Need Help!- CNC Bridgeport upgrade

[candylyn]

I have a EX TRAK SX, 2 axis machine that I want to do the following to:
1. Add a Z axis, preferably on the knee and not the spindle.
2. Upgrade the control hardware and software to something more modern and user friendly, at a reasonable price.
Can anyone suggest a direction to go in?

[masonbcaldwell4]

I can get you a model no. in a few days, but Accu-rite makes an NC conversion which is extremly user friendly, is fully conversational and is very easy to learn. the only downside is that your Z is your spindle, coolant is under your control, as well as tool change and spindle speed. let me know if your interested.

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by candylyn I have a EX TRAK SX, 2 axis machine that I want to do the following to: 1. Add a Z axis, preferably on the knee and not the spindle. 2. Upgrade the control hardware and software to something more modern and user friendly, at a reasonable price. Can anyone suggest a direction to go in?

I think $50 is reasonable, and the cnc guys that do it for a living may think $10k is reasonable. Please define your version of reasoanable.

For what I think most people think is reasonable would be the smoothstepper and Mach3 using a pc for the control. From one of the pictures that I saw on the web, it looks like it is a servo driven machine, which if it has anaolg servo drives could be a little more problematic. The dspmc/ip will handle the analog servo drives and has lots of inputs, and it is what I used on my retrofit.

If the machine currently runs, you can use it to make a motor bracket to drive the knee, and then retrofit it from there. I think Himmykabibal (sp?) has a clone that has the knee cnc'd and can go like 400"/min done with gecko's and Mach IIRC.

But it all comes down to what you want to do and what you want to spend.

Mike

[HimyKabibble]

Originally Posted by candylyn I have a EX TRAK SX, 2 axis machine that I want to do the following to: 1. Add a Z axis, preferably on the knee and not the spindle. 2. Upgrade the control hardware and software to something more modern and user friendly, at a reasonable price. Can anyone suggest a direction to go in?

CNC'ing the knee can work well, but it's not without its problems. That's a LOT of mass to move around, so it takes a LOT of power, and won't be fast. If you're going to do 3D work, the speed will kill you. The screws/ways will likely wear faster than normal. If this is for strictly for hobby use, that's probably not too much of a problem.

I did my knee, and I'm now working (slowly....) on doing the quill, at which point the knee will be used only for tool length compensation. The quill is a better, albeit slightly more complicated, way to go. I always planned to do the quill, but the knee drive was a very quick and easy way to get a third axis with minimal effort.

Regards,
Ray L.

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by HimyKabibble CNC'ing the knee can work well, but it's not without its problems. That's a LOT of mass to move around, so it takes a LOT of power, and won't be fast. If you're going to do 3D work, the speed will kill you. The screws/ways will likely wear faster than normal. If this is for strictly for hobby use, that's probably not too much of a problem. I did my knee, and I'm now working (slowly....) on doing the quill, at which point the knee will be used only for tool length compensation. The quill is a better, albeit slightly more complicated, way to go. I always planned to do the quill, but the knee drive was a very quick and easy way to get a third axis with minimal effort. Regards, Ray L.

Slightly off topic, but I am sure that candylyn will be interested. My machine is the other way, the quill is cnc and I am working on adding the knee for tool length compensation. With only 5 inches on the quill, you can run out of travel fast.
I was wondering, can the tool length compensation be applied to the knee automatically, when using the quill for the z axis?

Hope I wasn't too far off on your machine specs, Ray.

Mike

[HimyKabibble]

Originally Posted by TOTALLYRC Slightly off topic, but I am sure that candylyn will be interested. My machine is the other way, the quill is cnc and I am working on adding the knee for tool length compensation. With only 5 inches on the quill, you can run out of travel fast. I was wondering, can the tool length compensation be applied to the knee automatically, when using the quill for the z axis? Hope I wasn't too far off on your machine specs, Ray. Mike

Mike,

Yes, I've already written the Mach3 macros to apply tool length to the knee automatically. Let me know when you need them.

Its' my X and Y that'll do 400 IPM (though I don't run it that way - too scary). It'd take one helluva motor to get the knee going that fast - It only does 75 IPM.

Regards,
Ray L.

[TOTALLYRC]

That is way too cool. Some day I will be able to program within Mach3.
I will contact you shortly as I plan on doing the knee conversion next week.
I had my mill going 200ipm on the quill and it is really scary in that the quill is only 5 inches travel.
I will hopefully have my knee go 30ipm, since it will only be for tool offsets, I won't need much in the way of speed.

Thanks,

Mike