[hank.sd]

We picked up a low dollar VMC 760/22 last year, and its proving to be a good machine mechanically. Control wise its fine too, but its original and I realize at 16 years old its a time bomb.

I'm thinking about an upgrade. What I have in mind:

1) Complete retrofit: Any guesses as to the $ amount, and suggestions for which way to go?

2) Freshen up the PC. I'm thinking this DOS software, with some fiddling, should run on Windows 95 and maybe a first gen Pentium. Anyone done or seen this? It would be really nice to access network shares.

If I go that route, it would be nice to build up a whole new PC, including the axis card and keep the old one around. It would also allow me to make sure the software loads and runs before I take down the machine. Does anyone know if it's possible to find that card? Machine was running and I couldn't stop it to pull the card, so I don't even know who made it or the PN.

Thanks in advance!

[ss_again]

1) There are many options out there but one of the most popular for a VMC is probably Centroid.

2 ) I have a Bridgeport Torq-Cut VMC that I run the Bridgeport DX32 control software under Windows 98. I have a network card and I put a USB card in it for jump drives. It has a 400mhz K6-2 AMD processor.
If you are not computer literate or don't have the time to mess around, EMI sells a PC retrofit kit that can do the same but just make sure you are sitting down when they tell you the price. Otherwise, it's pretty easy to piece together off the internet at a fraction of the cost.

[Interact77]

you can get replacement parts for it from bptparts.com

I have a VMC760/16...I did an AC centroid retrofit on it and it works awesome.
Price of parts was around 12K at the time though. centroid prices went up about 35% since then.

[hank.sd]

Thanks for the tips. I've sourced a NIB K6-2 processor, board and Ram.
I've also been testing Win 98 in a virtual machine and have gotten adequate network access going for our needs.

Next question is the axis card. I've been trying to spot a make/model of the card (using a mirror and flashlight because I can't shut the machine down) but I'm not finding it. Can anyone tell me more about the card and where I might find one? Our machine has a rotary table so its a 4 axis.

Edit: I will see if bptparts can help me in the mean time.

[hank.sd]

Looks like I found it, BMDC 31944215 and they are available.

[hank.sd]

I also found a nice P4-2.4 PC that has 3 full length ISA slots.

Does anyone know if the DX32 software and BMDC board have a limit when it comes to PC frequency?