Bridgeport Series II Interact 4 Spindle Brake

[UKRobotics]

Hey all,

Just wondering if anyone here knew the purpose of the big electromagnetic brake which is bolted to the top of the spindle motor on the series II interact 4.

Is it just used to bring the spindle to a stop faster or does it have another, less apparant purpose?

More to the point, is it an essential component or if I removed it would my mill continue to function ok without ?

[colin1544]

Hello I think the magnetic brake you are talking about is dual purpose 1, to bring the spindle to a stop 2, to hold the spindle from revolving while changing tools using the Bristol erickson quick change spndle tooling unless you have a pnuematic toolchanger, even then I would still think you need the brake. Cheers Colin

[UKRobotics]

Tool change is hydraulic and the action is a downward force from a ram mounted above the quill. While I have not yet used the power drawbar, I cant see rotation of the spindle being a problem as the angle of rotation is offset by 90 degrees to the angle of the drawbar actuation.

[colin1544]

Hello again now I realise which power drawbar you have these where on the mid eighties era I bought one of these machines for a company I worked at in Nottinghamshire in 1986 and the air over Hydraulic was never that reliable, it kept getting air into the hydraulic system and if memory serves me right it turned out to be a fault in the hydraulic cylinder casting. But the brake again was for the slowing of the spindle and as the power drawbar was an optional extra they still fitted it for holding the spindle from turning while undoing the 40INT Bristol Erickson spindle nose holding the tooling. Cheers Colin.

[Gnome]

Hey Dom,

As far as i can tell the brake is only for slowing/stopping the spindle. I have removed it for my retrofit as i replaced my DC motor with an 7.5 hp Marathon Electric AC motor and VFD. The VFD has programmable ramps for braking so i figured i didn't really need it.

BTW, i really enjoyed reading through your build thread @ http://www.ukcnc.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4

Really well put together and detailed. It's also super helpful for a guy like me working on retrofitting the same model machine.

[welderfabrod]

UKRobotics just caught this thread and was wondering if you have manuals for your Interact 4, if not I have some that you are welcome to if you can collect a list of what I have follows.

A complete photo copy of programming manual.
Bridgeport Interact Programming Course.
Bridgeport Interact 4 Series II Maintenance Manual.
Heidenhain PLC Description 150/151/155
Heidenhain Mounting and Interface Circuit Control-machine and several supplements to these last two.
Heidenhain Pilot TNC151-TNC155 Programming Booklet.
Bridgeport Series II Interact 4 150B/155A Software Parameter record ETS 120 issue 2.
You are welcome to these but if you already have them perhaps someone else would need them.

Rod.

I live in Maidenhead, England.

[welderfabrod]

Just thought I'd throw this in on the question of what the spindle brake is for, it has nothing to do with tool change apart form stopping the spindle prior to ejecting a tool. The spindle on the Interact is progammable, if for instance you were boring a hole for a shaft and the keyway was already cut you could programme the spindle to stop in the keyway before withdrawing the boring head, this way you would'nt risk marking the bore on the way out without upsetting the boring head. But if I remember correctly this was an optional cycle def I think cycle def 13 but don't quote me on that. This is just one use for the spindle brake. On some 155 controllers you could actually cut large diameter threads by putting a tap with the right thread form in the spindle and programming a helical path. I only ever did this once and that was more than 20 years ago and I have'nt used an Interact now for about 18 years and at my age the memory can play a few tricks.

hope this helps some.

Rod