Need Help!- Bridgeport CNC Series 1 School class Project

[electromech31]

Hello
We have a Bridgeport CNC series 1 at my collage with a shot controller (removed). I want to retrofit with EMC2 PC based controller, and use it as a class to teach industrial maintenance students. But before I go to my boss I have to have a good idea how I would go about this. Is there someone out there that has done this and be willing to share there reference material, and doesn't mind me pick there brain so I can see if this is a good idea.
Elmer

[METALTEK]

I have not used the EMC2 pc based controller, but I used Mach2 CNC also pc based. I purchased a Toroid type transformer of from Ebay around 100 dollars , a parrallel break out board 30-40 dollars, and 3 gecko drives around 400 dollars. A total of around 500-600 dollars. I know some people claim the huge steppers are not ment to be driven by the geckos but they actually have special settings for the 42 size motors. I have been running my machine for 3-4 years now with no problems. I do have to run my Z axis motor alot slow than X and Y.
Let me know if you have any questions, I will help if I can.
Jaime

[BMG]

Here is a paper written by college students about a refit of a teaching lathe that was sitting at thier school.

It has a good "blueprint" for doing what you desire. You might even turn this into a teaching opportunity with the school.

http://www.asee.org/activities/organ...0057_paper.pdf

Hope that helps.

BMG

[electromech31]

That is awesome paper.
Thank you

[BMG]

You might also log into the IRC chat channel - Accessible from the Linuxcnc.org site using a Java client. Follow the "where to find help" link and look for the IRC Chat links.

There are several very experienced machine integrators always online - JMK - a frequent poster here is certainly one of them. Many of the guys in there can give you pointers on investigating what would be required to restore the mill controls to operating condition.

Good Luck.