Questions - Getting Started on a BP Textron

[gotfdirtball]

So last year I decided with the help of this site to give a try at home brew CNC. I ended up making a two axis plate to bolt to the table of my J head. I used Mach 3, Keling steppers and power supply, and a G540 and it ended up working quite well except it wasn't very rigid. Couldn't take very big cuts at all.

In an effort to make a step up, last week I bought an old BP Textron (don't know the difference between Series 1 or Series 2 or Boss 1,2,3 etc. maybe someone here can tell me) with the hopes of retrofitting some Geckos and Mach 3. I also plan to use a VFD for 3 phase power.

I guess my first question would be are any of the old electronics useful for anything? At the moment it "aint exactly pretty...... aint exactly small" so I'm thinking of sexing it up by tossing the big controll panels attached to it.

Any recommendations on new controls? Use the old steppers or get new ones? If new ones - 34's or 42's and what power supply and controllers.

Hope this post didn't sound stupid and thanks in advance for any help.

[Sparky_NY]

I just did something very similar on a bridgeport. You might get some ideas from my thread http://cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93483

My machine is a servo motor machine so it is different but many things still apply. I removed both electronics cabinets and took the rear one that had 2 doors and cut it in half height-wise and used the upper half for my new enclosure. It was tight but I fit everything in there and put it on the floor, on wheels, next to the mill which saved a lot of space from the original layout.

Your mill is stepper motors. Stepper motors have advanced a lot in technology since those were made. The new square motors have quite a bit better performace, most people use a nema 34 size, and 1200oz. However, many use the original motors with good results also. The problem is that the original motors are pretty high voltage compared to newer ones and Gecko drives are limited to 80 volts max. Still, many have used gecko drives with the only issue being that running the motors on lower voltage lowers the maximum rapid speeds attainable. There are high voltage stepper drives available that can run those motors with the original power supply nicely.

Search around the forum here, there have been many retrofits of stepper driven bridgeports and a lot of information.