Over the last few months I've been slowly piecing together all the parts of the puzzle that is my bridgeport series II interact 4.
Since purchasing the maintaince manual direct from bpt/hardinge and unscrewing almost every nut bolt and cover on the machine, I have built up a fairly good understanding of how everything works but there are just a few more gaps in my knowledge which I have been unable to solve myself and I'm really hoping somone on here may be able to help.
I need to know how the power drawbar and associated sensors are supposed to operate. At one end of the system there is a pneumatic input which goes via a solonoid valve through a 'booster' which converts the gas into hydraulic pressure 25x greater than that of the gas. When the solonoid is powered, this triggers a small hydraulic ram above the spindle which forms part of the drawbar mecanism.
In addition to that there are two sensors; one microswitch and one proximity switch. The microswitch is connected to a lever which is positioned beneath what looks like a very small hydraulic ram which is connected to a T-piece which also connects to the main hydraulic ram for the drawbar.
At the moment the switch is pushed in constantly. It looks to me like when the main drawbar hydraulic ram is actuated, the miniture one is also actuated at the same time, which in turn moves a lever, releasing the switch.
My guess is that this some sort of saftey mechanism so the computer knows when the main ram has been fired and when it has returned to its resting position.
The other sensor (the proximity sensor), is positioned at the front and appears to be checking that the quil is in a retracted position.
Now all of this is just assumtions I've made based upon observations, I havent put power (or air) to anything yet for fear of breaking somthing!.
My questions are as follows:
What are each of the sensors for and under what conditions are the supposed to operate ? Were my assumptions correct ?
My thoughts are that bridgeport wouldnt have put those sensors there without good reason so I wish to replicate their original function correctly in my pc based retrofit, so could somone please explain what they are meant to be doing and when.
My guess is that they are to prevent the drawbar operating when it is not in the correct position, and I'd imagine there was another mechanism to stop it operating while the spindle was rotating, but neither of the sensors i've mentioned appear to have such a property.
I would also be very greatful on any advice on wiring up the proximity sensor. It has three wires comming from it one blue, one brown and one black. I have never used a proximity sensor before so i'm not famillier how they work or how they should be connected. Guessing from how its mounted i'm assuming its measuring the proximity to a piece of metal but as to the electrical side i'm a little clueless. What power source does it need and how should i go about wiring it into the pc parrallel port ?
Another more general question: how does the drawbar work overall - by that I mean how is the tool held in and released. Does the large hydraulic ram release the toolholder ? and if so what holds it in ? Similarly if actuation of that ram holds in the tool, what mechanism releases it.
I have tried to explain everything as clearly as possible, but as they say, a picture is worth 1 thousand words, so here are a few photographs to illusrate what I was saying:
This is a photo of the microswitch positioned above the metal lever:
This photo shows what I believe to be a miniture hydraulic ram which pushes down on the lever:
This is the T-Piece which splits off between the main hydraulic ram for the drawbar and the small lever/switch mechanism:
This is the proximity sensor:
Appologies for writing a small novel here, but answers to these questions are really quite critical to my retrofit project and I would be incredibly greatful to anyone who could shed some light on the questions i've raised.