Any EMI-MEC turret lathe experience?

[Weston Bye]

A customer wants me to do some troubleshooting on the controls of an EMI-MEC Auto Sprint Series E turret lathe. It is pin-programmed relay logic driving pneumatic controls. Seems that it was running along one day and just stopped at the beginning of a new cycle.

I was able to do some preliminary power supply voltage checks that all show normal before I ran out of time. I have copies of the prints, but haven't started puzzling my way through yet. Anyone with any experience?

These things were made in the UK.

[chandler0109]

Is this machine also called an "Accra Tool"? Square board above the headstock with a ton of pin sockets, a handful of indicator lights on the turret, and a drum style wiper switch straight from Satan's workshop?

If so then "No" I've never heard of anything like that

Chandler

[Weston Bye]

The square board with the pin sockets sounds similar, but I don't remember much about the turret and only find a very simple 6-position rotary switch in the schematic that may be misleading. I only spent about a half hour near the machine a few weeks ago, but will be going back.

[chandler0109]

Hey Weston

I’m pretty sure that they’re either related or the same machine. They were an entry level screw machine, had a six-position turret, the cross-slide had a place for a front and rear tool and there was a vertical slide, usually used for cutoff. They used a pneumatic barfeed. All air/oil setup, so EVERYTHING had a flow control. The turret had like 8 flow controls on it, you could set up peck-drilling cycles and everything……… well……. On a perfect day if you held your tongue just right…….. But seriously, pretty cool, simple machines.

The real problems were in the pegboard – which on close inspection you’ll find to be a very crude circuit board, and the drum switch. The early electronics just weren’t up for the awful environment they were exposed to (sulfur based cutting oils). Beyond that, you’ll find a bunch of micro-switches.

I used to work in a screw machine shop where we had three, that was up until about ’94, then I ended up owning them, 1 was for parts, the other 2 ran, they lived in my shop, but I never actually got a chance to run any parts on them, when I moved back to the Midwest in ‘98, my Buddy – who glommed onto anything mechanical, and had plenty of room took them off my hands, they haven’t turned a spindle since. If you know what you need, I could probably find you a spare, I had a lot of spare parts.

If you dig into the one in question, you’ll likely find a few traces on the board that have been wired around – that was a common problem, the board would cycle thermally and eventually break a trace, that might be the problem, that’s actually a simple fix – just hardwire that particular trace. The drum-switch is also a culprit, you’ll usually find them terribly dirty.

I’d be glad to help if I can, this is the best picture I could find on the net – I’m suspicious that most of these machines are now Hondas or Toyotas

http://www.akraturn.com/screwmachining.php

Chandler

[Weston Bye]

Thanks Chandler, it sounds like we are talking about similar machines. My customer also has a spare machine, for parts.