Retro fit manual mill to cnc

[plsmn001]

Greetings to all Canadian cnc'ers
This is my first post and I start here first with fellow countrymen! I'm a middle 50th aged class A machinist as I was bestowed upon after graduating my 5 yr machinist apprentiship---machining is in my blood all of it being on manual machines---during the apprenticeship i was required to learn and operate NC machines---the machines that were run by paper tapes-- not my cup of tea at that time---especially when I was operating large floor borers --boring mills--40ft planers --30 ft lathes--and everything else that machined metal----but Now I got the CNC bug!!--took a course to learn and understand m & g codes---now to get a piece of cnc machinery--a mill.
My question to you astute cnc operators and creators is it feasable to retrofit a Bridgeport knee mill series1 to x,y,z,axis which I would love to attempt or should I just purchase a fully cnc operational mill---and who In Canada provides cnc retofits for manual machines---I look forward to all honest opions and or experience and hope to meet new fellow Machinist!
May all your businesses thrieve and lets make quality parts! in CANADA.

[WA Toolman]

Greetings, and Welcome!
There is a fellow in Vancouver who distributes Centroid brand controls for Bridgeports and similar machines. The Centroid and a few others bolt up to the Bridgeport replacing the crank handles (I believe). He mailed me pictures of one that looked to have a full screen, MDI input and seemed a pretty adequate conversion.
To answer your question: YES they are sold but you will have to search them out. The one I came across was a Machine Tool Salesman.
Good luck in your search.

[mc-motorsports]

I did a DIY using Gecko drivers, Pacific Scientific servo's, Elrod Z axis retro, ballscrews, new bearings, pullies, belts, wire, built a computer, mach3 control, made all the mounting plates, did all the wiring so on and so forth, around 12K total paying 2k for the conventional machine.

100ipm rapids (tested at 120imp) 80imp constant contouring simultanious 3 axis no problem.

My advice is build it yourself if you can, you'll know how to fix it when anything wears out, breaks or requires maintence. And for programming, CAD/CAM for 100% sure. I started off writing code by hand, and I can now do in 20 minutes what would take me 4-6 hours to program simple ganged or fixtured parts. Plus your almost limitless with CAD/CAM vs. hand writing code. You can machine parts with CAD/CAM that are damn near impossible to hand write code for. Without CAD/CAM, I wouldn't be able to make most of the parts I manufacture daily.
Good luck!

[TOTALLYRC]

Originally Posted by mc-motorsports I did a DIY using Gecko drivers, Pacific Scientific servo's, Elrod Z axis retro, ballscrews, new bearings, pullies, belts, wire, built a computer, mach3 control, made all the mounting plates, did all the wiring so on and so forth, around 12K total paying 2k for the conventional machine. 100ipm rapids (tested at 120imp) 80imp constant contouring simultanious 3 axis no problem. My advice is build it yourself if you can, you'll know how to fix it when anything wears out, breaks or requires maintence. And for programming, CAD/CAM for 100% sure. I started off writing code by hand, and I can now do in 20 minutes what would take me 4-6 hours to program simple ganged or fixtured parts. Plus your almost limitless with CAD/CAM vs. hand writing code. You can machine parts with CAD/CAM that are damn near impossible to hand write code for. Without CAD/CAM, I wouldn't be able to make most of the parts I manufacture daily. Good luck!

A good set of ballscrews for my manual series 1 bport would have cost more than the BTC-1 that I wound up with. ($1k usd) It came with servos, ball screws,power drawbar, 24 position toll changer,vfd,servodrives, and a whole bunch of other things. Unless you have a manuall machine that you are really attached to, and many guys will agree with me, find a cnc machine in need of a retro fit. It is easilly less than 50% of the time required. Just make sure it is mechanically sound and the screws are not worn out.


I am into mine for about $3000 USD including shipping (means I went and picked it up).This of course doesn't include the vise and/or tooling that you would need to buy for any machine. I will hopefully be making my first test cuts today.

I cut air last week and with my air calipers it was dead on.

It is currently going 125IPM. once I retune the servo drives it should go up to the 300ipm it would go when new.
I use the original power supply and motors, the DSPMC/IP board from vital systems. (36 input 16 outputs) +-10v analouge outputs. Stepper output is coming. Network port interface so it will run on laptops as all the motion control is done on the board. Mach3 just tells it where to go.
Works well with on my test computer(Vista laptop) and I am running the machine on win2k.
I found that the best way to get cheap computer is to buy your wife a new one.

I am working on a build log and will hopefully get it going next week or 2

[DareBee]

Fagor also has a superb "bolt on" kit.
It runs about $15k.
You wont need to know coding with it as it can be used in picto-conversational mode.
You can also find good obsolete machines like mid 80s Tree journeyman mills for $6 - $10. They are very well built but the controls are old and basically not repairable if they fail.

I am a huge fan of the newer Fagor control.

[mc-motorsports]

Originally Posted by TOTALLYRC I am working on a build log and will hopefully get it going next week or 2

Please PM me when you post you build log, I am very interested to read it! Thanks!
MC