Retrofitting a Bridgeport

[kuchean]

I have a Bpt. V2XT that has been stripped of it's old (non fuctional)
electronics. The servo motors and encoders seem to be functional.
I am looking for something as close to a plug-and-play retrofit as possible
without going over $4000. My electrical/electronic skills are only fair.
A cardboard box full of parts would do me no good at all! I have a PC
dedicated to the project and new cabling on the servos.

My last go-round was with a Turner Technology drive box that never worked right (maybe that is why they seem to be out of buisness). I have most of the
electronics that was pulled off the Bpt. on hand so I can reuse the power-supply if need be.

Kuchean

[braidmeister]

Kuchean,
You need the following to have a complete retrofit solution IF your servos and encoders fall within the published specs of the driver/encoder interfaces:

1) Gecko 320/340 or Rutex 2000 series servo drives
2) Parallel port breakout board
3) Mach3 software
4) Fast & clean PC

You can re-use your existing power supply (UNLESS it is a driver/PS combo).

-Brady

[kuchean]

Rutex or Gecko are my best choices?
Or are they best for my price range?
I undersand Gecko is now offering a whole pre-built
package. I have e-mailed them for price and availability.
The servo's have been tested and are working. For the
little while the Turner-2000 drive worked I was able to move the
axes and spindle under control of the encoders. Then whammo!

I had help from an industrial electrician in setting up the Bpt.
initially, he is no longer available.

Kuchean

[braidmeister]

Originally Posted by kuchean I am looking for something as close to a plug-and-play retrofit as possible without going over $4000. My electrical/electronic skills are only fair. Kuchean

There are any number of components out there that you could use. Taking into consideration that you want to follow the 'path of least resistance' and your skills, the Gecko or Rutex products are excellent choices.

Mach3 uses your PC as a controller. The Gecko G100/G101 is more complicated (at the moment) than you are realistically going to want to deal with. Go read the G100 notes and tell me that you understand them enough to put the whole deal together yourself...I don't say that as an insult, just going off of the 'plug & play' idea, which I think is the way to go using servo drives of your choice that take step & dir signals, an appropriate breakout board and Mach3 running on a good clean PC.

Using these components, you have nothing to lose. You could probably get close to what you paid for all of them back if you decided that you didn't want them or that they didn't work for you.

-Brady

[kuchean]

Three G320 or G340 modules the G-Rex and mach 3 software is doable.
I was just hoping to leave the electronics at work and make chips!
Do I unerstand the manual? Mostly.
Could I wire the thing up? (grumble) Yes.
Could I troubleshoot it? Not on my best day. Alright I exagerate, but between
my bifocals, poor coordination and low frustration threshold I expect
a lot of swearing and thrown objects.

kuchean

[braidmeister]

Kuchean,
The G-Rex is not necessary. It is a stand alone controller & works with a special version of Mach3 (Mach4 I believe...but don't quote me on it).

You ONLY need servo drives, a parallel port breakout and Mach3. That's it.

-Brady

[kuchean]

I think I need something the interface with the limit switches on the
Bpt. as well as spindle drive on/off as well as maybe 0-10 VDC for the Varispeed drive pot. The G320 and G340 drives are for servo control only
unless I misred the manual. Since I need a new computer to handle the Mach3/Mach4 software anyways I might as well use the USB port.

Kuchean

[braidmeister]

This is where I bought my breakout board for my BP conversion: http://www.campbelldesigns.com/

Check out the combo board. There are also a number of other vendors that sell a BO board as well. Some have the I/O board seperate.

-Brady

[NEATman]

Kuchean-
I have retrofitted my 1993 V2XT with a PC, and Mach3, and it makes for one great machine. I had only used the original control briefly before the mother board died but the new controls make all the difference.

I did not use the original motors. I converted to steppers, as I had them on hand. Also, I had talked with Rutex and Gecko, and the SEM motors that were on my machine were high voltage, and high amperage with low resistance. I would have had to buy some huge power resistors to put in line with the motor leads so the back-EMF wouldn't blow the drives on a decelerating move. The last time I checked was about a year ago, so things may be different now.

Also, I have added handwheels so that I can use the machine manually. I like to be able to position and run the machine without having to turn on the computer. Also, if you are using this at home and don't have 3 phase, I highly reccomend a VFD. It allowed me to disconnect the huge noisy 3 phase rotary converter. It also allows for easy interface with Mach3 to control the spindle speed. I'm still working on getting that right though. Also, I am trying to connect a 4 wire manual pulse generator (MPG) to replace the old one which is 3 wire.

I have also re-plumbed the pneumatics on the power drawbar. I could send you a sketch of that plumbing if you like.

Before you buy new amplifiers and power supplies etc., you should check the retrofit drive box that you already have on the machine. It may be as simple as gutting the controls from it, using the drives and power supply, and connecting a breakout board. That is assuming that the drives in that box allow for step and direction input. Even if that dosen't work, you could use the original bridgeport power supply, and original amplifiers (if they work) and get the Rutex step/direction to ±10vdc boards instead. It could be cheaper going that route.

Good Luck! and let me know if you have any questions.

Neatman

[kuchean]

Neatman.

The Turner Technologies box holds ONE big pc board.
Four amplifiers, controller, power supply, I/O's everything: one board.
All I kept from the Bridgeport was the power supply for the amplifiers,
and maybe the amplifiers themselves. I already bought the big noisy 3 phase
converter and I am going to stick with it, after all I also bought a big
noisy air compressor. Replacing the motors is a whole lot more expensive
than resistors. Putting handwheels on the machine would be neat, and will be
on my to do list (how do you do this?). Before I get too deep into the Bpt. again I need to finish setting up a used lathe I picked up last year. How do you swing almost a ton of cast iron 270 degrees in a small workshop with only pipe rollers? And I thought the thing was a bench lathe!

Kuchean

[NC Cams]

To swing lathe: jack up one end with floor jack or fork lift,

insert rollers off center away from jack/lift.

With help from fork lift, you can roll it around like a wagon while steering it with the floor jack (2.5 ton Hein Warner works GREAT).

[NEATman]

Here are a couple pictures of the handle adapters I made.

I cut the holes through the cast iron covers with a hole saw at a very slow rpm with lots of oil. One improvement would be to resize the OD to match a inexpensive common automotive transmission seal, to prevent coolant or chips from entering the housing.

I have a drawing if you are interested.

Good luck with the lathe. I have a hardinge up on blocks here myself, and it's only about half the weight of yours.

Neatman