Bridgeport Series 1 Retrofitted!

[biomed_eng]

I have retrofitted my old Bridgeport Series 1 vertical mill that had the BOSS 4 controller.

I have it controlled by Mach 1 and run off of three Gecko G201's.

What voltage and current rated power supply should the stock stepper motors be running off of via the Geckos?

I can wire the stock steppers in series or parallel.

Anyone here have experience with the Bridgeport steppers?

THANKS!!

[HillBilly]

I have the same machine with stock motors and drives.

The manual sais set the motor current at 8.4 amps.
They are running them in full step mode so 2 of the 4 windings are on for this measurement.

Hope this helps. By the way is your machine rigid ram.

HillBilly

[John S.]

Biomed,
Have a look here for a Bridgeport to Gecko wiring diagram.
Note there are two types of motor on a Bridgy, a Sigma and a Superior, same mounting etc but different wiring on the terminal numbers. Easily checked out with a meter to see which ones you have. Sometimes they have both on the same machine if they have been changed out.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/stevens...iles/gecko.jpg

Aim for about 70 volts max DC to allow for overvoltage and set for the full 7 amp, in other words no resistor on pins 11 and 12.

John S.

[biomed_eng]

John S,
Thanks for the schematic. I am assuming that this represents parallel wiring? Correct?

Thanks!

[John S.]

Biomed,
Yes parallel, 1/2 coil isn't good enough for a Bridgy, too much table mass.
I don't know if you can find any second hand - Ebay - or similar but there are some drives out there made by API called CMD-260's There were quite a lot going about a while ago.
Similar to a Gecko but twice the size and rated at 80 volt 8 amps.
These are fully protected against shorts, bad motors, over heating etc and will trip out wheras a Gecko at 80 volt and 7 amps is on it's design limit.

John S.

[biomed_eng]

HillBilly,
I assume that it is not a rigid ram since I don't know what a rigid ram is...what is it?

[DLMACHINE]

R-Ram or Rigid ram is a whole different head casting. The upper portion of the mill isn't dovetail mounted and doesn't swivel.It's approx 800 lbs heavier.Most of the R-ram heads came with an Erickson 30 taper quick change spindle.Most of them were variable speed, and a large number of those had air speed changers attached from factory.Also alot of them had air brakes on the spindle from the factory. V-rams resemble the J-head.

I have one retrofitted and have worked with several Boss 4,5and 6 machines for several years.

[biomed_eng]

Thanks for the description...I do have a rigid ram in that case.

[inthedark]

I agree, use the recommended voltages, and be sure the amperage is within the tolerance levels.

I have a Bridgeport Series II that had a Boss5. Once I got all the levels right, everything worked great. Still Does.

Kenny

[Phooey]

Hi,

When you say "all the levels right", i'm wondering what you ended up with. I have a series two as well, retrofit under way. some people suggest rules to calculate the settings, but you say yours actually work. thats something allot of people don't have to back up their theories! what voltage/current did you end up with, and what's the max you would submit your machines stock steppers to? thank's!

Phooey