bridgeport MDI?

[billsnogo]

I found a Bridgeport Series 1 MDI with Heidenhain TNC 131 controls for sale, and the price is right at $1000, but was told the tnc controlls has problems and has been used as a manual mill. I can not get any info on these machines, but would love to have a bridgeport for a mill. Can the tnc controlls be removed and just used as a regular series 1 bridgeport? Or were these built different and can't strip it of the other items? Would it be difficult or expensive to make it a true cnc?

This is what he said in an email
"The DRO lights up but the joysticks aren't working right now with it.
I replaced a board in it after I purchased it and the joysticks and
everything seemed to work great.
Then they just quit one day.
A friend that knows a bit about them thinks it's a brake on one of the
motors hanging up."






any help is appreciated

[gus]

This is NOT a 3 axis machine. It is one axis three times. Iron is good gut it is useless as a CNC. This is a CNC machine however crude, and is not a good manual machine

[billsnogo]

would it be a decent machine for a retrofit? Would all the controls need to be replaced, boards, drivers, ect? Just trying to figure what I am getting myself into.

thanks again!

[HawkJET]

Originally Posted by billsnogo would it be a decent machine for a retrofit?

If the machine itself is in good shape, you should be able to make it into a pretty good CNC. The cranks look to be added by someone at some point but the machine has ball screws and chrome ways.

I would throw away the electronics and get Geckos, a power supply and a computer, and set it up with either Mach3 or EMC2. You already have servo motors on the axes so you should be able to get it going for $500 - $1000.

My guess is that you'll end up with a good machine for a great price.

[billsnogo]

Okay, take pity on a noob, but buy three gecko 320's for a servo to replace the one driver and install in the current cabinet, or install those in a dedicated pc? I can not find any info about someone converting one of these, only the boss machines. Seems these are not nearly as common, and I am no wiring guru or electronic wizard, so need to do a lot of reading.

thanks again

[HawkJET]

Originally Posted by billsnogo I can not find any info about someone converting one of these, only the boss machines.

Once you have discarded all the electronics, you will have essentially the same thing as a BOSS machine without electronics. It is the same iron.

If you find info on a BOSS conversion using servos, you can follow the same path. Your existing cabinet should be usable - it will just look different than the BOSS....

[billsnogo]

Well, got it home, and went much easier than I thought. I rented a drop bed trailer and pallet jack (did not need the pallet jack), headed to pick it up, the seller and his father were there with a john deere tractor waiting to load it up. Dropped the bed of the trailer till it was an inch off the ground, they lifted the mill, I backed the trailer under it, strapped it down with there help (very nice family, was glad to do business with them), lifted the head on the front of the trailer, strapped that down, and headed home. Checked straps after a couple of blocks, it was fine, then went about five miles, stopped in a gas station and rechecked and one was a little loose, tightened it down, and the rest of the trip back was uneventful (thankfully).

Got home, tried to figure out how to get it to the back of the garage, and what do you know, if I dropped the bed till about an inch off the ground it would clear my 7' garage door. Even better was I could back it all the way in. I used some ratchet straps and some oil (spilled all over the trailer from the mill) to help it off, and a little help from a medium pry bar. Those drop bed trailers are golden for this purpose.

I need to put the head back on, and he had it all marked for what wire goes where, and he said I could call or email and would help me if I could not figure it out. Only thing broken was the front handwheel (had been previously broken, and glued back together since it is plastic), and the handle for the variable speed on the head snapped off (only a screw, the handle itself is fine so no big deal).

Now for the bonus, the machine came with a power inverter on the back of it, so I can plug it into my 220 outlet!

Has a coolant mister on the back, and an oiler. Has five quick change 30 tool holders and a jacobs drill chuck! Looks like no draw bar needed, just a spanner wrench.
So for $600 for the mill, $70 for the trailer, $30 for pallet jack, $40 for two heavy duty straps, $60 in gas, grand total of $800 I got myself a project mill

that is all for now, I am tired and am going to watch some Halloween movies

[billsnogo]

Little confused on the tooling. From what I have been able to read by searching that qc30 is not the same as nmtb #30, but I have both with this machine. Are these interchangeable? Trying to find a bunch more tool holders when the prices are right.

[MikeMcTague]

Good luck billsnogo, I am proposing a very similar project, I can pick up a Bridgeport Series II Interact 2 with Heidenhain T145 controller for small money (there is probably a very good reason, machine hasn't run in 3 years). Interested in your comment about the inverter, I only have 220V Single Phase also (current owner convinced the CNC controller won't run off an inverter, I don't see why not). I suspect I will have to do a complete retrofit of the the controller also, open to advice from all as to best route to take. Will be monitoring your progress with interest.

[awemawson]

You only need three phase for the spindle motor - everything else on Interacts can be wired to a single phase if you study the wiring diagrams

[gridley51]

Originally Posted by awemawson You only need three phase for the spindle motor - everything else on Interacts can be wired to a single phase if you study the wiring diagrams

I`ve got a feeling the Bosch servo boards are 380 or 415v input.In fact I know they are because I`ve got one waiting to get repaired.
or
can the transformer supplying them be wired for single phase input and still give the same output?

[gus]

They will absolutely run on a converter. What happens is people blindly plug in the machine and then say 'she no go'

make sure the 2 'real' legs are going to the control.