What would it take to convert this?

[Guldberg]

Hi

I was just wondering what kind of motors it would take to convert this mill to CNC, anybody have an idea? And is it even possible?

[Switcher]

Do a search for " Bridgeport ", here on the Zone. Looks about the same.


Jerry

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[Guldberg]

Any idea on which model it compares to, there quite a bit of bridgeport posts:-)

[Bear]

Hi Guldberg ,
This is a hobby site you know, that being said,,
probbly too big for hobby retrofits,however,
if you dont mind the machine travels being slow,
sure it can be done.
Bear

[Jason Marsha]

As switcher said do a bridgeport search. The guys over in the mill section do some fantastic conversions.

Jason

[Mcgyver]

Bear, look around, there are many many pros hear (I'm not one them) but having said that if the price is right that mill is fine for a hobby shop. there are 1000's of full sized mills in guys garages, basements and shops and I've to ever hear one complain, dang, I wish I'd bought a smaller mill.

looks like it has a motor in place of the x axis hand wheel?? make sure its not 550/600 volts or you have to change motors. 3 phase can be dealt with without too much trouble, but you want 220V.

Guld, your question is kind of impossible to answer directly, read up on Bridgeport conversions, no it doesn't matter much what Bridgeport. They'll help you understand what sized motors are need for the friction of large dovetailed tables, full size mill cutting forces and how to power the knee (possibly counter weighting it?). also, you need to decide servos vs steppers - i wounder if you could go servo using the signals from the existing dro?

any conversion (on an uncommon mill) is going to be specific to the machine but reading up on other full sized conversations will help you understand the scope of work, specifics you have to figure out.

[Guldberg]

I did'nt expected a link to a off-the-shelf conversion kit:-) Just if somebody have similar experiences, i think ill go on and explore the subject of converting larger mills in the bridgeport forum. Its the mill in the students workshop at our technical university, the place is full of engineers and machinist, so i guess it should be possible to come up with a sollution:-)