What can I make this into?

[Bernd]

I guess this is a good place to put this.

I got this from a guy who knows my Dad. He just wanted to get rid of it. The following are a few pics of this thing and some ideas I have for it. Perhaps you might come up with a few that I might like better.


As you can see it's been sitting in the back corner of my basement for a while. If I remember right the guy told me it was used in a circuit board making company and used to check hole location. Which could be true. Notice the "wanna be" meter stick. It gives a scale prospective I hope.


The table is ground cast iron. It has "X" "Y" scales on it. The white handle is for the "Z" axis. It has a 60 degree point on the end to fit into holes. Everything is stainless steel. The only problem is that the scales read in meteric.

Here's a few more pics of it.





Here is my idea of what I could mod this table into.

1: router table
2: engine turning table (swirls on any material)
3: circuit board drilling table 9not much call for this)

Anybody got any other ideas? 

Bernd

[CrewCab]

Way to go Dad .......     .......... CNC router table there  Bernd 

To be fair the metric system is a piece of "waste water"  ................ just go to bed repeating to yourself "10 - 25.4 - 304.8"    "10 - 25.4 - 304.8"  "10 - 25.4 - 304.8"  "10 - 25.4 - 304.8"   ........... and in the morning you will know the metric system off by heart 

CC

[Darren]

The only problem is that the scales read in meteric.

Bernd

Way to go, only system to use IMHO 

[Bernd]

Way to go Dad .......     .......... CNC router table there  Bernd 

Every time I go back and look at it that's what I keep thinking too! Router table.   

To be fair the metric system is a piece of "waste water"  ................ just go to bed repeating to yourself "10 - 25.4 - 304.8"    "10 - 25.4 - 304.8"  "10 - 25.4 - 304.8"  "10 - 25.4 - 304.8"   ........... and in the morning you will know the metric system off by heart 

CC

It's just a measuring system, so......................

I remember an older gentleman at work had one heck of a time using meteric. He ried to convert all the lenghts of cable he had to make to inches. I told him if I gave him a rope with 100 knots in it and told him to make a cable 32 knots long would he be able to do that?  But of course he said. I said so what's the difference in meteric? Same idea. I think what confuses most people is the milli-meter, the deci-meter and the centi-meter and the meter. No concept of there lengths in their mind.

OK, enough about meterics.       

Bernd

[Bernd]

Way to go, only system to use IMHO 

Darren,

Care for some metric scales and readout box. It's used equipment. How much to ship to the UK?

Bernd

[Brass_Machine]

Looks like a good base for router table most definitely!

So what is the due date for that? 2 weeks?   

Eric

[Bernd]

I think you must have missed my post on the Bridgeport quill fix. 

There's a large project, it involves wood and it goes in the kitchen. It's called a pantry and if I don't get this done in a timely fashion I will be able to send Brian Rupnow on HMEM my balls for his next governor.        

Serious now though. I'm thinking a CNC router with a Geko drive. The "Z" axis has about .900" travel. Hopefuly enough for doing routing. We'll see.

Bernd

[Circlip]

Used to use one of these for checking position of holes in PCB's after press tool was made, (a bit late by that stage) ours had a projection type microscope head on the carriage and the X/Y movement was effected with leadscrews driven with hand wheels.

 Wouldn't have thought it would be too difficult to have a dual inch/metric switch cos it's a pulse counting circuit. If you're going to stay with Metric, forget centimetres and decimetres, they're only used in schools and for dressmaking, propper ingineers use Metres and millimetres.

  Yep, your conversion has got to be a CNC router to die for, super stable Cast Iron bed, only possible problem is likely to be temperature stability, Chip board doesn't expand and contract much.

    Regards   Ian.

[bogstandard]

I used one of those machines in the mid 80's for programming (paper tape) American DIP and component inserting machines. The output from them could also be used for programming the bandoliering machines so that the correct component would be put in the correct hole on the circuit cards.

At a real push, the readout could be used for a standard X -Y setup, but as suggested, a very good candidate for a CNC router project, or hundreds of little engines.

John

[Circlip]

American and bandoliering? strikes the GIM chord??

[Bernd]

Ok, looks like CNC router it will be.   


This has been placed on the bottom of the to do list. So it may be a while before I haul it out of the dusty corner again.

Bernd

[Brass_Machine]

hmmm. gonna be enough to do circuit boards on? Could be an enterprising side business with all the 'makers' coming out of the woodwork.

Eric

 

[bogstandard]

Eric,

I think you have the wrong end of the stick when it comes to the original use of the machine. It could be used for checking the hole positions on finished cards, or used to program other machines so that they could stick the right bits in the right holes. It was used by manually moving the pointer to a hole, push the probe into the hole on the card, and press a buttom. This then gave the x-y coords to the paper tape punching machine (only 8" and 5.25" floppies in those days), paper tape was the standard transfer of data method to machinery (an 8ft x 4ft x 2ft controller box with a paper tape reader has now been superceded by a 1/8" x 1/4" surface mount chip, and a couple of hair thickness wires).

So this bit of kit is now way out of date, and needs to be turned into something totally different.

John

[Brass_Machine]

Eric,

I think you have the wrong end of the stick when it comes to the original use of the machine. It could be used for checking the hole positions on finished cards, or used to program other machines so that they could stick the right bits in the right holes. It was used by manually moving the pointer to a hole, push the probe into the hole on the card, and press a buttom. This then gave the x-y coords to the paper tape punching machine (only 8" and 5.25" floppies in those days), paper tape was the standard transfer of data method to machinery (an 8ft x 4ft x 2ft controller box with a paper tape reader has now been superceded by a 1/8" x 1/4" surface mount chip, and a couple of hair thickness wires).

So this bit of kit is now way out of date, and needs to be turned into something totally different.

John

Nope Bogs... I got that part. I was saying for after he gets his CNC router done.   

Eric

[bogstandard]

Sorry Eric,

I got the wrong end of the stick as usual.

John

[John Stevenson]

I don't think that anyone has realises that this machine has dual purpose.

Ok it will make a good CNC router but the scales are not needed, only the mechanical bits.

So first job is to rob the scales and read out for say a mill or lathe then convert the rest later.

.

[Brass_Machine]

Sorry Eric,

I got the wrong end of the stick as usual.

John

That's ok John. Happens to me A LOT as well. No worries.

Eric

[Bernd]

I don't think that anyone has realises that this machine has dual purpose.

Ok it will make a good CNC router but the scales are not needed, only the mechanical bits.

So first job is to rob the scales and read out for say a mill or lathe then convert the rest later.

.

That's why I've offered the scale to Darren. If he can use them fine. The only thing is the "mains" will need to be changed to 220V from 120V. Dam metrics again.  

[Darren]

No probs with the mains Bernds, lecky I can master