I received the Shars 5C work head & end mill spin fixture. They are definitely different than my Accusize equivalents. In almost all aspects the Shars is better quality. But my naïve assumption that I could do a relatively simple organ transplant to convert from R8 to 5C is maybe no so straightforward. They are actually quite different machines in many respects.
There is a whole bunch of story behind this involving all the components that make up the assembly. But turns out least effort is preserving the dovetail slide block under the Shars work head & mating that to the remainder of Accusize swivel assembly. The dovetails are different width, but the fix was pretty easy. I made a thinner gib strip. I was quite happy with how things were looking but once it all mounted up, it became obvious the new work head centerline will end up ~0.4" higher than than stock position. I'm actually not certain if that makes a difference grinding, but it may make a difference in certain setup orientations. Maybe limiting certain compound angle positions/swivels... I have not got that far yet. It would also be the case for the other (endmill spin) fixture since I'm mounting on the same dovetail slide.
Shars TCG
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Accusize TCG
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Franken TCG (photoshop)
Solid red would be normal center height. Dash red is where I would end up. A.
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I think I need to step away for a bit for mental relief & take stock of where I'm at. As I have been taking things apart, examining the parts, figuring out what turns & clamps & detents on my own, I have been cleaning up & fixing things that basically did not function at all or poorly right out of the box. Those have been remedied/improved, so worst case scenario the machine will be much better & perfectly functional R8 machine than what was delivered to me. Whether it was worth it to buy the 5C components is still to be determined but its smelling like throwing good money after bad. Trouble is, I have not seen anyone else attempt this so I gues I'm the gunea pig.