Mechanical planer to hydraulic

[Sunset Machine]

I had to use rags and a battery charger to remove a light coat of rust from mine. A 3' length of angle iron for an anode fit both the base and the table ways, if you decide to go there. The picture makes them look needing.

There's a spare 3 phase motor as an RPC running my planer. Runs the shaper too. Basically the motors are all wired in parallel. 240 V single phase applied to two of the legs, a pony motor gets things rolling.  Start the pony first, then switch on power to the primary and the "RPC" is ready. Power to the planer and away she goes.

There's a vid on youtube where someone stuffed his VFD and motor under the planer and drove it directly. There's no big belt. The downside is that his rapid reverse is no more. http://youtube.com/v/p_HPrY7IJ4E

Shapers and planers. Fine feed for roughing, coarse feed for finishing. Just opposite of everything else. It's in the tooling. The finisher is more like a chisel, making a wide (.125" - .250") (but very thin, .002" - .010") chip. I use a small magnet under the clapper to hold it out a bit (to create some clearance) and with a strip of emery slightly pinched between the tool and the work, an edge can be honed perfectly parallel to the work. It'll put a glass smooth finish down, with some cooperation from the material.

Pardon my rambling. Stopping now.

[f350ca]

Aw but it was GOOD rambling.

[Dr Stan]

I have an RPC that runs my 5hp Logan lathe and my Harig 6X12 surface grinder (not at the same time).  Purchased the box from Phase Craft on EBay and a used 10hp Lincoln motor from a local motor repair shop.  Quite happy with the set-up.  I could put a 5hp 3 phase on the planner, but given the weight of the table I'm not sure it have enough power.

Phase Craft also sells a 7.5 to 10 hp static phase converter for $99.99.  Will need to call him for advice.
Just looked on EBay for VFDs. Need to do some more research, but will probably go that direction.

The ways have some surface rust, but no pitting.  I should be able to clean them with penetrating oil and some elbow grease.

I should spray them down with some LPS #3 for now so they do not get worse before I start the refurb.

[Sunset Machine]

My antique is much lighter duty than yours, but has a 5 foot table about 3 inches thick, 20 deep.. The 2HP motor doesn't get warm even after hours of running. The homemade RPC is also a 2 HP motor. There'll be a warm spot on it.

Elbow grease? Try the rags, soda, angle & charger. Pulls the rust right out of the pits and leaves metal untouched. While it cooks you can be cleaning those gears and feedscrews...

Heh. I remember pulling the rag off and giving the ways a wipe and seeing some red. I did a double take, thinking it was more rust, but quickly discovered it was a reflection of the engine hoist behind me. It was that darn clean.

Found a picture of that and what it looked like before:

[Dr Stan]

That's impressive.  I used reverse electrolysis in the process of rebuilding my Fray vertical mill.  Quite useful as it cleaned out the T slots perfectly.  I have angle iron, a battery charger, laundry soda, and plenty of rags.  Will certainly have to give it a try.

BTW, sure got a bunch of strange looks on the drive from Baltimore to Owensboro, KY. 

[Sunset Machine]

And probably even stranger looks from the lady of the house when you got home with it.

That thing is a monster. Hell for stout! Wow. Any plans for it? I haven't done a thing with mine in 3 years, other than learning how to use it on scrap metal. I've got a lathe with .020" wear in the bed that is tempting me, but I've got it twisted, bent and shimmed into place so that it hasn't been a problem. Need another one for a victim.

Rags. I tore a long strip from a bath towel. It was on the bottom of the pile, which I took to mean that SHE hadn't seen it in a while, so I figured she wouldn't miss it. I should put that in the Tips and Techniques section.

[Dr Stan]

My plan is to offer resurfacing services for lathe beds, probably 14" & smaller, and vertical mills.

When I was in the Navy and stationed on the USS Coral Sea it went under a massive overhaul (long over due IMHO) in Long Beach CA.  They also removed all the machinery from the machine shop and sent it to a rebuilder in LB.  One of the machines was a 24 X 120 Lodge & Shipley gap bed lathe (36" with the gap removed).  We went on a "field trip" to the rebuilder to see what was happening.  The lathe was on his planner with a tool post grinder attached getting ready to be resurfaced.  This planner is probably the most massive machine tool I've ever seen.  It could have easily held four of the 24X120 L&S lathes.  The table was even with the floor to make loading easy.