Bridgeport EZ Path CNC Lathe

MCSF · Dec 6, 2007

My shop has an opportunity to procure, at a seemingly reasonable cost, one of these Bridgeport/Romi machhines. It is reportedly/supposedly in very good mechanical shape but has a board that comes loose and shuts the machine off while in cycle. They have decided to just replace the machine. It is on the order of ten years old.

My questions are:

How accurate and repeatable are these machines?
How rugged are they?
How user friendly is the control?
How sophisticated is the control?
Parts and service availability?
Any other first hand user experience or input would be much appreciated.

The long and short with the decision to acquire comes down to this. We do not have a NC/CNC lathe at this point. Would getting this machine be "a mediocre NC lathe is better than none at all" or are they relatively good machines for .005 or better work.

TIA

SchneiderMachine · Dec 6, 2007

We had one at work. Good iron, pretty rugged and accurate, plenty good for .005 or better, should be able to hold .001 minimum. Control, hmmm, I didn't like it but that's probably just me, I like g-code. Screen is to small, monochrome gray scale, I used to set a 14 in color monitor on top of the cabinet, worked pretty good. You should be able to fix the board that "comes loose" , zip tie it in, use foam on the cover blah, blah, blah, be creative. They're not the fastest on the block though. Using it in manual mode takes some getting used to as there is no "feel" when turning the handwheel, you are just turning the encoder afterall. We had a Dorian manual tool changer, I think it had 6 stations, don't recomend it, it sounds good at first but man, is it hard in your hand and wrist. I wouldn't pay a lot for it unless it's pristine.
Just my .02

Dave

metlhed · Dec 6, 2007

Accuracy no prob for .005--wouldn't promise better than +/- .0005, though
Sturdy and rugged
Conversational control and very learnable--get the manuals
Not a sophisticated control
Unsure about parts and service--Hardinge owns Bridgeport, I think Romi is out of Brazil (I think)

Fast enough and easy enough for a starter-type CNC lathe. The chuck is a lead screw chuck, but interchangeable with many types, 2-jaw, 3-jaw, 4-jaw, etc. Large enough memory to hold lots of programs and it has a floppy drive.

ENDORSEMENT:
I would love to have one in my garage.

Good luck and have fun!

Toolznthings · Dec 7, 2007

Hello,
Make sure it has a two pice adjustable tailstock. I bought a new one around 1998 and sent it back. No way to adjust tailstock to elliminate taper and it was off a bunch from the factory. The whole purchase was a nightmare !

Brian

sheys · Dec 7, 2007

We had one where I used to work, 1998 or so model. Worked OK but I absolutely hated the control. Made me want to pull all of my hair out. Maybe not bad for production but for onesy twosey prototype work it was awful.

The tailstock was a nightmare. If it was ever fully extended a key would drop inside the assembly and take 2 hours to disassemble and replace.(happened at least 4 or 5 times that I can recall) A terrible design in my opinion and as mentioned before a non-adjustable tailstock isn't such a good thing.

No major mechanical probs but the controller PC (a standard 486) crapped out with about 600 hours on it. Fixed it ourselves for not a lot of money but come on, 600 hours?

It's certainly better than nothing but a pretty limited machine in my opinion. I wouldn't go for it unless the price was very low.

job shop · Dec 7, 2007

I've got three of these lathe in my shop and would not want to be without them for a day. we do a lot of one piece jobs on them,very easy to program parts have not been a problem.

PFD

powmia1 · Dec 9, 2007

loose board

we bought one at a bridgeport auction 8-9 years ago .it has shut down from the day it was taken off the truck.weve replaced mother board power supply installed fans on motors put in new software checked all wires 1000 s of times.new cables and i know alot more.weve had service guys in 15 times(when they show up) and knowone can find it so we just deal with it sometimes itl run for a week never shut down sometimes itl shut down 8-10 times a day.ive had it run for a week and on more than one occasion walk up to it in the morning and not even touch it and it shuts down.the biggest problem is when your threading and it shuts down and puts a ring in your threads.i try to run in high gear so if your deep enough and it shuts down sometimes it will stall it and save your threads.yes tailstock sucks .will repeat .0005 all day without tool change.very easy to program.not real rigid.high rps small depts of cut high feed.all i know

apestate · Dec 10, 2007

http://www.machinetools.com/MT/mach...=&8=0&8__=99999999999&5=0&5__=99999999999&22=

See if this link works... it's a link to two similar machines listed on machinetools.com

If you have the operating/programming manual, programming can be learned relatively quickly. You can program regular rapid/feed moves or use the canned cycles. Once you figure out the canned cycles, it's easy to throw together a program... much easier than G-code, but somewhat more limited.

The newer machines have variable frequency drives instead of a gear box. These also seem to be the machines with a single piece tailstock.

They are definitely junky, but again, I'd like one in my garage too.

MCSF · Dec 11, 2007

Thanks all - this is the kind of info I need. We should know if we are going to get it shortly - basically paying for the shipping from VA to CA + installation costs here. One prob may be that it has not been powered up for a long time so the software has gone bye bye and they do not have the disks(?). Does anybody here know if that software is still out there?

TIA

Greg L. · Dec 12, 2007

we have had one for about 10 years. If it is an EZPATH II then you should have an adjustable 2 piece tailstock. Still not the best tailstock, but it works. Once you have the controls down, getting one or two piece work out is a breeze. The only thing that is proprietary Bridgeport is the BMDC card. We have had to get a couple of those boards repaired, and sometimes the company that repairs them might have an extra board. All other parts can be obtained.

MCSF · Feb 5, 2008

Tha machine will be here in a week or so. Again thanks for all of your input. I found the main source of parts and tech info for these machines. I had a nice long talk with one of the engineers over there who hipped me to the best way to sort out the machine. Of course he is happy to sell me the parts. However the cost is not very high. I'll post pics and the like once I get it sorted.

Here is the EZ Path site - they have parts etc for EZ Path, EZ Trak, EZ Surf etc.

http://67.59.141.211/BridgeportQuickList.html

MCSF · Aug 27, 2008

Alright - got it powered up and found and fixed my first problem. The motherboard was loose in its socket so we sorted that with a block of phenolic and some double back tape between the power supply and the loose board.

So the machine fires up and I get the "Home Axes" message. The keyboard on the console does not seem to work but the computer keyboard works just fine so I entered 3 then + to start the homing cycle. Nothing happens. The error message that comes up is"following Error Limit Exceeded". I think I know what that means but am not sure. In addition if I am correct and it is a encoder/parameter problem what is the best fix?

This machine has not run in quite a while so maybe it is grumpy.

Any ideas?

TIA

apestate · Aug 27, 2008

Make sure the axes are free first. Find the ball screws and see if you can twist them by hand. It should be difficult to turn but you wanna know if there's a block of wood placed somewhere for shipping, mechanical problems, etc.

metlhed · Aug 27, 2008

MCSF said:
Alright - got it powered up and found and fixed my first problem. The motherboard was loose in its socket so we sorted that with a block of phenolic and some double back tape between the power supply and the loose board.

So the machine fires up and I get the "Home Axes" message. The keyboard on the console does not seem to work but the computer keyboard works just fine so I entered 3 then + to start the homing cycle. Nothing happens. The error message that comes up is"following Error Limit Exceeded". I think I know what that means but am not sure. In addition if I am correct and it is a encoder/parameter problem what is the best fix?

This machine has not run in quite a while so maybe it is grumpy.

Any ideas?

TIA

What happened 'tween 2-5 and 8-27 this year? Long time no do?

MCSF · Aug 27, 2008

Long story. I picked up 3 machines all within the same time frame. I actually picked this one up from GSA Excess in December. The other agency took their sweet time boxing it up and shipping. In the meantime I had to move all the machines around - well my partner and I - during the times we weren't turning handles. Finally all the pieces cam into place but then we had to wait to get them wired in as they are all 460 v machines. All that wiring was completed Monday this week. The DMU is up and running and the next effort will be towards this lathe.

apestate - I know the Z axis is free and will double check the x.

MCSF · Aug 28, 2008

Todays update. On a hunch I figured that since this lathe has sat for so long that sticktion might be part of this problem. I refreshed the BiJur central oiling system and gave it a few good shots. Sure as God made green apples the X axis homed. Unfortunately the Z did not.

I removed the panel from the tailstock end and was able to turn the Z axis ballscrew with just a set of vise grips - and no I did not leave any marks. Fired her back up again and the X is homing but the Z refuses - same error and all.

I tried to override the home (like you would have to do if you were in a bore when the machine shut down) and the same lag error pops up.

The main problem - other than I am not getting any real work done - is that the access to the Z axis servo and the business end of the ballscrew is behind all of the headstock sheetmetal - a real pain in the tukus. You think they would have put an access panel or the like so this one may have to wait until I have more time or money to bring in a pro.

metlhed · Aug 28, 2008

Is there a prox switch? Maybe sticktion there, too?

MCSF · Aug 28, 2008

I will look tomorrow - it is very possible that for as long as this thing sat it could be stuck. Thanks for the tip.

moonlight machine · Aug 29, 2008

MCSF, I had a bridgeport control that wold lose it's home and shut off, sometimes once a week, sometimes 15 times a day. I spent thousands with E M I, and never got to the bottom of it. I gave up on it and bought a centroid conversion after the guy at emi said they would give me 4000.00 for the old control and axis drive motors. when it came time to cut a check they would only pay 2000.00........yes, I felt a bit like I got screwed....

MCSF · Dec 30, 2008

Its been a long time but I have nothing but good to report. I had to throw up my arms and get some help getting this thing sorted. I used a guy named Gary Martin of Innovative Solutions - near Pleasanton CA.

The trouble was the BMDC board - as Greg L mentioned.

The problem was that the back plane was old and the mother board would pull out of it ever so slightly and blamo the machine would error. Part of the problem is that the BMDC card which attaches to the bottom of the Mother board pulls down on it causing it to lose contact.

Had this set up been used like it would have in a PC of its time there would be no problem. However, the Back plane is VERTICAL and all the weight just wants to pull it out. I initially tried making some G 10 spacers that went between the cover and the M board. That worked for a few hours and then it worked for 30 seconds.

Thats when Gary Martin came in and did some relocation of components, made up some new cables - runs great all the time.

We do have a tad of a knock in the spindle but I'll wait to sort that if and when it becomes worse.

After a long wait this has turned out to be a great find.

Bridgeport EZ Path CNC Lathe

Cast Iron

Stainless

Stainless

Hot Rolled

Aluminum

Plastic

Plastic

Stainless

Cast Iron

Plastic

Cast Iron

Cast Iron

Stainless

Stainless

Cast Iron

Cast Iron

Stainless

Cast Iron

Diamond

Cast Iron

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