The weight loss program continues...

Bloody hard going, this. But finally I've stripped out all the gubbins from the cabinet.

Removed the back plate from the cabinet, to make it a little more manageable. Then unhooked it from The Silly Great Framework. It only just fits through the gap between the SGF and the shelving unit.

Next, to remove The Silly Great Framework itself. As you can see, the sheet metal work enclosure is self supporting, so apart from the hinged door at the headstock end, there's no longer anything relying on the SGF. 

I'll need to reroute a couple of hydraulic hoses.

So off it comes. Not quite as silly heavy as I'd thought it would be.

Note a few connections for the spindle encoder before I (have to) chop the crimps off to get the cable out of its conduit.

Now let's tackle the effing great DC spindle motor. What a beast.

There's some form of taper lock feature in this bloody great cast iron pulley. Luckily there are also a couple of threaded holes for extraction. These seem to be 3/8" UNC and I can reuse some of the cabinet fixings for that purpose.

There. Now we can see the Siemens motor. There's also a centrifugal cooling fan with intake filter mounted on top, just about visible at the back.

Out it comes. The (cast iron) motor carrier and straps are F heavy duty. 

Come along now...

It's like a large dog out of its kennel

That's better - most things are removed now and with the cabinet and frame removed, it's a more sensible looking width now. There's plenty of room for a 3-4kW induction motor to fit in.

That was bloody hard work. I will need to get the scrappy round to collect all this old iron and steel. That and the Silly Great Framework. You can see the horrid orange doors, back plate etc in the background. 

Next - let's have a look at the axis motors. For that I may need to bring the carriage closer to the tailstock end. I may be able to use a bench PSU for that.