Retrofitting a Emco 220 Lathe

[slowtwitch]

Hello folks, As I have mentioned in another thread, I acquired an Emco 220 lathe. I really didn't need another lathe, but, the Emco 220 has some much needed goodies that I needed ;D

The 220 has a large chip bin, which means, I don't have to empty it after each part I make and a parts catcher......



It also has a through the spindle capability...no more cutting my stock to 9" lengths ;D The lathe also sits on a steel box which is filled with some type of cement....which gives it a solid mass to sit on....and lastly, it only cost $1500.00 !!!!!

Here's the lathe as I bought it....



The previous owner kept the control stand and control box for a router setup he's building. I did get most of the electronics..stepper drives, boards, etc. But, i'm not really going to use any of it, since I will be converting to Mach3 control.

Since the winter months are kinda of slow, I had time to work on it. I took the lathe completely apart to clean it up, but, also to check it's condition.

All in all it's in pretty good shape. I did have to replace the small bearings on the ends of the ball screws and the oil distribution block.

I also installed new proximity switches for my limit stops. I only use two switches, as it worked really will on my 120p. Here's some pics of the setup....







more pics of a naked lathe







Here's the lathe cleaned up and painted...







Some specs...

An ESS Smoothstepper. The breakout board is a PMDX 126, with a PMDX 107 for speed control. The VFD is a Hitachi WJ200 Vector drive, attached to a 2hp vector duty 4 pole motor. The computer mother board is a Foxcon H61S with a dual core processor and 2meg of ram.

and finally, here's a video of its first attempt at making parts.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTtSbpjyy2g"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTtSbpjyy2g[/ame]

I still have to adjust the offsets on the drills, as i kinda of did it by eye....I was anxious to see it make something

pete

 

[slowtwitch]

Hello folks, One thing I didn't mention in the previous post, the tool turret is controlled by a board made by Andrew Barrow. More info can be found here...

http://emcoturret.blogspot.com/

Lastly, I had the monitor mounted to the control panel. But, its location limited the movement of the monitor. So I mounted it to the side of the lathe....much better. I also wanted a tray for a keyboard under the monitor. I made a simple, cheap bracket out of 1/2" thin wall tubing..some scrap pieces I had laying around and some scrap plywood.

Here's how the thin wall is mounted to the back of the monitor...using 1/2" thin wall brackets.

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and the end result...



The keyboard is a Storm 2200, that I bought off Ebay. The tray is actually, two pieces of 3/4" plywood. The top piece is cut out for the keyboard and the bottom piece is glued and nailed...then painted to match the machine....cheap but it works

pete

 

[DICKEYBIRD]

Super nice lathe & conversion! Me & my little ORAC dream of stuff like that.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[mu38&Bg#]

Excellent! I love the parts catcher. The 220 has a much nicer spindle than the 6 and 120. What are the rapids? I need a keyboard like that for the mill. I wonder if chips will get into the trackball.

Progress on my Compact 6 has been slow. I'm making a new bearing cover for the spindle and have disassembled the turret.

 

[slowtwitch]

Excellent! I love the parts catcher. The 220 has a much nicer spindle than the 6 and 120. What are the rapids? I need a keyboard like that for the mill. I wonder if chips will get into the trackball.

Progress on my Compact 6 has been slow. I'm making a new bearing cover for the spindle and have disassembled the turret.

Thanks, I use the same keyboard on my mill, its been over a year and it still works great.

As for the 220 spindle, it's actually the same as the 6 and 120. The only difference is the back pulley, which is either open (for through the spindle operation) or the closed version used on the 120. the pulleys are interchangeable.

pete

 

[mu38&Bg#]

Did your spindle have tapered roller bearings in it?

It looks the same externally but I doubt it's the same inside. There is a guy on youtube doing a [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OX_NrQsVnA"]full rebuild of his 220[/ame]. The 220 spindle has 4 angular contact ball bearings in it. The 6/120 have a pair of tapered roller bearings. The difference between the standard P6 quality rollers and the P4 angular contact ball bearings is substantial. One angular ball bearing has a better load rating than the tapered roller type and the 220 has twice as many. I found P5 rollers for not much more than standard type. I keep my eye out for 220's but they aren't common, I don't have room for another machine right now.

Emco 6/120 were both available with pneumatic collet chucks so I guess those would have the pulley with the through hole? My 6P does, but I didn't get any of the draw bar or collet chuck parts.

 

[slowtwitch]

You may have a point there I didn't take either spindles apart, as both felt really nice. As for the fellow in the video, his name is Marko from Croatia. He and I have been swapping notes on our rebuilds

 

[mu38&Bg#]

I realized that today when I looked over his thread. I too have been in contact with Marko.

Your nice clean machine makes me want to paint my ugly yellow thing. Did you decide not to install the tailstock?

 

[slowtwitch]

I realized that today when I looked over his thread. I too have been in contact with Marko.

Your nice clean machine makes me want to paint my ugly yellow thing. Did you decide not to install the tailstock?

I don't really have any use for the tail stock. All my machining is chuck only on these lathes

 

[diyengineer]

Awesome, like the keyboard!!!