1995 Bridgeport VMC 760/22

Hi guys, I have a 1995 Bridgeport VMC 760/22 with a DX-32 control. The machine has been sitting almost 2 years and I'm wanting some advice on what I should do before I power it up. I don't have the manual for it anymore so I am looking for those as well. It has the 4000 rpm pulley on it would like to find a 6000 rpm pulley. I'd like to find out any info on upgrading the machine haven't found out a whole lot on google. Thanks!

Has it been moved or repowered? I think the only thing to watch out for is the transformer taps and phasing - check phasing by powering the machine up and seeing that the fan on the spindle motor is blowing air out at idle. The taps are pretty plainly labeled so just make sure you're tapped for the correct incoming voltage.

If it's sat long enough that the CMOS battery is dead you'll probably have to go into the BIOS settings and autodetect the hard drive and such, but that's no big deal.

What kind of upgrading do you want to do? I haven't felt the need to change much on mine - it's somewhat slow and doesn't run HSM paths the best but with a 6k rpm spindle it's not like you're going to haul ass anyways. Still makes me money.

Isaac it has been moved but not repowered. Where is the cmos battery in this machine? I would like to find a 6000 rpm pulley for it. On the upgrades I was just curious if there was any. Thanks for replying!

Depends on what kind of control it has - I understand some of them had "control-in-a-box" computers that are harder to work on. Mine has a regular 486 motherboard and the battery was soldered right to the board (and leaking) - I desoldered it and put a holder in the cabinet for AA batteries.

I don't imagine a pulley will be hard to make or buy. Are the spindle motors the same?

We used to have a Torq-cut 22 of the same vintage. Sold it to PM member 'swatkins.' He's gotten pretty knowledgeable with the hardware side of it. Shoot him a message.

If it's been moved, check that all the circuit boards in the back are properly seated. The DX-32 control is a little odd but kinda intuitive once you get your head around it.

When you first power it up (if there's no phase issues or parameters lost), you'll need to home all the axis and that will tell you if there are any alarms or errors to hunt down. I don't have digital copies of the manuals but from what I remember after it powers up, it comes up with an alarm telling you to initialize the drives (hit '7' on keypad), you'll hear a contactor close in the back of the machine, then you'll hit '8' on the keypad twice and all the axis will start moving until they are homed.

If it successfully homes, there's a good chance you are in business. Then we can move on to loading, writing, and reading programs, setting tool offsets and work station (called 'Workshifts' in the control) offsets, and running programs.

I am a couple weeks out from powering it up. I will check all of that before we even get the wiring in. I have only ran hurco cnc machines as of now have programmed the mills and lathes with the conversational and bobcad. I'm currently trying to learn fusion 360 to run on the Bridgeport. This is going to be a learning curve lol. Have you guys ever ran a hurco? is it a lot different?

I think I have a digital copy of the manuals. I'll see if I can find it. I normally use the 3 ring binder so I can look at it right in front of the machine. I have a vmc100/22, a 760/22 mothballed, and two torq cut 22s. They are a bit odd but I'm overall very happy with mine. The 760 is mothballed due to lack of shop space. I'd make sure to turn the rapids down to 70 or so ipm to start with until you get used to be control. I'd go ahead and fill up the way lube reservoir. It's in the back door.