Bridgeport EZ with Delta Tau

[karlis_m]

I have the oppportunity to buy a Bridgeport Ez Trax with a Delta Tau controller. It belongs to a government agency who paid 18K australian for the the controller in May last year. They are asking 15k for the machine but have not been able to sell it in 6 weeks.

Has anybody any experience with this controller?

I downloaded the manuals from the Delta Tau website - the Cnc programming support seems limited.


Any comments would be appreciated.


Regards

Karlis


Melbourne Australia

[Al_The_Man]

I think there is going to be a very limited market for that, It may pay to make them a low offer or wait it out.
A lot depends on who did the control, i.e. individual or recognized company?
Does it have all the documentation? You may find yourself on your own if there are severe problems and the builder is not around, hence a low offer.
I have seen the Delta-Tau CNC in operation at the US IMTS show in Chicago and it did show very impressively.
Al.

[karlis_m]

I received this information from the agency

Karlis,

The Bridgeport mill has been used on a part daily basis and works fine however the NC side will need some tweaking to get it running effectively. The mill will be disconnected from 3 phase power tomorrow as we are receiving a new HAAS machine on Monday and although we do not want to part with it, the Sport Commissions preference is to sell equipment which is being replaced and quite simply, we do not have the space in our small workshop.
We are keen to move on this ASAP to avoid costly storage so keep in mind that the price is negotiable. I have also included a link to the website for the controller so hopefully this will answer all of your questions.

http://www.baldor.com.au/product_view.php?PROD_ID=103

Thanks – Andreas

(1) How many axis on the machine - is the z axis implemented?
There are 3 movements of axis; X, Y & Z and all three are motor controllable.

(2) Flash memory size?
See website link

(3) Hard disk size (if installed) and operating system?
See website link

(4) I assume that you have the original documentation and licence together with installation CDs which would be transferred to new owner.

Yes we have all the manuals here. No License and no software disks were needed as it came preinstalled with its own operating system.

What was the motivation to install the new controller - extra capabilities or the Bridgeport unit became unreliable or had limitations for the work your?

Originally the mill blew a motor and the controller. It was actually more cost effective (at the time) to replace the entire controller including the 3 drives.

I presume this is not a machine to buy ?


Regards

Karlis

[Al_The_Man]

Originally Posted by karlis_m The Bridgeport mill has been used on a part daily basis and works fine however the NC side will need some tweaking to get it running effectively. . I presume this is not a machine to buy ? Regards Karlis

It appears to some extent to be a 'work in progress'
There is probably a lot of value in that machine and controller, but the price should reflect any effort you may have to make to 'tweak' the NC.
If they are referring to the CNC side rather than the PLC side, I find that strange as I would have expected a pre-designed package to require machine side tweaking only, but not the CNC side.
If you feel you have the ability or incentive to do the tuning then only if the price is right, will it be a deal.
Al.

[Ron22]

Karlis
I now there was some info on another thread I thought I would try to move it all here.
I made some calls about the Advantage 400 controller since I have never used one. It is a PC104 System running Windows CE with a modified version of their older NC to run on CE. They are not sold much here in the State they are more common in Europe. It was designed to be a simple and affordable system to install on 2 -3 axis machines.
The NC side of the system is somewhat configurable. You can also write PLC that will run in the background to modify the control.
The machine sound like a good deal since it is running. You may be able to modify the parts they did not like. Like you said it also could be an issue with the operator left and the other operators do not like it for some reason.
I would be interested in what you think when you look at the machine and if you end up purchasing it.

Ron

[karlis_m]

Ron

I will not be going to Canberra to look at the machine as it is no longer connected to power. The machine has been reduced to 12k and here is the advertising details

“ CNC MILLING MACHINE BRIDGEPORT EZ TRAK DX II Delta Tau ADV 400 Controller & 3 new drives, 12 months old, cost alone over $18,000. 7 Years Old, EX GOVT machine, made in the USA Includes R8 Tooling: 2 x ER40 Collet Chucks 1 x ER40 Collet Set [ETM 23 pieces] 7 x R8 Collets 1 x 32mm Face Cutter Holder 1 x 22mm Face Cutter Holder 1 x 22mm Arbor 1 x Fly Cutter 1 x No2 Morse Holder 1 x 6" machine vice “.


I spoke to the remaining technician and he said that the machine had worked fine after the system was installed but that one of the axis did something strange and that either it was a wiring situation or an intermittent software or hardware fault. The previous cnc machinist had changed the wiring and when the fault developed they used it in a manual mode – all of that is now irrelevant as their new Haas cnc arrived on Monday.

If the machine is not sold it will be going to auction in late August.
I will wait till then as I don’t have the space in garage at present.


Thank You for your comments

Regards


Karlis