[Mark and Poco]

I just won an auction for a CNC Bridgeport. Hoping to get started on upgrading the control and need a ton of advice. Looking to use the orginal steppers and going with a pc based control. I have read thru a few of the great builds here and will document as much as possible. I hope to make it a kinda instruction manual. I will try and justify everything I add and why. My first task is to get it home (thursday) and get a vfd or rotary inverter for it. I'm leaning to the vfd for now, just wondering if I would be able to wire it into the main power at 100% setting to see functionability if it is possible to do with a VFD. Any comments would be great. Any other advice in the early planning stages would be great. Time frame from pick up to completion is 3 weeks or less. I hope I can do it.
Again thanks to everyone and thank you in advance for any input answers.

[mactec54]

Mark and Poco

No you can not run the whole machine from a VFD, only the spindle motor, which is the only part of the machine that needs 3 phase power

[SPENG]

wrong. you can use the vfd to run the whole thing...

[ktchk]

Hi

I did converted an old bridgeport to pc control (linuxcnc).
The feed screws were the original ones, just big stepper motor to run it.
stepper is 200 steps per rev, the feed screw is 5mm per rev. total accuracy is .025 per step.
The only 3 phase spin motor is vfd driven (1 phase).
See http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=324437181000344
Happy converting.

k.t.chan

[stuckon]

Do a search for hillbilly break out board (something like that) if all the drives are working you can be up and running with your pc in no time with very little cost. Won't work with the later servo based machines but by the looks of it you should be fine

[mactec54]

wrong. you can use the vfd to run the whole thing...

Please tell everyone how you can do this

A VFD can only run a 3 Phase AC motor, not any other type of electronics/transformers Etc, so I'm sure everyone would like to know how you can do this

[Mark and Poco]

any suggestions on a VFD for this old girl would be great, and the hillbilly BOB and some wiring directions would be great. I'm good at machining, manual and CNC, can program with no problems, making it run ..... ummmm well gonna need some easy directions. Electronics not my thing. My basic idea on this was a new power supply, BOB and 3 drives for the axis, using existing motors. also need some advice on which controller software to use. I've run everything from a yasnac 200b, to fanuc, okuma, haas, and matzura. any help and why to use would be great.

[keebler303]

Please tell everyone how you can do this

A VFD can only run a 3 Phase AC motor, not any other type of electronics/transformers Etc, so I'm sure everyone would like to know how you can do this

Just connect up the VFD output to incoming power and set the output frequency to 400 Hz.

That would be exciting!

[keebler303]

any suggestions on a VFD for this old girl would be great, and the hillbilly BOB and some wiring directions would be great. I'm good at machining, manual and CNC, can program with no problems, making it run ..... ummmm well gonna need some easy directions. Electronics not my thing. My basic idea on this was a new power supply, BOB and 3 drives for the axis, using existing motors. also need some advice on which controller software to use. I've run everything from a yasnac 200b, to fanuc, okuma, haas, and matzura. any help and why to use would be great.

Here is Darek's (hillbilly) website: Ashburn Industrial Repair

Contact him to see about upgrading your machine to mach3. He provides very good instructions with the BOB.

Any old VFD should work fine, but it will take some work to sort out all the connections.

I have a similar machine (Series 1, BOSS 5, Rigid ram) but mine has the pneumatic spindle speed adjust and brake. I am using a rotary phase converter and running the original spindle setup as well as the original drives. I gutted the old BOSS controller and am now using a hillbilly BOB and mach3. It works great.

Let me know if you have any questions
Matt

[Mark and Poco]

I will give him a call as soon as the machine gets here. I hope all the internals are good enough for a quick change over. If not I'll be on here an awful lot trying to get her going.

[keebler303]

I will give him a call as soon as the machine gets here. I hope all the internals are good enough for a quick change over. If not I'll be on here an awful lot trying to get her going.

The first thing to do is see if the axis drives are functioning. If they aren't, I'd recommend just junking them and buy some Gecko 203V drives to run the existing stepper motors. I finally got tired of troubleshooting my X axis (the output transistors are notoriously fragile and the rest of the electronics are going on 30 years old) so it now has a Gecko on it but I'm still using the factory Y and Z drives until they give up.

The trouble is you need 3 phase power to test the machine when it first arrives.

Without knowing the condition of the machine, I'd say you could rip out all the electronics and replace them with a VFD, DC power supply, 3 Gecko Drives, a BOB, an old PC and Mach3 for a bit over $1k.

Matt

[mactec54]

Mark and Poco

For a control Mach3 is a good starting point, you can down load it, & run up to 500 lines of code for free, if you down load it, you will get a head start with learning about it
before your machine arrives

Newfangled Solutions » CNC Software Home of Mach3

[polaraligned]

VFD is not suitable for running the electronics of this machine. You would use a rotary converter, and at that, one that is designed to run more than just the spindle motor.

This is a moot point anyway because you are replacing the electronics and will be using single phase.

[Mark and Poco]

Well went to Baltimore yesterday to go pick up the Bridgeport. I will be going again in 2 weeks. No way to get my trailer in to the garage/storadge area, no fork lift or pump jack, and no way to take the head off the machine. (forgot allen keys) So a total bust. Next trip will bring a pump jack, make arrangements for a gantry style lift, and tools to take the head off the machine. or Maybe i'll just call Uship and let shipping wars move it for me. hehehehe

[keebler303]

Well went to Baltimore yesterday to go pick up the Bridgeport. I will be going again in 2 weeks. No way to get my trailer in to the garage/storadge area, no fork lift or pump jack, and no way to take the head off the machine. (forgot allen keys) So a total bust. Next trip will bring a pump jack, make arrangements for a gantry style lift, and tools to take the head off the machine. or Maybe i'll just call Uship and let shipping wars move it for me. hehehehe

When I moved my bridgeport I made an oversized skid (pallet) from 2x4's and bolted the base to the skid to keep it from tipping over. I had a forklift to put it on the trailer but I just dragged it off the trailer with my tractor. I'm sure you could drag it up onto the trailer with ramps and a come-a-long.

You can roll the whole machine on steel pipes and a large steel bar (We call it a spud bar) helps to get leverage to block the machine up.

A rollback wrecker is the bees knees for picking up equipment. I hired one to move my big lathe and it worked perfectly.

Good Luck and be careful
Matt

[Mark and Poco]

Called down to a fork lift rental company. $150.00 for an hour or so, just enough time to load the machine as long as a schedule enough in advance. Looks like I'm renting a fork lift on the next trip down

[keebler303]

Sounds good.

When I moved my big lathe a rental forklift to load and follow me home to unload was close to $600. A rollback wrecker was only $200.