I came across two Bridgeport
BOSS's one made in 1977 the other made in
1982. Both of them are stepper units. Can I operate them using PC
running Mach 3? What kind of difficulties might I expect?
Dan
Dan,
You will most likely want to replace the stock drives with something like
Gecko G201 units and a matching power supply. The stock drives are known for
failing and are very old full step or half step technology depending on the
specific version. The Geckos will greatly improve the reliability and
smoothness. You also need to make sure that the stepper motors are still
good. They are known for getting partially demagnetized when the drives
blow. You may want to consider just replacing the motors with some more
modern units. The old finned Bridgeport motors are very high inductance and
will restrict the rapid speed you can achieve.
These machines give you great iron to work with and the ball screws and
mechanical set up would be very expensive to put on a mill yourself. But the
electronics and motors are mostly outdate and the mill will benefit greatly
from replacing them.
Tim
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