Adviceon a Series 1 R2E3

[Solion]

I need some advice on buying a CNC mill. I have a manual mill but CNC is foreign to me. I'm looking at a Bridgeport Series 1 CNC R2E3 that looks to be in very nice condition. Since I don't know squat about about these machines maybe you could tell me about them.

Do you consider them a good old workhorse or a POS I should stay away from?
Can a person of average intelligence learn to run one without to much of a learning curve?
Are there any inherent problems with this model?
They are asking $2500 but told me to make an offer, what do you think it's worth?
It has a few arbors, no other tooling and all of the original manuals.
What other questions should I ask about the machine.
The owner is retiring and says it's in great condition for what that's worth.

Thanks for any info and thoughts you can give me.

Larry

[machintek]

I would hesitate to buy a BOSS 8. It is getting close to 17 years old. I did have a BOSS9.
The BOSS 8 has a 2 line LCD screen made by Epson that is obsolete. Is a dog to program or edit through the front panel (which falls apart when touched by oily fingers). It needs a PC attached to i. It has a FMDC which if it fails, will cost you almost as much as the machine to repair. If it was cheap enough, put a different control on it as the iron is excellent.

George

[Solion]

Thanks George, This is the type of information I'm looking for, the downside of this machine. What would you consider cheap, $1500 or less? What software would I need on a PC to interface with this model? What would it take to convert it to a more modern control system?
Larry

[Tommy]

I paid $500.00 for a series 1 R2E4, turns out it had a Bad Power Supply. With the help of this Board I did repair it for about $180.00 so I was lucky.

But now that I know a little more about the machine if I was to think about buying another, I would have in my mind of how much it would be worth as a Parts machine... just in case.

[Dyad1]

Hi George, Would not that be closer to 27 years old?

[Solion]

I was told it was an '83 model. What's the best way to lift these, is there any place to pick under the sheet metal on top or just fork them from the bottom?

[machintek]

Yes, I started with Bridgeport in 1982, so it is 26 years old. Guess I did not want to admit that to myself.
These machines came with hooks that fit into square holes in the side of the ram casting for lifting. I guess the hooks are long gone, so a strap through there should suffice.

George

[jmelson]

Originally Posted by Solion I need some advice on buying a CNC mill. I have a manual mill but CNC is foreign to me. I'm looking at a Bridgeport Series 1 CNC R2E3 that looks to be in very nice condition. Since I don't know squat about about these machines maybe you could tell me about them. Do you consider them a good old workhorse or a POS I should stay away from?

The "machine" itself is quite good. The CONTROL, however, was never really great, and now is likely to be a maintenance problem. if you were an old minicomputer guru from the 1980's, you could keep it running, but it would be a pain. (I had a slightly older control, but what was truly rock-solid at the time, an Allen-Bradley 7320, but the connectors were always going flaky and needing to be wiggled.)

So, if you want to retrofit a modern, PC-based control onto it, it would be an excellent machine to start with. If you just want to use it, there is a strong chance it would not power up after moving to your shop. That's a real risk!

Jon

[Solion]

Well I own it and it will be delivered next week. The seller didn't have any software for an external PC so what do I need and where do I find it? I've been reading the archives to answer a lot of my questions and learn more about the machine and it did come with a stack of manuals so maybe by the first of the year I'll be able to use it.

[Neal.R2E3]

I just bought an R2E3 Boss 8 machine for $1000 and I got it home and cleaned it up it's in excellent shape. I'm currently getting information together to order an ajaxcnc Mach3 3axis retro kit the one with the third party servo card because i'll be reusing my existing dc servo motors and putting ajax 2000 line encoders on my motors. The ajax kit will run me $1550 w/encoders and the Mach 3 software (licensed) ran me $225 So for a grand total of $2775 I will end up with a pretty nice and modern cnc mill. I will say that i'm having a bit of trouble finding the Kwik Switch 200 tool holders. So if anyone has any their looking to sell let me know. Thanks.

[Sparky_NY]

Originally Posted by Neal.R2E3 I just bought an R2E3 Boss 8 machine for $1000 and I got it home and cleaned it up it's in excellent shape. I'm currently getting information together to order an ajaxcnc Mach3 3axis retro kit the one with the third party servo card because i'll be reusing my existing dc servo motors and putting ajax 2000 line encoders on my motors. The ajax kit will run me $1550 w/encoders and the Mach 3 software (licensed) ran me $225 So for a grand total of $2775 I will end up with a pretty nice and modern cnc mill. I will say that i'm having a bit of trouble finding the Kwik Switch 200 tool holders. So if anyone has any their looking to sell let me know. Thanks.

I am doing a similar conversion right now, on a V2E3 boss 8. I am reusing the power supply and ordered Dugong servo drives from cncdrives.com. I currently have a series one manual machine that I retrofitted with steppers a couple years ago but the ways were in horrible shape and the V2E3 was too good of a deal to pass up. The Dugong servo drives are getting fantastic reviews and have features/price that beats the others by far, anyone doing a retrofit should check them out.

Mounting new encoders on the powertron servos might prove to be a issue. (assuming you have powertron servos like mine has). The encoder is actually integral with the motor endcap. I ordered/have AMT capacitive encoders with selectable resolution that I will be using but it will require machining the motor endcap and new helical couplers to allow a protruding shaft to drive the encoder. Its one of those things you have to see to understand, the powertron does not have a stub shaft out the end for driving the encoder.

The old mill has a Kwik switch 200 spindle and it took me quite a while to hunt up a good assortment of tooling, so I know what you mean. I will be getting rid of the KS200 tooling as soon as the V2E3 is up and running so I sent you a PM.