Bridgeport MDI update

I went ahead and bought this machine from the college, plus a load
more stuff I probably shouldn't have bought as well. Anybody want to
buy a Murex 330Amp welder ?? <g>
Got to play with the MDI under power and I must admit it's a queer
beast.
The machine is basically a Series 1 with variable speed and a fixed
head. Power to the axis are by SEM servo's with encoders. Controller
is an Heidenhain T131. What is queer about it is that it only has one
drive card and it swaps this between axis as required. This means it
can do canned cycles like drilling, pockets, slotting, bolt circles
etc and linear moves but it can't circular interpolate. When I found
this out before I bought it, It put me off but after realising that
90 % of my CNC work is only done in one axis at a time I went ahead
and bought it. Plus point is that if you push in the knobs at the
side of the handles it turns into a full manual with the controller
working as a DRO. It also has a limited teach mode on it as well This
looks like an early version of the EZ Trac but lacking some features.
As far as I can tell this is a UK only machine and they were not
fitted with this controller in the US.
Looks a very easy machine to convert if nessesary but as it's all up
and running I'll keep it like this until I have problems. I think the
limited working area of 18" x 12" will be more of a problem than the
linear axis moves.

John Stevenson