Bridgeport Series 1 CNC

[Charley Davidson]

Anybody know much about the CNC part of this machine? Is it tape? Have conversational capabilities? Easily upgraded? Any pertinant info would be helpful.

 

[dogbed]

I've never seen one of those. Very nice.

I am thinking you could rebuild/modernize the CNC computing etc. and keep the motors, power-supplies etc.

 

[DMS]

The guy I bought my lathe from had just purchased one. I think what tends to happen is, the controller goes out, and they sell for cheap. Most people will replace the drives and run Mach or LinuxCNC for the controller. Very solid machines from what I understand.

 

[bloomingtonmike]

I have a 1630 Millport CNC that is similar in complexity. I am going down the Centroid (eventually) and MAch short term AjaxCNC retrofit path. Recently started. Ordered and received the AllinOneDC controller. You checked out AjaxCNC yet?



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I think I read the series I machines had stepper motors and not servos. Can you verify the type of motors you have on the X, Y, and Z axis. That will determine the progression you will take if you retrofit.

If you do have servos then the next info you will want is the type of encoders it has and the line count of the encoders.

Older bridgeports with steppers are expensive to retrofit to servos using Ajax - wow!

http://www.ajaxcnc.com/ajax-cnc-centroid-bridgeport-kits/

 

[DAN_IN_MN]

The guy I bought my lathe from had just purchased one. I think what tends to happen is, the controller goes out, and they sell for cheap. Most people will replace the drives and run Mach or LinuxCNC for the controller. Very solid machines from what I understand.

I bet it wouldn't be too difficult to repair the boards on one of those. Probably a minor component that goes out.

 

[Tony Wells]

Mike, that looks like a DynaPath controller that Bp. Is that what it is currently? I am thinking that they are serviceable. I'd want to check that out before ditching it. Those are easy to learn and run. You can program there, or off line and dump in. Pretty versatile.

 

[btm]

bloomingtonmike,

If you decide to remove that Dynapath controller, please let me know.
I have a machine with the same controller. It works well, but I'm always keeping my eye open for spare parts.

Thanks
btm

 

[DAN_IN_MN]

I've been looking on the internet and have seen places that will rebuild a CNC controller card for around $250.00 per card. Not too bad to get a mill up and running.

 

[endmill]

I bought one of the Bridgeports a few years ago ,looking to P.C. base it some time. Still learning on what I need to do.