Re: Series 1 Bridegport CNC manuals?

Les, I have a BOSS 6 (the last of the stepper models) and it rapids
at 120ipm so no need to go slower. I think the BOSS control uses
somewhere between 70V to 80V to drive the steppers. If your machine
has the 1/2 step (.0005" LED) on the jog controls, then it is a BOSS
6. If not, it's an older model. This would be hard to determins if
the unit is not working so it might be best to check the boards in
the side cabinet to determine what you have.

To the best of my knowledge, here's the info on the boards:

BOSS 6.0
ZDI I/O
NTP Interpolation
ZCK Feed rates
ERS ROM & serial

BOSS 4.0-5.0
XDI I/O
RCK Feed rates
ERS ROM & serial

BOSS 3.0
BCC I/O
RCK Feed rates
RSI ROM & serial

I think you're better off spending your money on the retrofit as even
the BOSS 6 control is pretty limited. You cannot drip feed it and the
program memory is small. Some of the older BOSS controls don't even
do multi quadrant circular interpolation so they are really a pain.

~petev

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Les Newell <lesnewell@f...>
wrote:

> Thanks to all who replied to my query.
>
> Sorry to be so vague but I couldn't find much info on it. The

control

> panel says 'Bridgeport Textron" and that is about all I can find.

The

> machine is about 25 years old and has a paper tape reader on the

side.

> It has stepper motor drives with large finned motors.
>
> I had a good look inside and it looks like it could be expensive to
> repair. One of the secondaries of the big 3-phase transformer that
> supplies the drives is open circuit and the transformer looks

cooked. I

> could get the transformer rewound but I don't know what cooked it..

I

> happen to have some Geckos and a 65VDC power supply so I think it

will

> be easier to scrap the current control and replace it with a

computer

> running Mach2. I hooked up the X axis motor to a Gecko and got a

max

> rapid rate of about 3m/min (about 120IPM) with very high

acceleration.

> Probably a safe max rapid rate will be in the region of 2m/min

which is

> plenty fast enough for me.
>
> Les
>
> >What model is it? Is it a Bridgeport-made CNC, like a BOSS? Or,

is

> >it someone else's CNC retrofit on Bridgeport iron? If a BOSS, what
> >model?
> >
> >You really don't give us much info to work with. There are

probably

> >15 major models of Bridgeport CNC machines, BOSS-3 through 7
> >and R2E4 and a bunch of similar models, and then Ez-Trak.
> >
> >There are probably another 10 or 15 fairly common 3rd party
> >retrofits, like Dynapath, Badger, Bandit, Centroid, etc.
> >
> >Jon
> >
> >
> >