On 2010-11-27, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com fired this volley
in . 3.70:

No, it's not a convenient machine, and it doesn't hold large parts
files or tool defs. But it works.

I should have added, Iggy, that there are _significant_ benefits to
converting this machine.

First of all, it's possible to convert it while using the existing drive
electronics. Although one might not get _modern_ precision from the
feeds, it does pretty nice work already.

If your machine is like mine, which I suspect (I know that it looks a
little different with the control on the head), it is a very high
grade, precision high performance machine, as far as knee mills go.

Easily capable of 0.001" accuracy.

Second, the machine lacks some stuff we think of as "normal" to automatic
equipment. There is no G-code to turn the spindle on and off, or change
speed. There are no codes associated with the coolant systems.

Personally, I think that it is nice to control coolant, but not really
essential. I do not really need to turn off coolant for some parts of
the job. All I do it turn everything off when the job is complete,
that is nice.

Controlling the spindle is slightly more important, as it lets me
change tools. But, I suppose, I could turn off the spindle manually.

And nothing ever displays on the screen, except for g-codes -- there's no
graphical representation of the job, tool selections, path depictions,
etc.

Yes, that's a minus, at least to a novice like me, it helps to see the
toolpath.

So, I'm looking forward to a conversion. However, the old '68 Buick
still gets me to the grocery store, just without any built-in GPS.

Exactly.

i