Cyclone Tailstock CAD - Modernizing the cyclone

All info relating to the Denford Cyclone lathes

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Max
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue 18 May , 2021 10:34 am
Hardware/Software: 2x Denford Cyclones - Fanuc

Cyclone Tailstock CAD - Modernizing the cyclone

Post by Max » Mon 23 Aug , 2021 0:40 am

Hello,

I have bought a denford cyclone and for its time its truly an incredible machine, it was used by its previous owner in a technical ceramics production environment and incredibly the guy that was there for the whole time talked about how it never broke down and it was still running to this day, he was very sad to learn that his Ireland plant was getting shut down and all work to be shipped overseas, all the machines were auctioned off and i bought the denford lathe and it was really working!, however the amount of backlash in the ball screws exceeded 3mm on both axes and disassembly revealed that the x axis dovetail ways were completely destroyed, but the z axis was just fine.

It was COATED in a huge layer of ceramic paste, and dust, i cleaned it all and it was in awful state, but its getting there, if anyone wants to see it i can post some photos.

I have cad modeled most of the machine as i plan to do a linear rail conversion and keep the old control alive for as long as it lasts, It is a Fanuc 0T-A from the year 1983, i have attached an image of a 100% functional cad model of the denford cyclones tailstock, and a work in progress view on my CAD of the lathe itself. I plan to model the machine but also make an alternative model of the modernized machine as eventually i plan to create a denford inspired cnc lathe from scratch, with some significant design changes.

I originally planned to do a weld repair on the x axis but dovetails are just not very good to modern linear guided machines, not to mention the trouble of actually doing it and regrinding it to a factory spec i dont have.

The original fanuc wont last forever, but i can keep it alive as long as possible, they are easy to repair the old boards.

If there is any interest in my little project i will update here with some pictures of how it is going, but business is very busy so im probably going to be quite slow in my progress, i am fortunate to use the machines at work to "rebirth" the denford lathe. I even painted the sheet metal the doosan colours as we were all joking that it was a mini doosan puma lathe.. and we are a doosan user.

If anyone is interested in this type of thing let me know, there isnt much community here anymore, and i loved seeing people projects.

Best regards,

Max
Attachments
Denford Lathe CAD.png
Denford Lathe CAD.png (262.29 KiB) Viewed 5504 times
tailstock.png
tailstock.png (172.17 KiB) Viewed 5504 times

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