I am looking at purchasing a series 1 w/ boss 8 controls. I have no cnc experience but have a manual mill I've been playing with. I have gathered that the electronics are old and fragile with that in mind what is the group's recommendations for a phase converter (brand/size)?

What other requirements should I keep in mind when setting up machine if I buy it?

I've noticed other posts reference air pressure, is this for the spindle?if so what, braking, speed control....?

What are the bare minimums to hooking it up to a computer (I've gathered I need to go the hillbilly breakout board route to get into the 21st century) which software do i need (EZ-LINK?) and what are the limitations?

Machine is a QC 30 spindle, will my erickson da 180 collet chuck fit
spindle any chance my Tiawanese end mill holders will fit(My current mill is a NMTB 30)?


What else should I be considering?

thanks,

I have one boss 8 and five boss 9's. You will need the Ezlink program to load programs. Making a cable is the hard part. You can use any 30 taper but the QT holds in best. You need a 2HP rotary phase converter. 5HP if you want to add machines later and start one while the other is running. Make sure the Bridgeport is set up for 220v and not 440v. My machines were wired for 440v and lots of grief to figure out why the didn't work.

I happen to have a cedarburg phase converter connected to my s1 r2v3 with boss 10 control. Some other converters might have better features (ie soft start... ect) but their site called out the model would or was conferemed to work with the r2v3 in one of there model refference PDF's so that is one reason I got it from them..

I would not exactly say the units or electronics are fragile at least electricly...
after all mine has been running 25 years now and still works..hehe

How ever I stand at the ready to gut it when it fails to the point I can't figure out how to fix. That will be a very sad day as I like the controller so far.

Oh also lots a people are getting these machines for real cheep (it seems) so don't pay to much.. I paid 1000.00 for mine with quite a bit of collets and tooling included (which was very nice)

Don't know about connecting to a PC in order to re-use the existing drives (if that is what you were talking about.) If I were to connect to a computer I'd be converting it to a new power supply and gecko's or some other servo drives

For downloading programs I've used windows hyper terminal and had success with ezlink under win2000 for DNC (drip feeding programs) how ever I'm still perfecting that process..

b./