Discussion:
Proto Trak Lathes
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Just Me
2015-02-01 16:57:39 UTC
Permalink
Company I do work for is looking at replacing some old lathes, by old I mean WW2
era. I'm working on moving them into at least late 20th century tech.
The work is mostly one or three off, taper threads, mating tapers for pulleys
custom repair work. Marine industry type of work.

I'm thinking the proto trak lathe would fit the bill, can be used as a manual lathe or programed for threading or taper work etc easily. Job I have coming up next week would be perfect, 2 dozen mounting bolts, 1.800 dia with 1.5- 6 thread.

Anybody have any experience this these machines or something similar.
I have some exposure to proto trak mills, I not a fan of "conversational"
programming input, but for this situation it's probably best.

Thanks:
Al Drake
2015-02-01 17:53:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Just Me
Company I do work for is looking at replacing some old lathes, by old I mean WW2
era. I'm working on moving them into at least late 20th century tech.
The work is mostly one or three off, taper threads, mating tapers for pulleys
custom repair work. Marine industry type of work.
I'm thinking the proto trak lathe would fit the bill, can be used as a manual lathe or programed for threading or taper work etc easily. Job I have coming up next week would be perfect, 2 dozen mounting bolts, 1.800 dia with 1.5- 6 thread.
Anybody have any experience this these machines or something similar.
I have some exposure to proto trak mills, I not a fan of "conversational"
programming input, but for this situation it's probably best.
I use a ProtoTrak SLX every day along with real manual lathes. I would
prefer an older real manual lather than trying to use the SLX in manual
mode. Overall I like the ProtoTrak because it's automatic and nice for
threading or any other operation if you are not in high volume production.
As far as conversational programming with a ProtoTrac Mill I use the
SMX using SolidCAM to generate G-Code more than conversational. I rather
use conversational than manual milling. I can't see how anyone would
have issues using canned events like the irregular pocket or pocket with
an island unless you are referring to the older ProtoTak models. I also
use an MX3 3 axis retorfit and have used the AGE that are lacking some
of the more up to date event programming features.

I've used ProtoTrak since the original mill and later the first TRL
lathe.

HTH.

Al.
vinny
2015-02-01 20:50:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Just Me
Company I do work for is looking at replacing some old lathes, by old I mean WW2
era. I'm working on moving them into at least late 20th century tech.
The work is mostly one or three off, taper threads, mating tapers for pulleys
custom repair work. Marine industry type of work.
I'm thinking the proto trak lathe would fit the bill, can be used as a
manual lathe or programed for threading or taper work etc easily. Job I
have coming up next week would be perfect, 2 dozen mounting bolts, 1.800
dia with 1.5- 6 thread.
Anybody have any experience this these machines or something similar.
I have some exposure to proto trak mills, I not a fan of "conversational"
programming input, but for this situation it's probably best.
easy, relatively rigid, and cheap.
replacement parts and aftermarket stuff abundant.

cant go wrong, short or long term.

does both conversational and regular gcode.
can also import dxf.
networks up.

two words...."good enough"
Just Me
2015-02-02 03:14:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by vinny
Post by Just Me
Company I do work for is looking at replacing some old lathes, by old I mean WW2
era. I'm working on moving them into at least late 20th century tech.
The work is mostly one or three off, taper threads, mating tapers for pulleys
custom repair work. Marine industry type of work.
I'm thinking the proto trak lathe would fit the bill, can be used as a
manual lathe or programed for threading or taper work etc easily. Job I
have coming up next week would be perfect, 2 dozen mounting bolts, 1.800
dia with 1.5- 6 thread.
Anybody have any experience this these machines or something similar.
I have some exposure to proto trak mills, I not a fan of "conversational"
programming input, but for this situation it's probably best.
easy, relatively rigid, and cheap.
replacement parts and aftermarket stuff abundant.
cant go wrong, short or long term.
does both conversational and regular gcode.
can also import dxf.
networks up.
two words...."good enough"
Thanks gents
Garlicdude
2015-02-02 19:01:42 UTC
Permalink
Post by Just Me
Company I do work for is looking at replacing some old lathes, by old I mean WW2
era. I'm working on moving them into at least late 20th century tech.
The work is mostly one or three off, taper threads, mating tapers for pulleys
custom repair work. Marine industry type of work.
I'm thinking the proto trak lathe would fit the bill, can be used as a manual lathe or programed for threading or taper work etc easily. Job I have coming up next week would be perfect, 2 dozen mounting bolts, 1.800 dia with 1.5- 6 thread.
Anybody have any experience this these machines or something similar.
I have some exposure to proto trak mills, I not a fan of "conversational"
programming input, but for this situation it's probably best.
I'd have a look at the Daewoo/Doosan Lynx also. Some of the used ones
are in the same price range as the ProtoTrak lathes

Best,
Steve
Al Drake
2015-02-03 08:28:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by Garlicdude
Post by Just Me
Company I do work for is looking at replacing some old lathes, by old I mean WW2
era. I'm working on moving them into at least late 20th century tech.
The work is mostly one or three off, taper threads, mating tapers for pulleys
custom repair work. Marine industry type of work.
I'm thinking the proto trak lathe would fit the bill, can be used as a
manual lathe or programed for threading or taper work etc easily. Job
I have coming up next week would be perfect, 2 dozen mounting bolts,
1.800 dia with 1.5- 6 thread.
Anybody have any experience this these machines or something similar.
I have some exposure to proto trak mills, I not a fan of "conversational"
programming input, but for this situation it's probably best.
I'd have a look at the Daewoo/Doosan Lynx also. Some of the used ones
are in the same price range as the ProtoTrak lathes
Best,
Steve
There's also the MILLPOWER by ACU-RITE that I used to see around this
area, maybe a decade or so ago but don't see them any more. They seemed
to compete with the ProtoTrak line.

http://www.acu-rite.com/millpwr-control-systems.html

One feature I liked was "Explode" where it broke down the canned
events so you could do some tweaking. Now all I see is the newer
ProtoTrak SLX product and more.
StarDust
2015-02-16 02:33:39 UTC
Permalink
Post by Just Me
Company I do work for is looking at replacing some old lathes, by old I mean WW2
era. I'm working on moving them into at least late 20th century tech.
The work is mostly one or three off, taper threads, mating tapers for pulleys
custom repair work. Marine industry type of work.
I'm thinking the proto trak lathe would fit the bill, can be used as a manual lathe or programed for threading or taper work etc easily. Job I have coming up next week would be perfect, 2 dozen mounting bolts, 1.800 dia with 1.5- 6 thread.
Anybody have any experience this these machines or something similar.
I have some exposure to proto trak mills, I not a fan of "conversational"
programming input, but for this situation it's probably best.
Ran a Proto Track lathe 10 years ago, it was very nice. There was a manual lathe next to it, never touched it.
Conversation is easy to program with or easy to learn and it works fine for basic geometry. Made many tapered pipe threads too.
CAD/CAM is for more complex parts, I think.

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