jeffers
Cast Iron
- Joined
- Aug 24, 2007
- Location
- Rhode Island
I have a Cincinnati Toolmaster which I am refurbishing. It does not have a power feed.
After looking at the price of servo power feeds and their price tags i bid on an old bridgeport power feed on ebay and go one for $100.
It came and was in good condition but with control board issues. I replaced some SCR diodes and a capacitor but there were issues with the microswitches. I replaced the board with a Minarik board again off ebay and sold the old board for more or less the same price. I had to replace the micro switches and at the same time I re wired it using AQ-Tech's excellent approach ( http://www.atechfabrication.com/information/Bridgeport_Feed_Controller.htm )The control is now smooth with the motor ramping down nicely, the difference is night and day.
The attaching bracket is similar to the Cincinnati's but there was no way it was going to bolt on without cutting the feed screw and drilling and tapping the table and i did not want to do that because at some point i would like to put an original Cincinnati Power feed on, they seem pretty rare though.
To get it to work i had to make up an adapter plate, back to e bay and a couple of days later some 3/8" plate and a chunk of 4' diameter round turned up.
It was nice to be able to turn some bigger material
Boring out the barrel of the adapter bush
I centered the Toolmaster on the output shaft of the power feed and then bored for a light press fit of the bushing
I bored a slight recess as the bearing for the leadscrew stands proud and this located the barrel nicely:
A bit of filing to meet the profiles and it was ready to fit:
I had to make a sleeve with a keyway for the Toolmaster end and a taper pin for the output shaft end of the BP gearbox:
I think it probably cost about $250 all told for the parts plus a lot of labor but it works smoothly and quietly and the gears look as if they will last into the next millenium!
I have put red ATF oil in the gearbox, does anyone know what is supposed to be used?
I am glad that I went for this solution instead of an import, hopefully it will last longer.
Need to tune up my fly cutting gear now to test it!
After looking at the price of servo power feeds and their price tags i bid on an old bridgeport power feed on ebay and go one for $100.
It came and was in good condition but with control board issues. I replaced some SCR diodes and a capacitor but there were issues with the microswitches. I replaced the board with a Minarik board again off ebay and sold the old board for more or less the same price. I had to replace the micro switches and at the same time I re wired it using AQ-Tech's excellent approach ( http://www.atechfabrication.com/information/Bridgeport_Feed_Controller.htm )The control is now smooth with the motor ramping down nicely, the difference is night and day.
The attaching bracket is similar to the Cincinnati's but there was no way it was going to bolt on without cutting the feed screw and drilling and tapping the table and i did not want to do that because at some point i would like to put an original Cincinnati Power feed on, they seem pretty rare though.
To get it to work i had to make up an adapter plate, back to e bay and a couple of days later some 3/8" plate and a chunk of 4' diameter round turned up.
It was nice to be able to turn some bigger material
Boring out the barrel of the adapter bush
I centered the Toolmaster on the output shaft of the power feed and then bored for a light press fit of the bushing
I bored a slight recess as the bearing for the leadscrew stands proud and this located the barrel nicely:
A bit of filing to meet the profiles and it was ready to fit:
I had to make a sleeve with a keyway for the Toolmaster end and a taper pin for the output shaft end of the BP gearbox:
I think it probably cost about $250 all told for the parts plus a lot of labor but it works smoothly and quietly and the gears look as if they will last into the next millenium!
I have put red ATF oil in the gearbox, does anyone know what is supposed to be used?
I am glad that I went for this solution instead of an import, hopefully it will last longer.
Need to tune up my fly cutting gear now to test it!
