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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    26

    Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Time to start a new project.

    I recently acquired this BP (not sure what year it is yet), and plan to do a mild restoration and controller upgrade. It's actually nicer in person than pics show. I've been scouring the CNCzone archives and found a lot of information about a variety of retrofit/conversions. Seems most of the threads are a few years old. Anyone currently upgrading their BP??

    I don't have some lofty goal of trying to make a modern VMC (out of a 30+ year old BP) with 200ipm rapids, etc. etc... I'm fully aware of this machines abilities and inabilities, and where it's place will be within my little shop. That being said, my initial plans are:

    1. A thorough cleaning/inspection - repair/replace as necessary.

    2. Paint.

    3. Here's the area of debate - I want to reuse the original steppers (they do work nicely), and add a new power supply and controller.

    The controller I want to use is the new Centroid Acorn. That leaves drives/power supplies to be determined. Seems that some are more than happy with Geckos, others swear by these; https://www.automationtechnologiesin...stepper-drive/ ....any others?

    4. Possibly replace the AC spindle motor/vari speed assembly with a servo of some sort and 1:1 pulleys - to be determined.

    Any info or opinions would be appreciated!



    Thanks,

    Todd
    Orange, CA

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Posts
    148

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    I would look at Linuxcnc, mainly because of good support in the Linuxcnc community, and there's plenty of BP linuxcnc conversions out there.

    Also you might want to look at AC servos, new servos from China are very cheap, and reliable enough to be worthy of attention.

    Good luck!!

    btw that way in the picture looks to be in mint shape, I think you've got a good machine there

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    26

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by triumph406 View Post
    btw that way in the picture looks to be in mint shape, I think you've got a good machine there
    Thx!

    Todd
    Orange, Ca

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    521

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by tar356 View Post
    Time to start a new project.

    I recently acquired this BP (not sure what year it is yet), and plan to do a mild restoration and controller upgrade. It's actually nicer in person than pics show. I've been scouring the CNCzone archives and found a lot of information about a variety of retrofit/conversions. Seems most of the threads are a few years old. Anyone currently upgrading their BP??

    I don't have some lofty goal of trying to make a modern VMC (out of a 30+ year old BP) with 200ipm rapids, etc. etc... I'm fully aware of this machines abilities and inabilities, and where it's place will be within my little shop. That being said, my initial plans are:

    1. A thorough cleaning/inspection - repair/replace as necessary.

    2. Paint.

    3. Here's the area of debate - I want to reuse the original steppers (they do work nicely), and add a new power supply and controller.

    The controller I want to use is the new Centroid Acorn. That leaves drives/power supplies to be determined. Seems that some are more than happy with Geckos, others swear by these; https://www.automationtechnologiesin...stepper-drive/ ....any others?

    4. Possibly replace the AC spindle motor/vari speed assembly with a servo of some sort and 1:1 pulleys - to be determined.

    Any info or opinions would be appreciated!



    Thanks,

    Todd
    Orange, CA
    I believe your choice of Centroid ACORN CNC to be a good one. Industrial grade motion controller with true encoder input, also can control a VFD with a 0-10VDC analog output and comes with basic software for under $300.

    The concern is the old steppers. If they are still in good shape, whether or not they can be used with the Geckodrive.
    Acorn CNC controller, Step and Direction 4 axis CNC Control board with ethernet communication.

    I refitted a knee mill with a VS head, and just used a Teco VFD and set the speed at about 1:1. Let the control take it from there.

    I have a freind with an older BOSS Stepper driven mill. He fitted it with Acorn, but I can't remember if he was using different Stepper motors. I will check.

    Marty

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    521

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by tar356 View Post
    Time to start a new project.

    I recently acquired this BP (not sure what year it is yet), and plan to do a mild restoration and controller upgrade. It's actually nicer in person than pics show. I've been scouring the CNCzone archives and found a lot of information about a variety of retrofit/conversions. Seems most of the threads are a few years old. Anyone currently upgrading their BP??

    I don't have some lofty goal of trying to make a modern VMC (out of a 30+ year old BP) with 200ipm rapids, etc. etc... I'm fully aware of this machines abilities and inabilities, and where it's place will be within my little shop. That being said, my initial plans are:

    1. A thorough cleaning/inspection - repair/replace as necessary.

    2. Paint.

    3. Here's the area of debate - I want to reuse the original steppers (they do work nicely), and add a new power supply and controller.

    The controller I want to use is the new Centroid Acorn. That leaves drives/power supplies to be determined. Seems that some are more than happy with Geckos, others swear by these; https://www.automationtechnologiesin...stepper-drive/ ....any others?

    4. Possibly replace the AC spindle motor/vari speed assembly with a servo of some sort and 1:1 pulleys - to be determined.

    Any info or opinions would be appreciated!



    Thanks,

    Todd
    Orange, CA
    I believe your choice of Centroid ACORN CNC to be a good one. Industrial grade motion controller with true encoder input with software for under $300.
    The concern is the old steppers. If they are still in good shape, whether or not they can be used with the Geckodrive.
    Acorn CNC controller, Step and Direction 4 axis CNC Control board with ethernet communication.

    I have a freind with an older BOSS Stepper driven mill. He fitted it with Acorn, but I can't remember if he was using different Stepper motors. I will check.

    Marty

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    521

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    I checked with my friend, here is what he had to say:
    " The old ones may work well if they didn't get too hot over the years.
    Mine were weakened and sometimes stalled. If he has the Gecko drives, just try them out and see how well they work."

    He replaced his motors.

    Marty

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Posts
    32

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Just finished and successfully tested my BOSS 4 retrofit using OEM steppers, outside of terrible abuse - they should be fine. Gecko 203v matched with proper power supply can get the steppers moving with plenty of torque / holding power. Odds are most BOSS mills spent most of time broken down, unused thanks to worst OEM controls ever foisted upon the free world.

    Built using Antek 56v 1500w power supply w/ 24v addon, Gecko 203v drives and MASSO controller. Plan to post pics, show off the MASSO soon - highly recommend that device over mach. MASSO blows mach away, set it up in few hours really - no programming / macros required. Subroutines supported if desired, yada, yada, yada. Their support was great - although biggest issue was not believing it really was that easy, it is. The invert option for axis setup / homing is freakin awesome.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    521

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by SchortBus View Post
    Just finished and successfully tested my BOSS 4 retrofit using OEM steppers, outside of terrible abuse - they should be fine. Gecko 203v matched with proper power supply can get the steppers moving with plenty of torque / holding power. Odds are most BOSS mills spent most of time broken down, unused thanks to worst OEM controls ever foisted upon the free world.

    Built using Antek 56v 1500w power supply w/ 24v addon, Gecko 203v drives and MASSO controller. Plan to post pics, show off the MASSO soon - highly recommend that device over mach. MASSO blows mach away, set it up in few hours really - no programming / macros required. Subroutines supported if desired, yada, yada, yada. Their support was great - although biggest issue was not believing it really was that easy, it is. The invert option for axis setup / homing is freakin awesome.
    Good to hear. Do you have a drawing of how you hooked up your original steppers from the G203V drives? I seem to recall there are terminals under the cover on the Boss steppers.
    Nice to hear you had good luck with Masso

    Marty

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    26
    Quote Originally Posted by Marty_Escarcega View Post
    Good to hear. Do you have a drawing of how you hooked up your original steppers from the G203V drives? I seem to recall there are terminals under the cover on the Boss steppers.
    Nice to hear you had good luck with Masso

    Marty
    Thanks for the replies Marty and Schortbus...

    I would like to see a wiring diagram too.

    I’m open to other drivers as well, just seems that the two I mentioned are the most common I’ve read about. With regards to Gecko, there appears to be a few models that would work?? Maybe a call to Gecko tomorrow.

    Appreciate the info and keep it comin, i’m gonna need it!

    Todd
    Orange, Ca

    ps - Marty, great videos about the Acorn, thx.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Posts
    32

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by Marty_Escarcega View Post
    Good to hear. Do you have a drawing of how you hooked up your original steppers from the G203V drives? I seem to recall there are terminals under the cover on the Boss steppers.
    Nice to hear you had good luck with Masso

    Marty

    Quick explanation of 6-wire BOSS Steppers with OEM wires to 4-wire drive - use wires 1 (solid white) 3 (white/red) for step and wires 2 (white / green) and 4 (white / black) for direction. Cap wires 5 and 6 - white w/ blue and white w/ yellow stripes individually.

    I'm not electrician but there is a way to determine this on own with multimeter if needed - not hard, don't overthink it. Basically 1/3 and 2/4 should have equal OHMs (15ohm IIRC) 1/5 and 2/6 OHM reading will be halved (7.5 iirc), Check by validating 'OL' between 1/2 and 1/4 (check for OL between the two sides / coils) - about only thing can do wrong here is cross poles - that makes the magic $moke. Always ensure OL between coils before applying power - beyond that any stepper error would only affect the movement / direction.

    Thats 1/3 to step and 2/4 to direction. That's it really - for any 4-wire drive. With the MASSO doesn't matter if travel goes wrong way, just hit spacebar to invert in setup. Others may require flipping wires 1/3 or 2/4. Apologies - I'll be posting pics and and description of my mill rebuild soon. Pretty busy - damn thing was down for 3 months after mach crashed.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Posts
    521

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by SchortBus View Post
    Quick explanation of 6-wire BOSS Steppers with OEM wires to 4-wire drive - use wires 1 (solid white) 3 (white/red) for step and wires 2 (white / green) and 4 (white / black) for direction. Cap wire 5 and 6 (individually). There is a way to determine this on own with multimeter if needed - not hard, don't overthink it. Basically 1/3 and 2/4 should have equal OHMs 1/5 and 2/6 OHM reading will be halved, Check by validating 'OL' between 1/2 and 1/4.

    Thats 1/3 to step and 2/4 to direction. That's it really - for any 4-wire drive. With the MASSO doesn't matter if travel goes wrong way, just hit spacebar to invert in setup. Others may require flipping wires 1/3 or 2/4. Apologies - I'll be posting pics and and description of my mill rebuild soon. Pretty busy - damn thing was down for 3 months after mach crashed.
    Cool, that should help him get started and achieve a similar level of success that you had.
    Centroid Acorn CNC let's you switch directions in the Wizard just as easily. Nice not to have to flop wires around.

    Marty

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Posts
    32

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Right on. Centroid, MASSO, Flashcut, etc - All make good products with their own pros / cons for each of us to sort through and decide. At the root of it - DIY CNC isn't hard so long as one understands difference between ac/dc, how a build / test a circuit and stays far, far away from windows based CNC imo.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    26

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by SchortBus View Post
    Quick explanation of 6-wire BOSS Steppers with OEM wires to 4-wire drive - use wires 1 (solid white) 3 (white/red) for step and wires 2 (white / green) and 4 (white / black) for direction. Cap wires 5 and 6 - white w/ blue and white w/ yellow stripes individually.

    I'm not electrician but there is a way to determine this on own with multimeter if needed - not hard, don't overthink it. Basically 1/3 and 2/4 should have equal OHMs (15ohm IIRC) 1/5 and 2/6 OHM reading will be halved (7.5 iirc), Check by validating 'OL' between 1/2 and 1/4 (check for OL between the two sides / coils) - about only thing can do wrong here is cross poles - that makes the magic $moke. Always ensure OL between coils before applying power - beyond that any stepper error would only affect the movement / direction.

    Thats 1/3 to step and 2/4 to direction. That's it really - for any 4-wire drive. With the MASSO doesn't matter if travel goes wrong way, just hit spacebar to invert in setup. Others may require flipping wires 1/3 or 2/4. Apologies - I'll be posting pics and and description of my mill rebuild soon. Pretty busy - damn thing was down for 3 months after mach crashed.
    Great info!

    Had a long chat with Gecko on Friday...I'm now leaning toward their new G214 drive - up to 256 microstep resolution - G214 High Resolution Stepper Motor Control | GeckoDrive

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by SchortBus View Post
    Right on. Centroid, MASSO, Flashcut, etc - All make good products with their own pros / cons for each of us to sort through and decide. At the root of it - DIY CNC isn't hard so long as one understands difference between ac/dc, how a build / test a circuit and stays far, far away from windows based CNC imo.
    Nothing wrong with MS windows, for CNC control, some of the best machine, cnc controls in the world use windows
    Mactec54

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    26

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    A couple of other questions:

    1. I've been searching for a parts manual online, but not having much luck...it seems these mills have various names? What is the official name? Series 1 Interact? Boss 5?

    2. Until I can find a manual....Inside the front cover for the quill, I see the two limit switches on the right for the Z travel. There also looks to be a third smaller switch mounted in the upper left with an adjustable "stop"?? Here's a picture (not of my mill, but similar). What is that switch for?

    Thanks,

    Todd
    Orange, CA

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Posts
    5717

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    The small switch should be the Z home switch. The other two are the travel limits.

    I agree with Mactec54, nothing wrong with Windows for the CNC operator interface. However, using Windows for direct machine control, like Mach3, is not the best system. Windows needs to communicate with a dedicated controller (motion controller/PLC) that actually runs the machine.
    Jim Dawson
    Sandy, Oregon, USA

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by tar356 View Post
    A couple of other questions:

    1. I've been searching for a parts manual online, but not having much luck...it seems these mills have various names? What is the official name? Series 1 Interact? Boss 5?

    2. Until I can find a manual....Inside the front cover for the quill, I see the two limit switches on the right for the Z travel. There also looks to be a third smaller switch mounted in the upper left with an adjustable "stop"?? Here's a picture (not of my mill, but similar). What is that switch for?

    Thanks,

    Todd
    Orange, CA
    If you are redoing everything you only need the 2 switches, what is the Timing Pulley Ratio, this is easy to check on the Y axes, a series 1 Interact, this is it's official name Interact, most of the parts are all the same as the Boss series, so to find out what model Boss it is similar too, we would need to know the axes drive ratio, the Interacts where built by Adcock and Shipley which was a subsidiary of Bridgeport
    Mactec54

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    26

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by mactec54 View Post
    If you are redoing everything you only need the 2 switches, what is the Timing Pulley Ratio, this is easy to check on the Y axes, a series 1 Interact, this is it's official name Interact, most of the parts are all the same as the Boss series, so to find out what model Boss it is similar too, we would need to know the axes drive ratio, the Interacts where built by Adcock and Shipley which was a subsidiary of Bridgeport
    Thanks mactec...

    Ratio is 1:1.

    Todd
    Orange, CA

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Posts
    15362

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by tar356 View Post
    Thanks mactec...

    Ratio is 1:1.

    Todd
    Orange, CA
    Ok that would be like you said the equivalent, ( with some differences, mainly with the control ) to Boss 3 to Boss 5, are 1:1 after Boss 5 they are 2:1, so you will have C3 ballscrews on your machine, which is better than what most have today
    Mactec54

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2016
    Posts
    26

    Re: Bridgeport CNC retrofit

    Quote Originally Posted by SchortBus View Post
    Quick explanation of 6-wire BOSS Steppers with OEM wires to 4-wire drive - use wires 1 (solid white) 3 (white/red) for step and wires 2 (white / green) and 4 (white / black) for direction. Cap wires 5 and 6 - white w/ blue and white w/ yellow stripes individually.

    I'm not electrician but there is a way to determine this on own with multimeter if needed - not hard, don't overthink it. Basically 1/3 and 2/4 should have equal OHMs (15ohm IIRC) 1/5 and 2/6 OHM reading will be halved (7.5 iirc), Check by validating 'OL' between 1/2 and 1/4 (check for OL between the two sides / coils) - about only thing can do wrong here is cross poles - that makes the magic $moke. Always ensure OL between coils before applying power - beyond that any stepper error would only affect the movement / direction.

    Thats 1/3 to step and 2/4 to direction. That's it really - for any 4-wire drive. With the MASSO doesn't matter if travel goes wrong way, just hit spacebar to invert in setup. Others may require flipping wires 1/3 or 2/4. Apologies - I'll be posting pics and and description of my mill rebuild soon. Pretty busy - damn thing was down for 3 months after mach crashed.
    SchortBus...

    Looking forward to some pics of your mill build!

    Todd

    Orange, CA

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