it would be bad.

i dont have any immediate need for it so it wont get reconnected until i have a long hole to drill.

i plan on taking apart some of the cabinet today. should be an adventure.

[ihavenofish]

tired, ha.

took off the sides of the cabinet. relatively easy job all this, but the parts are pretty awkward and heavy for one person. i need a helper, haha.

ive realised though i cant take the x axis way covers off without taking the table off, so ill just be pulling them out a bit and washing them then putting them back on. shouldnt be to big a deal.

[ihavenofish]

ive made an indiegogo page to help pay for some of the refurb of this beast. not sure if any of the perks are of much interest to the cnczone members - i had debated putting benchtop mill parts as rewards, but decided to save that for later.

SnoFlake Machine Shop -- Indiegogo

[uli12us]

Your Prices are a lot to expensive, no one will pay you 100 bucks/h for machinig on a quite outdated machine. And your timescale is rather optimistic. If you want to sell your brasscats in early october, then realistic, your machine must run in late August. You will need some time to learn handling, setup and programming of the machine.

[ihavenofish]

Your Prices are a lot to expensive, no one will pay you 100 bucks/h for machinig on a quite outdated machine. And your timescale is rather optimistic. If you want to sell your brasscats in early october, then realistic, your machine must run in late August. You will need some time to learn handling, setup and programming of the machine.

$100/h is 1/2 the price of what people around here charge on a shopbot, and a good deal on metal machining of any precision. $130-$150/h is the bare minimum needed to run this maho in a self sustaining business. this machines is old, yes, but the only thing outdated in performance will be 3d contouring, which is slow due to the PC. everything else is on par or better than many new HMC's. also keep in mind that the package includes programming, setup, and general support for whats beasically a one off job. its quite cheap overall.

as for the time line, i think its plausible. learning to run it wont be too hard, ad those brass kittens take only a few minutes each to make. also, im not complete idiot, so all these things can be made on my smaller mill if the big machine was for some reason not working in a reasonable time.