Bridgeport (adcock shipley) power supply

having a bit of trouble getting an old bridgeport going, the motor runs fine when i hook it to three phase directly so thats not the issue. i have it hooked up to the main input, the breaker is on and theres juice going out of the black box next to it but not one of the four breakers in the top of the box are live, are there fuses in there that could need to be changed or any ideas as to why they're dead?

thanks

photo for reference

Pictures would help. Are you sure they are "breakers" and not starter relays? I'm guessing that 2 of the "breakers" are for the motor (run FWD, run REV). The 2 remaining are probably for power feed and coolant. Is there a control panel wired to this? There should also be a low voltage transformer in the box.

Just saw pic. yep, starter relays, not breakers. The black square at the lower right is low voltage transformer, Looks like gray wire is for control box,
JR

Thanks jr, is it possible to fry the starter relays? Would there be any reason they're not working? They don't appear to be live. The grey wire to the right is the power in, table feed power is wired to the on off switch under the saddle, the head is powered by a lead plugged inti the top of the relay

Have you got a wiring diagram? If not I should have one I can send you if you PM me with your E-Mail and machine serial number off the plate on the side of the column to give some idea of the year. Looks like one with the old style three phase motor and gearbox type X-axis feed.

Those contactors are probably the most durable and least troublesome of the MK breed so all 4 failing is unlikely. If I recall correctly the controls are strung together so the motor run contactor has to pull in before the others can operate. If yours is the one with the motor start and stop buttons up on the saddle that would be the first place I'd look for trouble. Wiring and button contacts tend to suffer from oil ingress. Often abused too as they aren't overly strong. Being 60 or so years old doesn't help either. Another weak point is the forward-off-reverse motor switch on the head. Reasonably durable provided folk only operate it when motor is powered down. Using it with the motor running fries the innards quite quickly. Again if its original it will be old so failure isn't unreasonable.

I'll look at my diagrams when I'm out in the workshop tomorrow.

Clive

I can't see details very well in your photo, but it looks like that may be a safety interlock switch at the lower right corner where your incoming power is connected. If so, the cabinet door usually has to be closed and then the switch can be closed to power up the components in the cabinet. Is there a switch handle on the outside of the cabinet door that actuates that switch (if it is a switch) when the door is closed ?

Ted

Without being there to trace the wiring or having a schematic, anything you get here would be hit or miss. More of the later I expect. BP did a lot of specials. Stuff like you have was usually for factories that could not have high voltage at the machine controls. So, everything was done with relays.

My first step would be to take a voltmeter to the transformer and see if you have output voltage.
JR

I've checked the relevant wiring diagram. Fortunately thats a bog standard UK Bridgeport set-up for machines with the three phase motor and gearbox X-Axis feed. One of the easier ones to check although the official diagram is done cable style with letter and number lead out identifiers rather than direct individual wires. Easier in some ways, harder than in others.

If you lock in the door operated breaker you can use the buttons on the contactors to run things up individually so its all pretty say to test out. The overload breakers and resets are in series so the machine won't run up off its internal controls, or lock a contactor on when using its own buttons, if any of the overlaps have actuated or a reset switch is out. Manual resets on this one so the rest buttons need to be pushed in. Reset systems do get old and sometimes they just need to be manually operated a few times after anointing with switch cleaner to get them going again.

PM me if you want a copy of the diagram.

Clive

You have to turn the toggle switches on the knee controls on for what ever function then press the start button. For main motor you also have the direction switch on the head which also has a off function.