Re: Bridgeport Series 1 conversion and othe r stuff

Chuck,

CNCPro is found at www.yeagerautomation.com

Gecko drives are at www.geckodrives.com

I would say nowadays the driver is cheaper than the motor when you are
talking about the big NEMA 42 steppers. I would replace the driver
with a gecko.
I fully expect to get 30 ipm feedrates with my old (circa 1989)
unipolar drives. This will traverse the full X in 30 seconds. This
is plenty for what I do right now.
I am using half-step, and the belt reduction is 1:1. I get .0005" per
step resolution.

I definately intend to upgrade to Gecko Drives in the future,
especially with the high voltage model to be out soon (we hope).

As to your spindle, I would REALLY try and get some holders from the
place you are buying the mill. If they have five machines then I
guarantee they have some holders. You will go broke trying to buy new
#30 holders from MSC.

Luck