Author Topic: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC  (Read 48131 times)

Offline AdeV

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Wahey!!
« Reply #50 on: August 25, 2012, 12:04:30 PM »
I've just won myself a TNC151 controller off eBay:



It seems to be attached to some kind of milling machine....  :lol:

£1600 is a bit of a steal - especially as this one hasn't been stored outdoors.... so, the plan now is to install this one next to t'old one, the old one will begin the process of being converted into a PC-based unit. Or maybe I'll just wire them together & make 2 sumps at a time!!!

 :thumbup:
Cheers!
Ade.
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Offline Ross

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #51 on: August 25, 2012, 07:14:02 PM »
Just read through this! Great stuff!

I hope one day I'll get to the point where I could fit one of these into my shed!




Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #52 on: August 26, 2012, 06:08:15 AM »
Very nicely done Ade!  :clap: :clap:

Hope it's all it seems to be. Good luck !  :thumbup:

David D
David.

Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline AdeV

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #53 on: August 29, 2012, 06:04:40 PM »
The buggers are breeding....



Production line, ready sah!



The new machine, albeit rather grubby, appears to be in 100% working order - and the spindle is considerably quieter than the other machine. Result!

Back to learning SolidWorks now...  :smart:
Cheers!
Ade.
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Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline Stilldrillin

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #54 on: August 30, 2012, 03:37:31 AM »



            OOOOOOooooohhhhhhhh.........................Nice!!!!!!!!


                                                                                 :D 

You lucky man.......  :thumbup:

David D
David.

Still drilling holes... Sometimes, in the right place!

Still modifying bits of metal... Occasionally, making an improvement!

Offline Hazel

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Hi everyone, I just bought one of these beasts, and erm, it is too tall for my Garage - yikes. And I only have single phase - double yikes. Any recomendations on how I can transport said machine the whole 7 miles from its current locale to my Garage would be great !

-Hazel

Offline awemawson

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If it's the Interact like Adev's then you have a problem as the height cannot be reduced. If it's an ordinary manual Bridgeport you can remove the motor. Looks like your garage needs to grow a bit :)
« Last Edit: July 03, 2013, 05:50:09 PM by awemawson »
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline AdeV

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Hi everyone, I just bought one of these beasts, and erm, it is too tall for my Garage - yikes. And I only have single phase - double yikes. Any recomendations on how I can transport said machine the whole 7 miles from its current locale to my Garage would be great !

-Hazel

With a Hiab truck is the easiest way... if you know anyone into banger racing, they will have or know someone who has a hiab. That gets the machine from its current location to your garage; as Andrew says, if your garage is too low for the machine, you're in for a world of pain (and/or building works...). If it's just too low to go through the door, then it can be tilted (the hiab will make this easy) to get in; setting it back upright will be quite tricky (a good hiab operator will be able to do it).

You can temporarily remove the quill (Z-axis) motor & the cowlings to reduce the height while you move it around in the garage, but that Z-axis motor needs to go back where it came from... and you can't turn it over either (no room in the casting for it).

Good luck & don't forget the pictures!

PS - you need "real" 3-phase to run them, I am told. If a 3-phase supply is beyond your price range, then I would suggest buying a 3-phase alternator (machine mart do one) and the beefiest motor you can start off your single phase supply. You may find you can only run fairly light cuts (the main spindle motor is a 9hp unit), but that's better than nowt...
Cheers!
Ade.
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Location: Wallasey, Merseyside. A long way from anywhere.
Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline awemawson

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I ran my Interact from a Transwave rotary converter quite satisfactorily
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline Hazel

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #59 on: August 04, 2013, 02:38:21 PM »
Well, I had the roof of the garage removed - took me several days, as I am quite feeble. Then had someone put three extra courses of bricks on the walls, and then on megga-day my dad and I (okay, mostly him) put the joists on and ply on the roof. Then in the afternoon I had the mill delivered, so there it is, in a garage with no felt on the roof, and no garage door, covered in all the tarpaulins I could find. I have no manuals, and the tooling is a single QC30 keyless drill chuck and a C-spanner. I will go and take a photo of this , massive stress causer! Next on the list is a rotary converter, and a manual (I have the hidenhein manual, just need the bridgeport one so I don't blow everything up.

Offline Hazel

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #60 on: August 04, 2013, 02:53:15 PM »
Here are the extra bricks and the monster 'undatarp' :


I guess I should think about felting the roof and covering up that big hole to.


The carrier left the mill on these old sleepers, which I need to do something about, I have a plan involving a pallet truck and some old railway sleepers..




Offline Hazel

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #61 on: August 04, 2013, 02:55:05 PM »
I ran my Interact from a Transwave rotary converter quite satisfactorily
Can you tell me which one, and where I get it from ? :)
_Hazel

Offline awemawson

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #62 on: August 04, 2013, 03:08:55 PM »
I at that time had a little 5kW one - google Power Capacitors Ltd - they make Transwave and will be able to recommend the right one - a very helpful company in my experience
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline Hazel

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #63 on: August 23, 2013, 05:17:09 PM »
I wired up a little 5kW rotary, and got the thing going.



It all works, X axis sounds a bit crunchy though, I got the spindle to move. I bought a maintenance manual off eBay, but it had a few pages missing, and is a really poor photocopy. so I can;t really read the wiring diagrams, which is a shame as the only fault I have is the power enable light does not come on. So far I have tracked it down to the 24V contactor.
-Hazel

Offline awemawson

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #64 on: August 26, 2013, 10:37:50 AM »
That TNC control has has a TFT screen upgrade I think!

Just had to do one on my TNC355 as the monitor went pop with no obvious fault. (I did a bit of fault finding and proved that the switch mode psu wasn't switching)

Installed the TFT screen which worked very well straight out of the box but was pricey) then a few weeks later came across application notes for the smpsu chip in the monitor with an application circuit that was very close to the monitor, with the result I then fixed my original monitor which now lives inside the Beaver Partsmaster cabinet as a spare!
Andrew Mawson
East Sussex

Offline Hazel

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #65 on: August 26, 2013, 06:24:32 PM »
Yes, the seller advertised my BP as regularly serviced, but all I got in the way of proof was an old receipt for the TFT repair - over £2k ! yikes.  I tested the coolant pump this weekend, and got sprayed with some nasty brown goop. I've spent most of the day cleaning the nasty goo out of the reservoir. Now the spindle stops after a an M03 and I no error is reported. This seems bad. I am now considering changing the spindle tooling from QC30 to 40INT, since QC30 is super rare.

Offline AdeV

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #66 on: August 27, 2013, 05:25:11 AM »
I wouldn't say it's _super rare_, Gloster Tooling sells brand new QC30 stuff (through eBay & their online catalogue), and tooling frequently comes up in the US (eBay). It's probably rarer than INT40 though, I agree.

If your spindle is stopping on an M03, how are you starting it? Or does it start, then drift/slam to a halt? Either way, not good, it is indeed supposed to just start & run. Assuming you are testing this in manual mode, did you set a spindle speed first using the Tool Call button? ISTR mine behaved "oddly" if you issued an M03 before a tool call, after powering up.

I would also recommend you start collecting servomotors... I blew one up a couple of weeks back, cost near £700 to replace (and was going to cost a lot more to rewind)...
Cheers!
Ade.
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Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline Hazel

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #67 on: September 11, 2013, 05:51:24 PM »
Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it!" begins!

Eeek!


OO Looks like you have a 4th axis drive installed ... want to sell it  :bugeye:

Offline Hazel

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #68 on: September 11, 2013, 05:53:04 PM »
I wouldn't say it's _super rare_, Gloster Tooling sells brand new QC30 stuff (through eBay & their online catalogue), and tooling frequently comes up in the US (eBay). It's probably rarer than INT40 though, I agree.

If your spindle is stopping on an M03, how are you starting it? Or does it start, then drift/slam to a halt? Either way, not good, it is indeed supposed to just start & run. Assuming you are testing this in manual mode, did you set a spindle speed first using the Tool Call button? ISTR mine behaved "oddly" if you issued an M03 before a tool call, after powering up.

I would also recommend you start collecting servomotors... I blew one up a couple of weeks back, cost near £700 to replace (and was going to cost a lot more to rewind)...

It turned out the auxilliary contactor was a bit dodgy and would cut off the power to the cycle stop switch - stopping the cycle. It all seems happy now.

Offline AdeV

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #69 on: September 12, 2013, 06:24:27 AM »
Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it!" begins!

Eeek!


OO Looks like you have a 4th axis drive installed ... want to sell it  :bugeye:

Annoyingly, that's the machine I sold (only had a TNC150 on it though), I hadn't really clocked it had the 4th axis drive. There was no powered dividing head/rotary thingy with it though, so I don't know what would have been involved in getting it up & running.

I do have 2 spare drive cards, but I don't have a choke to match (I could do with one - one of the chokes on my machine is very noisy), I could possibly be tempted to part with one of those...
Cheers!
Ade.
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Location: Wallasey, Merseyside. A long way from anywhere.
Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...

Offline The Steamer

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #70 on: September 12, 2013, 05:46:07 PM »
I also have the same machine with a Tnc151 control! looks like we have quite a few on here! im just trying to learn the control as its like nothing ive used before  :doh:

cant wait to a program or 2 to run :headbang:

Offline AdeV

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Re: Project "YOU Bit It Off, YOU chew it", aka installing a Bridgeport CNC
« Reply #71 on: September 13, 2013, 10:00:44 AM »
I also have the same machine with a Tnc151 control! looks like we have quite a few on here! im just trying to learn the control as its like nothing ive used before  :doh:

cant wait to a program or 2 to run :headbang:

Cool - wanna sell it?  :lol: (I am looking for a spare machine or two.... after finding the cost of spare parts...)

The TNC programming manuals are available on the web - just search for TNC151 & follow the links on the Heidenhain website - the prgramming examples book is unfortunately only available in German, but it is of limited use anyway, unless you plan on manually programming your machine.

I'd recommend CamBam for your CAM needs - there is a postprocessor specifically for the HH TNC151 - it will generate either G-code OR conversational (which is what I use).
Cheers!
Ade.
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Location: Wallasey, Merseyside. A long way from anywhere.
Occasionally: Zhengzhou, China. An even longer way from anywhere...