Marathon Thread Start On My New/old Traub Screw Machine!

[Bradrock]

So I've had this fascination with automatic screw machines for a while. Especially the Brown & Sharpe cammers. I have watched countless hours of videos on youtube. Just incredible ingenuity & engineering.
I've looked for one to buy. But no luck in my area & we can't travel much. My wife has been a quadriplegic since 1975 & I don't get around well either. The nearest city of any size is three hours away. Springfield Mo. We've been there twice. Why? Tools on Craigs list of course!
So when I found this old Traub machine for sale 90 miles away, I HAD to have it!
Not a cam operated machine. But converted to NC control. I did not get any power supply or motor controllers.
Honestly to me, it was worth the $200.00 price just to play with & study!!
I could & will go on for hours/weeks/months about it. But for right now I'll post a pic or two & hope for as many comments as possible from the members here.
Thank you, Brad

 

[Bradrock]

It has a six position turret and four cross slides. I got a LOT of collets & tool holders with it. Way more than my money's worth right there. The spindle motor is a Baldor 7.5hp DC with tachometer & external cooling blower. Of course it has flood cooling & also a Bijur lube system. I've only had it a couple days & it will be on the trailer until I make room in the shop & plan how to get a 3500 pound machine unloaded by myself.

BTW: There is NO rust. The whole thing is slathered in cosmoline preservative grease.

 

[Boswell]

Fascinating. Off to Youtube to see what you can do with one

 

[FOMOGO]

Id say you did very well on that purchase, congrats. I've heard of them, but not sure exactly how they work. Please keep us posted on your progress. Mike

 

[Bradrock]

This would be used in conjunction with a bar feeder. So you could stick in a 20 foot bar & stand back to watch it turn parts. I got round and hex collets with it. i have not measured them yet. But it looks like it could turn up to inch and a half or so bar stock.
Sort of an automatic turret lathe.

 

[Bradrock]

So; This had been for sale for several weeks & I've had ZERO luck finding any info on it. Like a similar machine on Ebay, or anything at all by Google. There is no model number or data plate on it.
But last night I hit the jack pot sort of. I found a plate with a U.S. patent number. Which seemed odd since it's a German machine. Well I did a patent search & low and behold, it started life as a cam operated machine. But the NC conversion was invented & adapted right here in the good old U.S.A.! So I printed out several pages of conversion detail text & prints!
Can you tell I'm a TOOL JUNKIE yet??
I LOVE this stuff! I'll get WAY more than $200.00 worth of fun just searching and day dreaming if it's possible for me to ever get it operational again.
Please bear with me......I'm a tad GIDDY! Heh..Heh

 

[Bradrock]

From the patent, this machine is 1982 vintage. Thus the 'NC" NOT 'CNC" I suspect it used the old tape drive system.
My original plan was to have fun studying it & then scavenge parts I could use someday, like the coolant pump, oiler system, electric motors, etc.
But the more I think about it, the more I want to research retro fitting it with a more modern CNC system.
That is why I posted it in this section. I'll be hoping for any suggestions on doing that.

In the meantime, I'll start reading all of the other threads on CNC here.

All the best, Brad

 

[jbolt]

Looks like fun! I wish I had the room and time for something like that. Please keep adding updates as you go along.

 

[wrat]

SCORE!

$200? What a great find. That's a lot of machine for $200.

They slathered on the cosmoline, for sure. It'll keep forever. But that's okay, you're in no hurry, right?

The retrofit will be a bit involved, but you don't sound like you care if takes a bit of effort. Besides, you might get lucky and have things fall together.

You'll need some software that spits an appropriate post-processor output. That will take a long time to get right with the zero-documentation condition you have right now. But it's not impossible by a long way. This is the kind of thing no fulltime machineshop would have time to dally with, but this is exactly the kind of thing that we should be pursuing.

Onward and upward!


Wrat

 

[Bradrock]

Heh...Heh; With just a small monthly SS check for income, "patience is a virtue"! I would like to get my trailer back though. Just in case another bargain shows up on Craigs list!
These machines are made for spitting out hundreds or thousands of parts. Not real practical for hobby machining. But who among us has not dreamed of coming up with a widget of some sort, that could be sold to make a little extra dough?
Any thing I do will have to be done Johnny Cash style. "One piece at a time"
I'm looking at DC spindle motor power supply/speed controllers on ebay & even used ones are several thousand dollars.
I'm thinking I could replace the motor with a 3 phase one and a VFD. Then just control the motor with a dial or keypad. Removing it from the CNC system.
I do have a 20hp RPC in my shop.
The collet opener/closer is activated via air cylinder. So that could be done with just a a switch to energize the solenoid .
I wish I had a cement pad outside my shop so I could do some of the cleanup outdoors. I may just have to get a cement mixer & pour a small pad first.