Project Details

Fellows 50-12 Hydrostroke Rebuild

Challenge
This machine had been rebuilt once before and was configured with a NUM 1060 control system and an original hydraulic unit. Both were showing significant signs of age, and had become a chronic maintenance headache. Replacement parts were no longer available easily, and finding qualified personnel to repair the equipment was equally difficult to achieve. The part quality had deteriorated to a point where the machine was nearly unusable. A rebuild was clearly needed.

Rebuild Solution
We removed the shaping head column and ground all the ways and replaced the Turcite under the column. We rebuilt the worktable and corrected the hydro-static system for the table worm and table lift. We rebuilt the shaping head with a new lower bushing and side pad repairs. the guide was inspected and deemed acceptable to be reused. The backoff cam system was also inspected and deemed acceptable for reuse. All bearings and seals throughout the machine were replaced along with new hydraulic lines and controls.  We engineered and manufactured new mechanical adaptations required to switch the servos from from Industrial Drives to Fanuc Alpha Series . We modified the elevation and stroke length adjustment mechanisms to adapt servo motors to both functions. These significant changes effectively made the machine a 100% CNC controlled, no more mechanical adjustments were required during setup except selection of the desired return stroke ratio.

Hydraulics

The original hydraulic system had been a maintenance nightmare for many years. Chronic pressure and volume problems plagued the machine on a daily basis. With few or no replacement parts in the customer’s inventory, swapping components for diagnosis was impossible. To compound the problem, many of the components were no longer manufactured so finding replacement parts had become almost a full time job.The new hydraulic system Machine Tool Builders designed and delivered, contained all new components of the latest design, with full warranties and readily available through local vendors, thus assuring many years of trouble free operation.

Electrical

The original electrical cabinet was removed in its entirety and replaced with a totally new one, designed and manufactured at MTB. All the machine sensors, wires and cables were replaced. All new absolute feedback systems were installed. The control we used was a Fanuc 0iM-F Plus along with all new Fanuc Alpha series digital drives. It was equipped with our well known and robust MTB conversational system to make the tool, gear and process data entry task easy and quick for the operators.