NEW ACRA 1640TE

Come on Paco, spin the chuck by hand, we need to see chips. lol
There's always a couple of little glitches when you dive into a project like this.

Greg
 
firestopper said:
Well fellas, after a long day we simply ran out of time. I had to move back other equipment after locating the lathe. I still need to level her out before I can make chips but we hit a couple of minor snags. The tach pickup need to be modified. It seems the balance collar is slightly magnetized although I'm inclined to think the multiple threaded holes around the circumference 12 total (for balancing ) have something to do with the erratic pickup. The second issue is yet to be confirmed, but we suspect a bad 3 pole breaker (3Ph) that feeds the Dc power supply and the 240vac 3 ph flood pump where we pulled 110 to supply power for the hardwired DRO. The lathe was running great with everything working as it should with the exception of the tach but foam strips and electrical tape allowed us to make it work for now (insulator). Then without warning, everything went dark except the VFD. The 24vdc led's, the 110vacDRO and the rest of the control system relies on 24vdc. The 3 pole breaker that supplies juice to the said components is a Siemens so not junk but things happen. I will conform bad breaker tomorrow and get the machine level. Wait for new part and start test cuts ASAP. Mark was able to auto tune the VFD to the motor via laptop prior to the power loss.

The wall enclosure. Top left: AC Choke, three pole 240v 3ph breaker (possible problem), through cover disconnect, VFD, fuse blocks and DC power supply. The brake resistor can be seen behind the fuse blocks and breaker. The cooling fan also runs from the dc power supply.
View attachment 261362
How she looked running, impressively quiet at 1200 RPM.
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How she sits DIW. She looks right at home. :)
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When I think of the amount of work that went into this and all the replacement components a couple of snags are minor nuisances.
Mark really knows his stuff, he's super helpful and generous.
Stay tuned guys, I'm now without a working lathe so It will be top priority to get her operational ASAP, then we can begin the performance evaluation.

Take care,

Paco
Click to expand...
minor set back I am sure. Things are looking good.
 
f350ca said:
Come on Paco, spin the chuck by hand, we need to see chips. lol
There's always a couple of little glitches when you dive into a project like this.

Greg
Click to expand...

Haha, can't guarantee what kind of surface finish a 1Paco horse (1PH) would provide. But I have a feeling my wing would quit me.

Paco

woodchucker said:
minor set back I am sure. Things are looking good.
Click to expand...


Hey Jeff,

Your right, The machine underwent a complete control makeover. A couple of minor bugs really didn't take the wind out on my sail. It won't be long now.

Paco
 
Got home this morning and got the power issue worked out. Mark had suggested powering on the DRO (rear switch) after powering up the machine reducing the initial load. A new higher amp rated 3 pole breaker will solve this issue. The new magnets arrived yesterday while I was at work so I replaced the smaller magnet with a 5/16" x .125" magnet for the hall sensor. It took care of the problem the tachometer was having. I then leveled the machine, This took longer than I expected but got the bed lined up. I had to repeat this several time as the sensitive level would change over time. I think the cast was relaxing as time past. I'll re-level in a weeks time.

Began with the headstock and worked in a counter clock wise fashion ending up with the two outboard leveling feet.
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The tailstock end.
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I then chucked up the set bar Mark loaned me. I was surprised to find the 8" 3 jaw chuck only had .0015" of runout.
Even more surprising was the readings I got with 16" of travel.
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1/2 way to the tailstock, same values.
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At the tailstock, same values.
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Time to take a test cut. I pulled a new piece of 2" CR and faced the end, then took two .0625 passes. I tried two different speeds and feeds to get familiar with the machine, both speeds/feeds yielded a decent surface finish using a used insert.
The second cut proved to be accurate throughout the cut. I used a 0-2" micrometer to measure the diameter in three places.
The DRO was used for both passes to verify the accuracy of the cuts. I'm glad a 1 micron scale was used for the X axis. Both .0625" (.125") passes gave this result.
IMG_3159.JPG

No more sneaking up on final passes:cool: I spent the rest of the day getting familiar with the gear box, controls, feeds and speeds. It looks like I will only need to use two speed selections for the most part with the VFD infinite speed control. The old 1440is a nice machine, but damn this baby is sweet.
This photo shot is for you Greg. :chunky:
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Got the first hour on the lathe.
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The first job will be to turn two new back plates, one for the 8" 4 jaw Bison combo chuck and one for the 5C scroll chuck.
I'm confidant I will be "turning by the numbers" from now on.
Thanks for looking.

Turn and Burn!
Paco

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Impressive, glad it is up and running. One sweet machine.
Mark
 
Congratulations Paco !!
Thanks for getting that chip pan soiled, now it looks like a machine lol
Those back plates will really break it in with some cast iron graphite.
Nice machine.

Greg
 
f350ca said:
Congratulations Paco !!
Thanks for getting that chip pan soiled, now it looks like a machine lol
Those back plates will really break it in with some cast iron graphite.
Nice machine.

Greg
Click to expand...

It was about time Greg,
BTW, the swarf is still in the pan hahah.

Here's a couple of quick videos. I am no videographer, but you get the jist.

Paco
 
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f350ca said:
Some very impressive features Paco
Having the travel reverse on the carriage is nice.
Love that jog function.
Thanks for the videos.

Greg
Click to expand...

The reversing feature will come in handy and save time. The Jog is set to 20 htz or close to 30-35 RPM for power tapping larger holes.
Thanks for following along Greg, Your input is always appreciated.
Paco
 
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