New Bridgeport Day: 1990 Series 1 with Prototrak Edge

We bought a new (to us) Bridgeport to replace one of our worn step-pulley machines. It arrived today and now were eagerly getting it set-up to use. It's a 1990 Series 1 (#BR256274) with the 2HP variable speed head and an Erickson 30 Quick Change spindle. Our old mills are all R8 so we're going through the bittersweet process of upgrading our old tool holders (bitter because we don't have any 30 taper stuff, sweet because it's a better system).

As far as I know, the mill came out of an Aerospace shop in California with a bunch of Bridgeports, and every few years they replace the oldest 4 machines. So it "aged out" but otherwise wasn't in bad shape.

The ways are in much better shape than our old mills. The knee flaking is slightly thin in the mid-front section of the ways, but it hasn't worn through like our old mills. This mill also has a 2003 Prototrak Edge 2 axis control. It won't compete with the machining centers, but it will be so much better than JUST a knee-mill with DRO. I was excited to find out that with the right post, we can import programs from Mastercam. A vast majority of it's work will be simple programs that will be faster to type in at the control, but it will be nice to have the capacity to write more complex 2D programs at the PC.
I'm currently getting everything cleaned up and getting accessories swapped over from the old mill (aprons, work lamp, coolant, etc.)

2 questions:
with the Quick Change spindle, can you just hand tighten the spindle locking nut, or should we use a spanner wrench?

And, Does anyone know the full-load amperage for the Prototrak Edge control? I can't find anything online. The fuses in the back are 1A and 8A but I'm not sure if they are original. The reason I ask is that we typically mount a transformer on the back of our machines (if it doesn't have one built in) to power 110v add-on's like DROs and lamps, so that when you kill power to the machine, a single switch shuts everything off. I just need to know how big a transformer this thing actually needs. In the mean-time, it'll just get plugged into the wall.

Still looking forward to our new VMC in a few months. This mill just settles our nerves in the mean time. Pictures to come.

I have a BP clone with Prototrack edge , it works well and is very useful.

I'll check the fuses shortly and report back.

I use SheetCAM for simple cam jobs , I've modified the prototrack post processor to work with edge (rmoves the 3rd axis code) , but the edge memory limits can be restictive .

I've great plans to connect it to linux cnc or mach3 by adding a z axis spindle on the slotter mount, but that's not likely to happen soon!

Bill

ok the fuses on the back of the swi box are 1amp and 12amp , but they may have been changed.

my machine is a 240VAC single phase version . the 110VAC to swi box is fed from a 650VA transformer in the main control box (which also supplies the 24vac to the switches and 50w 24v to the lv lamp)

Bill

M.B. Naegle said:

2 questions:
with the Quick Change spindle, can you just hand tighten the spindle locking nut, or should we use a spanner wrench?

Click to expand...

You could just convert it over to a use a power draw......

Kevin

bsg said:

You could just convert it over to a use a power draw......

Kevin

Click to expand...

That's actually one thing I like about this set-up. From what I understand, the Quick Change System is quicker and more convenient than using a draw bar, but finding CORRECT NMTB 30 holders can be tricky. I'm finding them out there, but it's not something you get overnight anytime you need it.

Fortunately, any 30 taper tool will fit the spindle with the right draw bar. I'd like to see us get a Drill/Tap center someday so it wouldn't be crazy to start getting some CAT 30 stuff on hand. We have a Kurt pneumatic draw bar that will be saved off of the old Bridgeport for this reason. But I don't think you can just leave it mounted with the draw bar in place when using the Quick Change holders because the draw bar will get in the way of the holders fully seating into the spindle. It would need to be one or the other.

At any rate, I've got A few Quick Change holders on hand to get us started and more coming in the mail.

Billtodd said:

ok the fuses on the back of the swi box are 1amp and 12amp , but they may have been changed.

my machine is a 240VAC single phase version . the 110VAC to swi box is fed from a 650VA transformer in the main control box (which also supplies the 24vac to the switches and 50w 24v to the lv lamp)

Bill

Click to expand...

Thanks. I was looking at it last night and I found a sticker that says to use a 1 amp and an 8 amp fuse, so I guess that answers that. To add an additional transformer I think I'm looking at a 1000 voltamp minimum. It would be nice if I could change the input on the transformer inside the control though. I'll crack it open and see how difficult that would be. I'm surprised it's not like most DRO's with a dual voltage switch on the back.

bsg said:

You could just convert it over to a use a power draw......

Kevin

Click to expand...

IF your Spindle has a hole through it... my Bridgeport BOSS mill does not.

I'll use the QC-30 nut hand tight when tramming a part ( the easy way to hang an Indicol with these spindles is to chuck a 3/4" endmill holder, then clamp the Indicol on its OD) but never under power... I always use the spanner.Too much chance that if the nut loosens a bit, when the spindle shuts off and the brake comes on (automatic air powered on a BOSS) that inertia will unscrew the nut and drop the tool. Never had it happen to me, but have heard of it happening.

Dennis

There's no transformer in the swi box, only a switch mode psu (which is fortunately capable of running at 240v - so it survived being plugged in on my bench!) the motor drivers are 110vac fed from the swi box via the input so it is really 110v only.


I modded my box slightly,, i fitted a solid state (usb) floppy drive - to avoid the problems of floppy discs, and i swapped the standard dull lcd for a bright 7" lcd monitor fed from the main board's vga output.

(there's another thread of mine that details adding a z axis (quill) scale for the dro function and gives pinouts for the connectors etc.)

Bill

M.B. Naegle said:

Thanks. I was looking at it last night and I found a sticker that says to use a 1 amp and an 8 amp fuse, so I guess that answers that. To add an additional transformer I think I'm looking at a 1000 voltamp minimum. It would be nice if I could change the input on the transformer inside the control though. I'll crack it open and see how difficult that would be. I'm surprised it's not like most DRO's with a dual voltage switch on the back.

Click to expand...

Billtodd said:

There's no transformer in the swi box, only a switch mode psu (which is fortunately capable of running at 240v - so it survived being plugged in on my bench!) the motor drivers are 110vac fed from the swi box via the input so it is really 110v only.


I modded my box slightly,, i fitted a solid state (usb) floppy drive - to avoid the problems of floppy discs, and i swapped the standard dull lcd for a bright 7" lcd monitor fed from the main board's vga output.

(there's another thread of mine that details adding a z axis (quill) scale for the dro function and gives pinouts for the connectors etc.)

Bill

Click to expand...

Ok, so an additional transformer would be the only way to go.

i think the previous owner already upgraded ours as it has a USB reader in place of the floppy drive, and it has a Z axis scale on the quill for DRO. We are going to make a back-up USB with the boot software, but I did see that Southwestern has the files available for download on their site.

How is the Edge control different from SM or SMX controls?

Tom

TDegenhart said:

How is the Edge control different from SM or SMX controls?

Tom

Click to expand...

It's a cut down 2 axis version. the geometry engine is nowhere near as advanced , there's no external input so memory limit the code, no dxf conversion etc. etc. (we have a number of smx and age3 machines at work)

Electrically and mechanically, it uses many of the same parts: servo motors and drives, same pc based main board (unfortunately swi have key locked the different versions , so even though it will load the various software version,it knows it is an edge machine and will not operate)

It's still very useful , but feels more like an augmented manual machine than a cnc.

Bill

I've never used the other Prototrak mill controls but our TRL 1840V lathe's VL control is more advanced than the Edge.
With how we will be using this mill though I think the Edge control will be perfect. For simple point to point indication, linear mill paths, and occasionally some interpolation, it helps to have less "stuff" to navigate through. Anything more complicated is going to the VMC anyway. An "augmented manual mill" is a good way to put it as for us it's still doing the same work as the other knee mills, it's just faster.

Some shots of the new mill. It's been a running great!

This is the cabinet we installed in the back to house a main disconnect switch and a 1000VA transformer. Now that it's all wired, a single switch isolates the whole machine. I also plan to include a main fuse block, and a surge protector for the control.

quick question about end stop switches.

On my machine the axis end stop switches only interrupt programmed runs, they do not , oddly, prevent jogging into the hard stops (in fact one had been broken off when i got the machine).

Is yours the same?

Bill

Yes you need to use a spanner on the nut that holds the 30 taper tooling in.

Another thing is that nut gets full of fine chips. You need to blow it out regularly and take it apart once a year and give it a good cleaning.

Billtodd said:

quick question about end stop switches.

On my machine the axis end stop switches only interrupt programmed runs, they do not , oddly, prevent jogging into the hard stops (in fact one had been broken off when i got the machine).

Is yours the same?

Bill

Click to expand...

I don't think ours has any kind of limit switch. The only way it would know anything is by counting revolutions of the servo, and it's never asked to be 'homed' like the other machines. We determined that by trying to see what the travels were and it would just go until it physically couldn't and threw an alarm. The alarm was easy as all we had to do was jog it back. Our's was missing the X axis hard stops so I borrowed them from an old machine and set them just a little before the end of travel. I thought I locked them down pretty good, but those little servo's just slid them along the T-slot when they hit the stop. No slowing down or over-current alarm, etc. So They're good for a visual reference but not much else.

Ah yes , I've just seen your backpanel picture

The limit switch connect to the 9pin D , which seems to have a jumper plug in it. (bizarrely, the limit error displays as a guard open fault)

My machine has the european version so has another 9 pin D above the serial port for e-stops

Bill