RE: Moog Hydrapoint

Ray,

Thanks for the info! You obviously know this machine quite well.

So far, everyone I've talked to and most of the messages on this thread have
indicated that the air and hyraulics are more trouble than they are worth.
I figured as much, but I wanted some more informed opinions. As I was
looking through the service manual (which gives exceptionally detailed
exploded views and descriptions of how everything works), I couldn't help
but think that this machine was a true mechanical wonder. But, the engineer
in me was also saying "There's too many ways this thing can screw up". I'm
thinking ballscrews are the way I'm going.

Do you know if the standard bridgeport-type retrofit ballscrews will fit
this machine or do I need to make it special? Any other
ballscrew-retrofit-related caveats I should be careful of with the Moog?

As an aside, the specs for the machine indicate that the air flow from the
compressor required to run the machine are 11 cfm @ 85psi. My current
compressor has no hope there, and I was looking at what one that could meet
that airflow costs, OUCH!

Since, I got the machine for free (with all the tooling!), I'll just spend
the cash to get ballscrews - I'm still ahead <g>

Thanks

Gary

> Date: Sat, 11 May 2002 20:16:17 -0500
> From: Ray Henry <rehenry@...>
> Subject: Re:
>
>
> 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
>
>
> >    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.

<snip>