High-quality black-and-white photographs of large old machines and tools

**MeJasonT** · Jul 23, 2019, 10:29 AM

skunkworks
do you know what the cam program is running the machine - It looks like the old girl has been retrofitted.

**skunkworks** · Jul 23, 2019, 10:45 AM

Yes - we retrofitted it around 2010. We used Linuxcnc which is controlling everything. (spindle gearbox, tool chain and changer, pallets and motion *and whatever else I have forgotten...)

A short walk around...

Originally Posted by MeJasonT

skunkworks
do you know what the cam program is running the machine - It looks like the old girl has been retrofitted.

**skibo** · Jul 23, 2019, 12:45 PM

I'm with you, that bit changer is pretty cool! I spent several hours yesterday changing bits at my lathe to get to the proper size, it gets tiresome, also doing it on the drill press. I did notice though who ever and what ever they'r making they didn't worry about the chatter and screeching the larger bit made!

**MeJasonT** · Jul 23, 2019, 01:00 PM

skunkworks
I thought it was one of the DIY retrofit setups. That is a very impressive machine.
Its amazing all the Pro features you can add to an old machine by retrofitting it, i'm currently using GRBL on an old ELLIOT 181 miller and like you im impressed with what the machine is capable of. One of these days i will load linux onto an old PC and use it to run my machine but for now my head is stuck in windows world.
Linuxcnc adds a few features i don't currently have access to like tool changing and canned cycles which would be really nice.

**skunkworks** · Jul 24, 2019, 08:58 PM

we also converted a 80's vintage matsuura..

**Toolmaker51** · Jul 24, 2019, 09:19 PM

The arm style changers are somewhat faster than a carousel, as two functions are essentially simultaneous. On jobs using a large tool library, time saving is considerable.