Re: Subject: Taig as XZ lathe slide

Brian,

It's somewhat of a moot point because I doubt very much Omniturn
would sell a slide assembly only and not a complete conversion kit.
You can't even buy their tooling unless you can prove you are the
owner of a genuine Omniturn machine.

Even if they would sell their slide assembly, I don't think it'd be
as much as $7.5K. The whole kit including control, servos, etc, is
only around $16-17K.

As to your point about building your own slide....I've heard quite a
few machinists say how easy it would be to build one. Still haven't
seen any. I have seen a couple of half completed units, though.

If someone were interested in building a slide for a Hardinge type
machine, the unit from Upgrade Technologies (or whatever their
current name is) might be a better choice. Upgrade will sell
components, actually they'll sell you anything. Cash talks with
Upgrade!!

thanks,

Doug

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., Brian Pitt <bfp@e...> wrote:
>
> I've used an Omniturn retrofit on a Hardinge clone at the shop
> for hobby use 7.5k would be alot to spend
> for a job shop it bolts on in a couple hours and pays for itself in
no time
> it all depends on where you draw the bottom line :-)
>
> the hardware end is fairly simple and could be thrown together over
> a weekend or two ,the Z axis uses linear rails hung over the
original dovetail
> on a gull wing mount to reduce the slide height and widen the base
> the X axis slide is about the same with a gang tooling plate on top
> 5/8 ballscrews and mounts with servo motors or steppers + encoders
> and you can move on to the electronics and software parts
>
> Brian
>