Reply To: “Vintage” CNC

[Mike PooleParticipant @mikepoole82104]

One of the first NC machines I worked on was a Wadkin drill with an EMI control. It was used for jig boring type work. I was just out of my time as an electrician and keeping this going was difficult as the glass inductosyns were unobtainable so the travel had been shortened by using undamaged ones from the extremes of travel. Valves were also going out of fashion by the mid seventies. Another curio was a Marwin with all hydraulic movement and an Olivetti NC control but the main table was a ball screw with an hydraulic motor. Moog valves were indeed the main control part of the hydraulics, setting the null on these was a task I remember. The hydraulic power pack was quite a beast and was prone to failure, you could tell when it was on its way out as the noise level would become deafening even though it had an acoustic enclosure. The table also moved on PTFE pads which was quite unusual in the seventies. Moog valves became common as muck when an army of hydraulic robots arrived at the end of the seventies. The Japanese seem to have the remarkable ability to keep hydraulic fluid in the pipes and only a layer of dust covers their power packs.

Mike

Edited By Mike Poole on 17/06/2017 17:04:28