Hammer digital handwheel on Minimax?

[Christopher Charles]

Hi all,

I have just picked up a used Minimax FS30c for a very good price after months of looking :)

I'm planning to put on a height gauge and I'd rather not use a DRO because don't like to mess with batteries. I figured I would just order the SMC "gravitational position indicator" digital hand wheel that is comes with the new machines and looks very similar to the Hammer/Felder hand wheel. Looking on the SCM website, it looks like the digital indicator is more than $400 + cost of the handwheel (!). SMC sales is looking into it for me.

Which got me thinking whether the Hammer/Felder handwheel could work. I checked this morning and it looks like 2 mm/revolution of the hand wheel on the Minimax, same as the Hammer (and the absolute position is not that important--aiming to be able to come back to the same relative position).

Next question is whether the wheel would fit on the crank shaft. The minimax shaft is 18 mm dia. Here's my request--anyone with a Hammer J/P willing to measure the shaft diameter and length?

I'm also thinking of getting a price on a Hammer euro-style guard as Minimax wants $460 for the assembly right now...

Thanks,
Chris

[Richard Coers]

It will only work if the lead screws are the same pitch and a revolution of the wheel moves the bed the exact same as the Hammer. The mounting shaft is not the major concern.

[Christopher Charles]

Hi Richard,

Thanks and I agree the shaft diameter can be worked around. Both appear to have a 2 mm/revolution pitch. That said, I would also still consider even if not as my main reason to have the digital accuracy is to be able to return to exactly the same setting if needed (even if the units are arbitrary). But if the units are substantially different, I'd likely just go with a DRO.

Best,
Chris

[Robert M Richardson]

A3-31 here. 19.94mm shaft, 40mm from shaft end to collar. 6mm through hole 26mm +/- from the end of the shaft. A sleeve might make this a go but it would be pretty thin.
Robert

[Robert M Richardson]

Forgot to mention my A3 has a 2mm pitch screw. Close to .079" per rev.

[Bill Dufour]

Most DRO's use a 120 volt single phase. Any decent dro will have a memory for several numbers.
Bill D

[Christopher Charles]

Thanks Richard and Bill. I got the quote back from SCM: $339 for the indicator and $111 for the hand wheel. Will update folks on the solution.

Best,
Chris

[Greg Quenneville]

Let me check my sources. Those companies buy their handwheels etc from one of the several big European do-dad firms.

On edit:

Search misumi usa. Elesa is a maker of the dial inserts. Kipp may also sell them. On a brief search it looks like $300++ unless you opt for the Ali Express crap shoot for not much money.

I have the Felder version which I know is made by an outside vendor. It works very well and is accurate to small numbers (<0.1mm) as long as you remember to only approach your target number while cranking up (to eliminate backlash, gravity, etc).

On edit 2:

Looks like what you want is a Kipp K1929 indicator and the appropriate K1930 handwheel for which there are US vendors.

Thanks for your question…I need a couple of these for an older Felder restoration and I needed to do the research anyway

[Christopher Charles]

Brilliant and glad the question was helpful.

[Greg Quenneville]

I forgot to mention about the Euro guard. I bought a Jet spare part guard complete for under $150 a couple of years ago for another machine. It looks and operates the same as the one on my Felder.