Need Help!- Boss IV and an RPC ?

[kben77]

Hi,

I just got my new 1977 Bridgeport with Boss IV controls in my garage. I would like to play around with it before I upgrade the controls etc... Owner said it was working fine until it took a power hit. Now the Y axis keeps blowing transistors.

Have you guys built your own RPCs ? What size 3 phase motor would I need to build an RPC and run that. I was thinking 7.5 or 10 HP. Any good links for that ?

Next questions have any of you converted a CNC Bridgeport and used the DMM Tech kit ? Motion Control Products - DMM Technology It looks pretty good and with $ axis control I could convert a 10 RTable too.

Regards,
Kevin

[jthornton]

I've build a few and run a Hardinge CHNC lathe and a BP Discovery 308 off of a 15hp RPC. The plans for a self starting one are on the web. What most forget to tell you is put your two hot legs so that they power the electronics. The generated leg will have a higher unloaded voltage once you get it balanced under load. To make a self starting one is not hard the start button pulls in the main contactor and the potential relay drops out the start caps once the generated leg has enough voltage on it. Then your up to speed and the run caps take care of the rest. Check motor rebuild shops for motors with bad shafts that are otherwise good for your RPC.

I pretty much followed the plans on this page
http://homemetalshopclub.org/project...nv/phconv.html

John

[ranchak]

If you need some transistors I have a bunch. I would highly recommend looking at the FlashCut system. I converted my Boss 5 over to G203s and Mach3. I had a bunch of trouble and thought it might be related to Mach3. The FlashCut software works great, runs on any Windows platform and also runs on USB. Their tech support is excellent, they will spend as much time as necessary to get you up and running. Just my 2 cents.