Retro fit CNC control for BOSS 5 & 6

[RDJII]

I
am a new member I have two old Bridgeports a 79 with
BOSS 5 and a 80 with BOSS 6 controls want to replace old controls using same stepper motors any help would be appreciated RDJII

 

[gustafson]

I cannot see going to the trouble without changing to servos

 

[CJD]

I went with Centroid all-in-one DC control. If the original motors are AC, then the Oak controls would work.

 

[moonlight machine]

I went with Centroid all-in-one DC control. If the original motors are AC, then the Oak controls would work.

I use a Centroid M 400 control on my V2xT bridgeport. It is great, so much better than Boss it is amazing..

 

[CJD]

I use a Centroid M 400 control on my V2xT bridgeport. It is great, so much better than Boss it is amazing..

Mine came with an m400, but Centroid wanted twice more to get it working than to go with the newer all-in-one-dc.

 

[Duc]

The original steppers can be used but they are iffy most of the time. Mach3, Linuxcnc and a few other programs can work with the original stuff if you know how to modify them.

 

[gustafson]

Retrofitting is 6-17 times more work[and 2 to 43 times more money] than you think it is.

Doing all that work and having steppers seems silly

While I think the rigid ram CNC bridgeport iron is the finest knee mill iron available, it is questionable whether the return on investment is there for a conversion

20 years ago, yeah, I did it in 1997, but now old haas VMC, Brothers, Fadals etc all are such short money

 

[JHOLLAND1]

really only one choice--Centroid Acorn with software level cnc 12--excellent price
you keep stepper motors and supply your choice of step drives
software upgrade-revisions are supplied free
great user group many assistive videos

btw--I have owned over 25 boss BP mills

 

[Hbjj]

I'm in the final stages of a centroid acorn retrofit
It went fairly well considering I'm a retrofit newbie

My biggest problem so far is the lack of documentation on how to connect and setup the control.

They have many youtube videos explaining the control but I found them overly long and complicated/out of date
If they did a series of short videos on each of the setup and connection parameters that would be great

So I have a boss mill with the 2j ish head that has the motor mounted under the belt housing
Teco l510
Acorn rev4
Two 48 volt dc power supplies
I used a square D sub panel for the high voltage stuff
Older windows laptop that has the ethernet port
I reused the steppers and drives from the mach3 system that was on it when I bought it
I spent 2200 on the mill and now about another 1000 on this conversation

Now that I have it done I may go back and redo the limit switches
To work better with acorn (you can't use the limit switches as home switches or vice versa)

I probably have 40 hours into the conversation and a few more to go
I think someone who has more experience with this stuff could do it in half the time or less

 

[RDJII]

Thanks I looked at those controls as well as MASSO Its a start and very affordable Still in the planning stage managed to get by without CNC for several years i decided going to get them running again or scrap them

 

[Hbjj]

I have 1700oz stepper at 48 volts and no reduction to the lead screws so 5 motor turns to one inch and it looks like 50ipm will be about my max cutting speed and 100ipm on rapids
It cuts air up to 70ipm but...

I may be able to get more speed if I slave the stepper power supplies together (I think they are going in to protect from high voltage being fed back into them from the motors on decel)
And I HAVE to figure out a drive fault circuit that will stop acorn if one shuts down ...

Again the hardware is great but there simply is NO documentation on how to do such things with acorn.

 

[memphisjed]

You should be able to up your speeds considerably with proper voltage. 64 volts and 5 amps or better per motor changes your opinion of steppers fairly fast. You can swap out your drives to the rapture drives one at a time as you get fun coupons saved. They have an error out signal that you can feed back into your controller inputs. Maybe the centroids have it already in the motor out section group, along with an enable signal? automation direct sells voltage clamps to protect your power supplies- but if you go switchless apparently you can skip this item. The clamps cost more than oversized industrial supplies bought at surplus/scrap.

 

[Ashg]

Again the hardware is great but there simply is NO documentation on how to do such things with acorn.

really? don't like calling you out but you can't be looking too hard. In my personal experience it's very well documented, there are literally wiring diagrams and step by step instructions plus youtube videos from centroid and martyscncgarage and a user forum to back it up! what more do you need? i have done both acorn and oak with no issues and very high success. i couldn't believe how easy it was to get the acorn going. Its only got easier since i did it with better software documentation and setup wizards.

 

[DanBeckerGB4]

Hi, I've got a Bridgeport with CNC from mid 80's and am updating with a LinuxCNC control package. Have you upgraded already? We could work together on a package. I'm a retired EE with 13 years experience at KT - controls engineering.
Dan Becker / 920.217.1534

 

[madmachinst]

really only one choice--Centroid Acorn with software level cnc 12--excellent price
you keep stepper motors and supply your choice of step drives
software upgrade-revisions are supplied free
great user group many assistive videos

btw--I have owned over 25 boss BP mills

I have to disagree centroid all in one. Being as you don't have servos they got those too. Should be simpler than putzing around with mach or going from acorn to drivers etc etc. Don't hold on to those steppers.