Bridgeport series 1 Build. (photo's)

[jbcj]

To All,

I have posted here asking for advice in many forms. All which has been good and greatly appreciated. So now I will log some of the fun and not so fun parts of this process. And hopfully this will help others.

So here is the start.

Setup to remove mill from trailer:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0390.jpg


Mill Arriving at the house:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0393.jpg
Mill after lift out of trailer:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0401.jpg

Rolling mill into garage for disassembly and cleanup:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0435.jpg

Lifting head off of mill:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0462.jpg

Mill Base ready to move down the stairs:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0477.jpg

Mill at botom of first flight of stairs:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0490.jpg

Setup for second flight of stairs:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0500.jpg


Area prepped for the mill. 3 pieces of 1/4" steel plate laid over two layers of 30# felt and the joints and screws sealed with Vucum. This location is still 12' above the ground.:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0511.jpg

It's amazing what you can move with a refridgerator dolly:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0516.jpg

First piece in place WhooHooo:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0525.jpg

Mill setup in new home, the ceiling above is the garage floor where we started:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0529.jpg

Electronics temporary home in the wood shop. New and final home will be under the floor that the mill sits on:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0103.jpg

Mesa 5i20 and 7i33 installed and functional. I am getting the major kinks worked out prior to moving the cabinet. I want my space back in my wood shop:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0105.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0106.jpg

The mill after two weeks work in the evening:



Heidenhain Sine to ttl conversion card out of a TNC145C. It runs on +5 volts digital and +12volt analog with a shared ground:

http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/s...n/IMG_0107.jpg

I have 2 functional axis using EMC2 at this point:




This has been a busy two weeks.

The good stuff:

EMC2 and it's support absolutly tops.
MESA boards and there support also tops.
Ebay there are just good deals there for replacement parts and ways to sell any good parts left over, and there are many.
Lots of fun hours rewiring the control cabinet.
Lots more fun getting the Home and Limit switches working.
And a challange and lots of fun was sniffing out the Sine to TTL card from the TNC145.
And the most fun of all being able to move a joint with EMC2..........


The bad stuff:

A TNC145C with a bad power supply.
2 linear encoders that have bad readers.
A dealer back east who I purchased this from who said the only problem was the monitor. He said the machine was Mint....... I am not convinced!
And now I have a noisy head also.... We move on.


Things on the ToDo list:

Find another scale for the Y joint.
Finish wiring and testing the hand held encoder.
Figure out the interface from MESA to the TECO motor control.
Repair the head, and add a rotary encoder to the spindle.
Build a platform under the mill and move all of the electronics under the floor.
Add a Post under the mill to keep the floor from sagging.
Add 2 more Estop switches one on the mill and one at my desk.
Finish setting up EMC2.
Add Xserver to my PC so I can control EMC from my desk.
And lastly adding a small panel for some hard buttons for EMC2.

Hope you have enjoyed this so far. If you have sugestions I would be glad to hear them.....


Jim

[Rework]

The variable speed on the motor and the head have plastic bushings in them, that is where the riddle is in most cases. It is easy to replace them and parts are available.

[jbcj]

Repair of the head was interesting with multiple problems.

Problems:

1 Missing Quill skirt.
2 Felt washer wrapped around Splined gear hub.
3 Bad splined gear hub.
4 Spring washers not installed correctly on bull gear assembly.

After fixing and replacing the various parts and replacing all the bearings in the upper head and the upper spindle bearing all is good..

Long day

Jim

[gschoep]

Do you have any tips for repair of a head?

My head is pretty noisy but I am unsure if it is the belt or some other more sinister problem.

My head is different than yours, it has the motor down in the back.

Thanks!