Retrofitting the Bridgeport mill.

Fred.Rowe

Fred.Rowe

Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
May 2, 2004
Messages
6,848
We finally had enough:(. The RoboTool control system, that came with the mill, when we bought it three years ago, was a temper mental cuss. Some days it worked, other days it didn't. It made for a poor work day.

We are replacing the entire system from the control unit to the drive motors.
The new system is PC based and runs windows 7 ultima.
My son Kevin is working on the electronics while I work out a way to mount the new drive motors.
This mill is an early 80's model J head and is in great shape; with the new control system installed it should give us many years of service.
Santa Claus did come through this year in a big way; Thanks Big Guy.:thumbup:

The Bubble Jig website will be down for about ten days while we finish this up. It will be back up on the 12th of January.

Hope you had a great holiday.:thumbup:

Fred

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I'm loving that coolant sump.

Are you using the Artsoft Mach3? I use it on a smaller mill and I really like it.
 
Very cool, Fred! Hope this new controller works out. I'd love to have a mill one of these days.

Have fun!
 
seionage said:
Love to see more photos, especially in action!

Keep us updated.
Click to expand...

We will shoot some video as soon as shes up and running.

Bobby Branton said:
Looks like a Mach Motion controller. I've been looking at one of those.
BB
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Hi Bobby, happy new year to you.
We like working with the MachMotion people. The're young and tech savvy; I'm not but my son is so its been an easy build. There is good info that comes with the machine along with willing tech people.
After working with the 30 year old Robotool; it will just amaze me that you turn it on and it works.:D

Nathan the Machinist said:
I'm loving that coolant sump.

Are you using the Artsoft Mach3? I use it on a smaller mill and I really like it.
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Thats good to hear Nathan. Yes it is the Artsoft Mach 3. We use a spray system for the coolant; the sump we riveted together out of some aluminum sheet. It keeps the mess down and makes clean up pretty easy.

jonnymac44 said:
Very cool, Fred! Hope this new controller works out. I'd love to have a mill one of these days.

Have fun!
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Hi Jon!
We are having fun putting this together. Its nice working with my son; hes a good problem solver and likes to laugh.

Fred
 
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