[s76tools]

Hi, I am a hobby machinist and have a Bridgeport Series I milling machine. I was thinking of retrofitting my machine with an Ajax but their kits looks like are only for Bridgeport Boss. FlashCut and CNCmaster have a kit for around $5,000 (Stepper Motors). FlashCut have another kit with Servos for around $8,000. It cost more money but I am leaning more towards servos than steppers.
Any of you guys familiar with these kits?

Do you guys know of any other kit I can look at?

If I decide to get steppers, besides the price. What is the biggest difference between steppers and servos?
Are Steppers operation smooth and accurate enough?

Thanks in advance for your help!

S76tools

[zcases]

Just to clarify - the Ajax kit is also for other models than the BOSS. For stepper retrofits, they replace the motors with new servos. For servo retrofits, if your motors are compatable you can get a kit without motors.

[colin1544]

Hello there just think for a moment is your machine a series 1 turret mill or CNC mill with ballscrews already built in if so it may be cheaper to get an old failed Boss machine and retrofit it than the standard turret mill as for servos against steppers the steppers have no positional feed back servo's do with the rotary encoder and when you talk about an Ajax system they are good and will fit to a variety of older cnc mills with very little work and the software comes complete ready to run and you can have a machined part coming off within minutes of completing the instalation but with the other systems you've got to choose your preferable software and learn it this is a longer learning curve. Best of luck choosing Colin

[D.D.Machine]

my vote is for build your own setup, I have been playing with boss machines for more than 12 years and well have to say there a hell of a chunk of metal.
when I first got into them I was use AH-HA drives and software and well its great this machine I`m building up this weekend its geting off the shelf parts to retro fit it, I`m done buying products that there is only one suppler of. I want to know I can keep my machines running for years without having to really on one place to buy my parts from.

and as for stepper or servo, servo is nice but stepper is a lot cheaper and a lot simpler to fix and work with.
in 12+ years of running production parts on stepper machines I have not once lost a step under normale running, I have a few times when I crashed the machine hard but thats it.

[s76tools]

My mill is not a Boss and does not have a ball screws. It is a series one 2 HP variable speed with a VFD.

[D.D.Machine]

if you have the space get a old boss mill. there a LOT better for cnc than you can make a manual mill into. they come with ballscrews, have a GREAT Z axis drive and are cheap for what you get. I have made a manual BP into a full 3 axis cnc in the past and well it worked ok it was not a boss mill

you can pick a boss up for what you would have into a ball screw kit and a quick change spindle for your manual mill. the boss I`m working on now I picked up for $2,000 and I well only have about $3,000 in it when I get all new drives , computer etc on it. I would buy more of them if I could find them in the state.

[zcases]

I'm with D.D. - Find a BOSS, or V2XT, or something with a bad control. You will be so much further ahead by starting with a machine that already has ballscrews and good z axis hardware.

Scott

[HillBilly]

I agree too! And don't forget about the auto oiling system.

Darek

[s76tools]

You guys are right! The Bridgeport BOSS like D.D. said is a heavier machine and it is designed for CNC and it also has a great Z Axis drive.
I guess I have to find one on eBay. You know how that goes, you will never find it right away whenever you are looking for something.
I live in PA and once in a while I see them pop in the area within drivable distance. I rather pick it up my self because shipping just cost too much.
One reason I would like to retrofit my BP mill right now is because I feel I can learn CNC better if I have a CNC machine. I have no CNC experience. I have been reading CNC books, watch videos and research the internet about CNC. I have been a hobby manual machinist for about 10 years now and I can put out good work but time has change. This is the computer era. You can only do so much in manual. The computer can do a better job if you know how to program it.
I would like to do what DD said, build your own. But DD has 12 years experience messing around with this kind of machines. I can do it but it will take more time to go this route.
For people like me who is just starting. I feel the best way to build and learn the CNC is to buy a kit designed for this machine. It will cost a little bit more this way but all the bracketry, wiring, drives, controls, motors and designed is all there for me to see and maybe use this knowledge for my next CNC project which probably going to be a BOSS.
I have been looking at an Ajax and Flashcut retrofit but not sure what to get yet.

S76tools

[DennisCNC]

It took me like 5 years to start with the CNC hobby, I was worried the whole time it will be so complex and hard and this and that.... but I went ahead and put steppers on a manual bridgeport M head and it was much simpler than I thought the entire time. Now I got a BP BTC 2 next in line for a retro with new stepper drives and Mach3.
If you buy a BOSS machine it will be a fairly simple retrofit task as the motors are already mounted the control box with power supply is there all the wiring is there, just need a few Geckos and a breakout board and a PC to run Mach3 that's it. This way if somethings gets cooked by a power surge you will know how to fix it fast and less expensive.

Take look at the saw I built for my biz:
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27147
I didn't go to any special school. Just giving you some encouragement that you can DO IT

[Willbird]

I know the current theory is sell your BP non BOSS iron and get a BOSS, I imagine lots of guys however are in the same boat I am, they have NICE non boss BP iron, and their "fun" money comes in smaller increments than what is required to buy a BOSS machine.

So with that in mind I'll just say my goals on my retro are to have a BP, that will run while I take a Pee or fiddle with another project, I realise it will not be as fast or rigid as a BOSS machine.

I have seen several retro jobs done here on the zone and the job can be done with almost NO perm mods to the parent BP iron.........so I'm gonna go for it......I have all the parts I'm going to need bought with the exception of the 203v. I will run acme screws until I get my vacation check in march and buy a set of ballscrews. I plan on hanging onto my 2 BP that my Dad bought new in 1972 and 1982 (this machine has about 100 hours on it TOTAL) so the ballscrews will not be "wasted" even if down the road I DO buy a BOSS machine and move the gecko's/steppers over there. CNC is addictive and I cannot see that any parts will be "wasted".

Things get repeated enough that they become mantra.......and what is true for one person and their situation is not always best for everybody...thats why I mention MY situation and why I have taken the path I have chosen after carefull consideration of all options avail to me at the present time.

Bill

[pvbpoet]

Hi,
Ihave a Series I Bridgeport CNC for sale. It's stored in Hawley, PA.
Email me at [email protected] if your interested.
Pete Becker

You guys are right! The Bridgeport BOSS like D.D. said is a heavier machine and it is designed for CNC and it also has a great Z Axis drive.
I guess I have to find one on eBay. You know how that goes, you will never find it right away whenever you are looking for something.
I live in PA and once in a while I see them pop in the area within drivable distance. I rather pick it up my self because shipping just cost too much.
One reason I would like to retrofit my BP mill right now is because I feel I can learn CNC better if I have a CNC machine. I have no CNC experience. I have been reading CNC books, watch videos and research the internet about CNC. I have been a hobby manual machinist for about 10 years now and I can put out good work but time has change. This is the computer era. You can only do so much in manual. The computer can do a better job if you know how to program it.
I would like to do what DD said, build your own. But DD has 12 years experience messing around with this kind of machines. I can do it but it will take more time to go this route.
For people like me who is just starting. I feel the best way to build and learn the CNC is to buy a kit designed for this machine. It will cost a little bit more this way but all the bracketry, wiring, drives, controls, motors and designed is all there for me to see and maybe use this knowledge for my next CNC project which probably going to be a BOSS.
I have been looking at an Ajax and Flashcut retrofit but not sure what to get yet.

S76tools

[mxtras]

Retrofitting a BP mill is a very do-able thing. Don't feel obligated to sell your machine and run out to purchase a Series 1 mill. It sounds to me like you want to build yourself, but not sure if you can (?).

There are a handfull of folks on this site that have built our own from "scratch". I accomplished the retro-fit without having to drill a single hole in my machine - I used factory holes for all the bracketry. I can be done and it's not all that involved. Dig a little and you will find numerous threads on doing a retro-fit on a standard BP.

Scott

[gus]

go with a boss, they can be had for the hauling frequently.

You want you rmanual to make parts with while you play


just make sure the axis move by themselves, I blew up a z ballscrew retroing one 10 years ago, and it was over 1500 bucks from bridgeport, and they don't exist anymore.

Also, although the boss are old, bridgeport had a hell of a ac/24v system, at least on the machines I have, and I chose to use their wiring rather than reinvent the wheel. You have an emo string and power supplies etc etc

[jeep534]

S67tools
I did not see you mention elrod machine. it is at least worth a look their kits. and they have a nice quill setup.

I am doing the seccond route. I traded for a mostly non functional boss9 R2E4 the electronics are shot. I really don't have much in it so that is the way i am going I expect to have about 3,000 in the retrofit. the ballscrews and servo's and possibly the drives are intact. I plan on using as much of the existing machine as possible.
Hope this helps
archie =) =)=)

[Peter Brown]

Dear Folks,
Can anyone share with me what might be the best retrofit out there to upgrade a Bridgeport Series I - J head to CNC would be? There is no chance of getting a BOSS, so it has to be on a Series I.
I looked into getting a microkenetics kit (http://www.microkinetics.com/), but I don't know anything about CNC. Does anyone have any experience with them? Are there any other alternatives to them? I am interested in purchasing a kit as opposed to taking the rolling my own approach.
Thanks in advance,

[gus]

>>>There is no chance of getting a BOSS, so it has to be on a Series I.<<

Why, are they too inexpensive for you? Hell there is the one at the bottom of every other anchor chain hereabouts...............

[Peter Brown]

Bridgeport Series I- to CNC
Dear Folks,
Can anyone share with me what might be the best retrofit out there to upgrade a Bridgeport Series I - J head to CNC would be? There is no chance of getting a BOSS, so it has to be on a Series I.
I looked into getting a microkenetics kit (http://www.microkinetics.com/), but I don't know anything about CNC. Does anyone have any experience with them? Are there any other alternatives to them? I am interested in purchasing a kit as opposed to taking the rolling my own approach.
Thanks in advance,

>>>There is no chance of getting a BOSS, so it has to be on a Series I.<<

Why, are they too inexpensive for you? Hell there is the one at the bottom of every other anchor chain hereabouts...............[/quote]

Hi thanks for testing me on a "given" to a problem. I have two Bridgeport Series I milling machines here installed now. That is it- and what I have to work with. Maybe I can do this or maybe I can do that, but no, I can't. I have to work with what I have here to work with and what I have here are two Bridgeport Series I machines that I want to upgrade, one of the machines to a CNC and figured this forum would be the place to find out some information about upgrading a Series I Bridgeport to a CNC, since the people here have so much more knowledge than I do about the subject and since I am new with this and have no experience with doing this. The information I would need would be for a Series I Bridgeport to CNC conversion kit.

[gus]

Do as you like, spend a grand buying a crappy z axis mount or a grand buying a whole machine with the best available z axis drive, your choice.

[cholder]

I used to own a Series II NC machine that I bought as junk. I retrofitted it with an AHHA system. It had the stepper controlled Z axis on the knee and originally a Spindle Wizard on the quill. I removed the spindle wizard and installed a handle. As it turned out the spindle wizard used all the original parts so I just bought an aftermarket quill handle. This gave me a two axis machine for drilling and tapping and and a three axis for contours. I set the control to block mode and it would move from hole to hole to drill. This is an option to a so-so Z axis on the spindle. I have reworked (3) old boss mills in the past after the AHHA system. Each was a stepper system, (2) used the original Bridgeport stepper motors. The last one I replaced the dead servo's with 600 oz in nema steppers and Gecko 201 drives. I used the Mach software on all three. The first was Mach1 with a butchered printer cables. The last two I used Mach3 and Bob Campbells breakout board. The guys that run these seem to be pleased. I like the Mach3 software because of price and versatility, but it required a lot more work on my part for planning the wiring and so on. As for the kits, I'am not sure if you are getting ballscrews. It looks like the CNCmasters kit has ballscrews, I can't tell about the Ajax kit. If you don't get ballscrews then it would be cheaper to search for an old BOSS and rework it as in the previous post. Steppers are easier to service and you won't have tuning issues. I did notice that the CNCmasters kit had a max feedrate of 50ipm. The BOSS reworks I did I have always gotten at least 70 to 80 not much more than 50, but the original BOSS 5's would rapid at 80 ipm so I felt like I should be able to get close. This doesn't answer you question about the kits, I'd look at the features you need and want then compare the systems. If your new to CNC ask a poll about the specific kits and about features that are required. For me cutter comp is a must, it must be capable of helical interpolation and run standard G code, and display the path. I'm sure there must be someone on this forum that has used one of the kits you mentioned at sometime and can give you his likes and dislikes.