EZTRAK II Tutorial

[Holzwurm56]

Hello ,
I am a german hobby metalworker and some days ago i get a Bridgeport EZTRAK II manufactured 1999 Software 4.00 . My english is very bad and so i have a problem to use the machine .
Does someone have a short programming description for a amateur ?
Can i install the software for training on a normally pc ?
What kind of software produce a extrak code?
Does the eztrak understand all gcode commands ?
Does someone create any gcode sample files for the eztrak?
Many thanks foe every answer .
Hans

[Verfur]

Hans,

The Eztrak series was ment for short run or tooling. The programing is done via "MDI" and "simple" fill in the blanks on the pop up.

Yes it will Run regualer "G-code" but has no Editer for it. It has to written by hand or cad/cam the format is the same as that of the "Boss 8 and up bridgports".

Does yours have 3 axis?

These are great machines we have had one 1996.

Just follow the prompts and fill in the blanks. And play time is the only way I know for learning the machine.

P.S. watch the handles ( make sure they are folded in) before you run the machine in cnc mode.

John

[machintek]

To add to the above, these was a piece of software called EZSPS-MILL which could be loaded onto a PC or onto a VMC or V2XT running a DX32 control and it was the EZTRAK software. It could create a conversational or G & M code program but it did not work very well on the VMC as it did not support a electronic spindle.
Do you have the manuals?

George

[Holzwurm56]

Hello John,
i use a 3 axis machine .
Hello Machintek,
i have the programming manual but not the installation and maintenance manual . I want to install the eztrak software for training MDI mode and create pgm files .
Hans

[machintek]

I do not know where the special version of EZTRAK software that loads onto a PC can be purchased. A maintenance manual can be purchased at machinemanuals.net.

George

[Gncc50]

Hello Hans,

I think you will find the EZ Trak is a great machine for what you want to do.

The newer Versions of the software have a G code editor. You can load in .txt files and edit them. The older versions of the software didn't have them. I don't know where you can get the newest Version. Maybe George would know. I would be interested so that I could update my machine.

When you are in the Run mode and have a program loaded if you hit the
- sign it will show you the program converted into G code. ( George taught me that... Thanks George)

Pete

[Holzwurm56]

Hello George ,
there is no maintenance manual at machinemanuals.net only a programming manual .
Hello Pete ,
after training my english and with a big dictionary i can use the programming manual .
What is newest software version , my version is 4.00 .
I send some email to bpt but i get no answer , does bpt exist in America at this time?
A great help would be the possibility to install the software on a normally pc to training with the software at home .
Hans

[machintek]

Bridgeport is now owned by Hardinge. There is no support to speak of.
There was a BETA version 7 that was on the old Bridgeport website (before it was closed down) but it was not a released version. It fixed a lot of bugs that exist in version 6 but has one big bug. Do not turn the machine off in metric. It will boot in inch mode with the machine parameters in metric. The machine will not run.
The last released version is version 6.1 but we just installed our last 2 stock EZTRAKs at Saturn and found that both have software bugs in the engraving. I know of other bugs as well.
Some of the latest EZTRAKs have a color LCD screen running version 6 with an expanded keyboard. These will edit G & M code .TXT files. The ones with the gray scale CRT and smaller keyboard will not. You would need a full size keyboard and use a DOS editor, no matter what version of software with these.
If I see a maintenance manual on Ebay I will post the link.

George

[NC Cams]

Contact EMI - they have a website. They are licensed by Hardinge to distribute the original EXTRAK operating systems and the instruction manual. You WILL have to supply them with your machine's serial number to get a copy of the O/S. They also did the original design and developement of the TRAK.

The TRAK is running in DOS. Our machine had DOS 6 with a 486DX board which we upgraded to DOS 6.22 and a Pentium 133 (do NOT go any faster!!!!!!!).

If you install a keyboard (it can be done externally by moving keypad plug from upper right socket to lower left socket and plugging regular PC keyboard into upper left socket), you can manage programs in dos with whatever shell you prefer (DOS 6.22 has DOSSHELL which is adequate and is free).

Simply press F8 while booting and say NO to any option that is trying to load anything that has TRAK in the title. This will get you to a C:\ prompt and DOS away after that. At C:\ type in 'dosshell' and if it is installed, you can DOS away with a GUI.

Our machine runs fine on ver 5 but seemed to have issues with ver 6. Never tried the engraving program which is why we bought 6. I haven't found the Hardinge is that well versed in the "old" EXTRAK systems. Contact EMI.

Support from them is not free but it is good, especially if you can talk with Bart....