Re:
Posted by
Ray Henry
on 2002-05-11 18:16:21 UTC
Gary
I will observe a moment of silence for you at midnight. <g> I've owned
several of these and maintained them before I owned them. I would not try to
maintain the air over hydraulic positioning. It is awesome to watch when it
works and it is a b*** to fix when it doesn't. And it requires that you run
that hydraulic motor all the time with it's whine and inefficiency.
To set position, the tape reader sets a block of 17 (I think) rows of 8 holes
and reads them all at the same time with a burst of air. This is position
and mode and all and the only way that I could figure to do this from a PC
was to purchase a set of 17x8=136 solenoids, set each one open or closed from
the pc and then activate the air to read the set.
One problem with this approach is that you rapidly run into Bill Moog's
nightmare, the fact that he timed that entire machine using different length
coils of air tube piled into the bottom of several cabnets. 136 air
solenoids will take space but they will all need to appear to be at the same
position as the original read block. Any missed lengths will cause missed
positioning.
On the other hand there is a lot of space available for ball screws once you
get all of the hydraulic stuff out of the way. In fact the recent discussion
of powered knee v powered quill is moot because the quill has one of the
stoutest drive saddles you will ever find. They protrude both ways from the
quill and if you are worried about the distance from quill center to the ball
screw you can drive both sides. But Moog's own ball nut retrofit only used
one side.
The tool holders are kinds special. There is one English fellow on this list
who has many kilos of very nice holders who would be happy to part with them
for some modest consideration. The big cost is shipping.
Hope this helps.
Ray
I will observe a moment of silence for you at midnight. <g> I've owned
several of these and maintained them before I owned them. I would not try to
maintain the air over hydraulic positioning. It is awesome to watch when it
works and it is a b*** to fix when it doesn't. And it requires that you run
that hydraulic motor all the time with it's whine and inefficiency.
To set position, the tape reader sets a block of 17 (I think) rows of 8 holes
and reads them all at the same time with a burst of air. This is position
and mode and all and the only way that I could figure to do this from a PC
was to purchase a set of 17x8=136 solenoids, set each one open or closed from
the pc and then activate the air to read the set.
One problem with this approach is that you rapidly run into Bill Moog's
nightmare, the fact that he timed that entire machine using different length
coils of air tube piled into the bottom of several cabnets. 136 air
solenoids will take space but they will all need to appear to be at the same
position as the original read block. Any missed lengths will cause missed
positioning.
On the other hand there is a lot of space available for ball screws once you
get all of the hydraulic stuff out of the way. In fact the recent discussion
of powered knee v powered quill is moot because the quill has one of the
stoutest drive saddles you will ever find. They protrude both ways from the
quill and if you are worried about the distance from quill center to the ball
screw you can drive both sides. But Moog's own ball nut retrofit only used
one side.
The tool holders are kinds special. There is one English fellow on this list
who has many kilos of very nice holders who would be happy to part with them
for some modest consideration. The big cost is shipping.
Hope this helps.
Ray
> From: "stirlinguy" <Gary.Rose@...>
> Subject: Moog Hydrapoint
>
> Hi,
>
> I have acquired a Moog Hydrapoint (full hydraulic Bridgeport with
> tape reader) NC mill and am pondering the possibilities for CNC
> control.
>
> I know some people have ditched the hydraulics and gone with ball
> screws and servos. That seems like the most straightforward approach
> (to my mind, anyway). But, I was thinking that if the machine can
> already read tapes that setting up a computer to send signals
> emulating the tape could be done. Any thoughts?
>
> My reasoning for this is that the machine already knows how to move
> x, y, and z through the hydraulics, so why not use that
> functionality? (And save some cash!)
>
> I don't have much experience with this particular machine or
> hydraulics in general, so am I missing something?
>
> Would greatly appreciate hearing from Moog owners who have converted
> their machines (hydraulic or ball screw or other?) and what sort of
> problems they faced or anyone who has an idea of what's possible here.
>
> Thanks in advance
>
> Gary