Re: Expectations, bridgeport

Hi John:
Just a little bit of education here. Bridgeport made an R2E3 as well as an
R2E4 in the mid to late 1980s. I'm fairly certain, but don't quote me,
that they are roughly the same size. The main difference, as far as I can
tell, is that the R2E4 has a CRT (Boss 9) built into the head of the
machine as well. In addition, I think that only the R2E4 has the ability
to have the computer control the spindle speed. This is done with a little
air motor that drives the speed crank on the head. No electronic VFD type
control.... just plain old standard variable pulley. The R2E4 I looked at
had servo drives and BEI encoders. I've been told that most (all?) of the
machines older than the R2E3/4 vintage are steppers.

It seems like there is a love/hate relationship with the electronics of
that machine. One knowledgeable person indicated that Bridgeport's
philosophy at the time was to simply add a big fan and assume that it
cooled the right things. I read some posts in the CAD/CAM group
(newsgroup, not this one) where some said the controls were the worst
things around.... others swear that the fact many still run is a testament
to their robustness. Whatever the case, you are correct that the machines
are a pretty big. Quite a bit of it is air (nice fiberglass cowlings and
big electrical cabinets... most sparsely filled) but even with that stuff
stripped off the naked mill is still pretty big.... Believe me, I know! I
have been trying to figure out how to bring home an R2E4 for several
months!

--Alan

FYI, I think they use Erickson QC-30 tooling.... but check that out if you
plan on bidding on the machine.