Re: bridgeport series 1 retrofit

Thanks for the help guys. I really like the idea of booting off the
morphix cd. Right now I'm going to stick with the Morphix-based
BDI. I was just thinking that more recent versions of Redhat might
be more stable/reliable. But it just doesn't get any easier than
booting from cd and not having to do any setup. That's pretty cool.

Last evening I was studying how the bridgeportio piece works. The
way I understand it there is a PLC piece to EMC that handles the
coolant, spindle, oiler, variable speed, etc. So now that has
brought up a bunch of questions in my mind.

When I bought my bridgeport two years ago the machine was
cannabalized, no steppers or air motors, enclosure, etc. So I
assume that the plc code was designed to operate plc's which
controlled air motors, solenoids and relays. Since my machine came
without these parts, I was thinking that instead of the air motors
that were used to control the variable speed and brake mechanisms, I
would use a small stepper and a solenoid instead, driven by a PIC18F
and an allegro stepper driver and some relay drivers. So, my
question is (before I scope it to see what is happening), what type
of output on the bridgeportio pins am I going to expect? I assume
for spindle speed control (for example) that I would get some sort
of pulse train to increase, and a different one to decrease; logic-
level outputs for coolant on/off, etc. Is this correct?

Also, I will be using a vfd to control the motor (no three-phase
where I live); I'm wondering if this may be the better route to
controlling the spindle from emc than it would be to control it
mechanically. I could put a crank on the variable speed and leave
it somewhere in the middle, and use the vfd to do braking, rapid
reverse for tapping, increase/decrease spindle speed etc. What do
you guys think? VFD or go the manual route?

Regards, Bob


--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, Robin Szemeti <list@r...>
wrote:

> On Tuesday 13 January 2004 15:49, Ray Henry wrote:
>
> > 2. Is anyone running EMC with Redhat 9?
>
> yep, it needs a few tweaks to the RH9 install to get it to

compile, but

> nothing serious ..
>
> You need an updated version of findutils, and you may find the

kernel config

> useful when compiling the new kernel
>
> http://www.quacky.co.uk/~robin/rh9_rtl/
>
> the other packages on there are specific to my Dell desktop,

ignore em.

>
> --
> Redpoint Consulting Limited
>
> Real Solutions for a Virtual World
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