Need Help!- Is A HEIDENHAIN #135 CONTROL on a Bridgeport of any USE or should it be replaced?

[jbcj]

I have just purchased an Bridgeport series one with a 3 axis HEIDENHAIN #135 CONTROL. Is this control of any use or should I just replace it with MACH3 or something else? Are the motors and the drives usable with MACH3 or should I replace them also? At this point I think will be using Dolphin cad/cam or Vector cad/cam as the drawing/cam program. What are your opinions or idea's.......

Jim

[harley4ever]

I personally use dolphin partmaster pro and mach 3 myself. Couldnt be happier. Looked at vector years ago and uninstalled it about as quickly as I installed it. Not sure what they are up to now. The motors and drivers should be usable with mach 3.

[gus]

I do not believe the 135 is a 3 axis control rather it moves 1 axis at a time, so it would not be worth much

[jbcj]

Harley4ever,

So If I remove the Heidenhain controller You think that MACH3 will be able to directly interface to the Heidenhain drives. Then I can reuse the controll panel and switches to interface into MACH3 keeping the overall look but with better functionality.

Thats cool.

Jim

[scadvice]

TNC 135 is point to point no arc's I don't think it has cutter comp. TNC 145 is 2 and 1/2 axis with cutter comp. TNC 150 and up to 155 (as I recall) is full 3 axis with cutter comp in any two axis. I think you may be able to upgrade it to the 145 and maybe the 150 thru 155. I would check with a dealer who knows or contact the Heidinhine factory. I, in the past, upgraded a 145 to a 155 and only had to change the PLC ( 1987) I did have to come up with about 250 parameters and it took about three full days to do it. If you can find a 145 or 155 and the servo and drivers are the same, I do it... I would only consider retrofite if you can find these controls cheap. Also I am guessing you have no Z axis so a retro for 3 axis could be costly. Your options are to leave it alone and learn the system then consider whether to upgrade. Or... learn it, to understand programming & after you clean it up, sell it for something newer, or if money not of concern use it for simple second ops.
Is this a hobby machine, a money making machine or a little of both?
Steve

[jbcj]

Steve,

It is a 3 axis machine. Z being the spindle. It won't be used for production more for prototyping on a few projects I want to work on. Own and run a small AV company. My machine background is about 7 years of mill and lathe work about 20+ years ago. Pretty good computer and electronics engineer now. Can design and make boards Porgram pics etc.

Jim

[andrewbishop66]

I use the bridgeport steppers with modern 8 amp drives and mach 3 with no problems
the mill i have is a bridgeport clone retro fitted with s/h bridgeport steppers works ok for me most of my stuff is one off custom items Ithink it would struggle with production work

Andrew

[gridley51]

Yes it`s a three axis machine with a point to point positioning control.You can download the Heidenhain manuals for it from here.
https://filebase.heidenhain.de/doku/...72/N13772.html

[jbcj]

Andrew,

What kind of performance are you getting from Mach3. Are you usingan external timing controller or the parelell port? Were you able to use the glass scales. Is the system accurate?

Jim

[jbcj]

Gridley51,

Thanks for the link. After looking at some of the documents do you know if there is a drive for each motor or 1 for all three? Do you know if my system has the 20um,40um, or the 100um glass scales.

Jim

[andrewbishop66]

using mach 3 with parallel port connected with optical board to drives from arc Euro trade
motor controlled with board from cnc4pc to inverter drive works fine for what I do

Andrew

[gridley51]

jbcj,
I would expect the machine to have only one axis drive to control the three motors.That means you can machine in a straight line only and parallel to the machines axis.No 45 degree moves.
I have no idea what resolution of scales would have been used.
Mark.