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Author Topic: New Toy CNC Lathe!  (Read 821 times)

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Offline kappullen

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New Toy CNC Lathe!
« on: June 06, 2008, 09:12:24 AM »
Well guys,

I finially got the new CNC lathe up and running.

She's a Prototrak 16" x 30" with so called conversational programming.



I've been fooling with a few artillery projects between real jobs as I get up to speed.

Here's a little barrel that has about a 4 minute cycle time.



That dosen't include drilling , making the trunnion, silversoldering and cleaning them up.

This one I did on the mill. It has eight sides.



Here's a couple mini mortars in 303 stainless.



Here is the solid model of a , dern I forget the name of it, a "smasher".



This shows the program moves, rough and finish cuts, for the above with the cycle time of 2 hours and something.



That will be about 12 inches long by 3 inch diameter from a piece of 3" crs.

When I say "Conversational", this program has seventy some lines including rough cycles.

Anyone have anything in this range that you need (want) to have made?

Here's the eight sided one on a garrison carriage to be compleated.



More later.

Kap
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Offline EL Caz 66

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #1 on: June 06, 2008, 09:28:56 AM »
Nice stuff :o Mini cannons & mortars sweet!! please PM Me a price list... ;D
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Offline rifleshooter2

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #2 on: June 06, 2008, 10:02:05 AM »
OK I'm jelous.
Andy
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #3 on: June 06, 2008, 10:12:57 AM »
Looks like fun.    ;D

Too bad it is only 30".   ;D
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“If you're not a liberal at 20, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative at 40, you have no brain.”--Winston Churchill

Offline six_gunz

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #4 on: June 06, 2008, 10:36:02 AM »
Nice!!! The things I could do with one of those.....wish I had one myself. I've never ran a Prototrak but have ran various others with conversational programming...mainly 5 axis Mazak's with onboard "Mazatrol" capabilities . It's amazing how fast you can program complicated parts with these machines.
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Offline dan610324

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  • bronze cannons and copper stills ;-))
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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #5 on: June 06, 2008, 11:11:19 AM »
hi Kap

ooooohhh jealous is just my middle name now   ;D

what format in cad drawings will help you in programming the lathe .

I got an beautiful design you could use if you want
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a swedish cannon maniac
interested in early bronze guns

better safe than sorry

Offline Victor3

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #6 on: June 07, 2008, 02:47:01 AM »
 Brings back memories...

 I used Southwestern Industries "Trav-A-Dials" for years and knew the man who manufactured the first production brackets to mount them on various lathes.

 I operated their first model TRAK CNC Bridgeport mill retrofit machines when I worked at McDonnell Douglas.

 I was at the Southwestern factory when they were assembling their first batch of CNC lathes.

 I arranged for the purchace of the third DPM mill they produced for the company I worked for at the time.

 Good machines, and a good company.

 
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Offline kappullen

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #7 on: June 08, 2008, 01:08:40 AM »
Andy,

I can hardly believe my good fortune!

George,

Right, my equipment is never big enough.
I have a 54" right behind it, but that's an old manual
Pratt and Whitney.

Six Guns,

Prototrak, and a host of other companies were sued for
using the "conversational" description.

Seems it's a trade mark of IBM or something.
Conversational dosn't seem so conversational when you have to
input seventy some lines of code for a project.

Still better than g and m coding!

Victor,

Nice to hear some history on Southwest.
I learned myself how to run their mills in about a week.
Very quick and powerful system.

Course the day after I put the money down on the lathe for home, 
the Prototrak at work crapped out.

That gave me a warm fuzzy feeling!

It was a spent x axis drive motor. That is now fixed.

Dan,

They have various converters avaliable.
One uses cad files.

The machine is supposed to be able to import a Fanuc 6 coding,
or convert files form other machines.

These are options for $$$$.  Have to talk to my salesman to get the best
option.

I may be able to get a post processor for the software I now use at work (Mastercam).

Mastercam is really high per seat.

Kap



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Offline Squire Robin

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #8 on: June 08, 2008, 03:27:40 AM »
CNC lathes are fun. When I got mine going I kept going smaller and smaller and rounder, all without steadies, until it got quite ridiculous  ;D



Then I did CNC milling, now working on CNC plasma for fancy iron cannon fittings ;D
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Offline kappullen

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #9 on: June 09, 2008, 09:23:51 AM »
Squire Robin,

That's a neat little part.

I'd guess you started with rather oversize material and finished as you went along.

Here's Sundays progress.



I do the back end first cause if I mess up, I can cut it back and make a shorter piece.

Once the holes in there, you have a nice piece of pipe.

Had to program a finish cut both ways.



Here's the finished (almost) carronade in the model above.



This model came from a cannon plan on ebay.

There are quite a few plans that are old reprints from magazines on there at any time.

Kap

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Offline kappullen

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #10 on: July 16, 2008, 01:47:16 AM »
More progress on the swivel gun.





Work is really hectic these days.

Don't believe it took this long.

There's also a bronze Handgonne in the foreground.

Kap
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Offline EL Caz 66

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #11 on: July 16, 2008, 02:08:50 AM »
KAP,

Really looks nice..

Ed
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Offline six_gunz

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Re: New Toy CNC Lathe!
« Reply #12 on: July 16, 2008, 03:34:39 AM »
Awesome Kap!!!
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