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Author Topic: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion  (Read 212825 times)

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Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion
« Reply #70 on: September 09, 2010, 04:22:24 PM »
Great to see a real vmc get the Mach treatment  ;D

John
Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion
« Reply #71 on: September 10, 2010, 09:34:29 PM »
Very nice progress on the machine!   How are you doing the tool carousel indexing and keeping track of it in Mach?  Do you have any feedback from the carousel to know the current slot when Mach starts?

Thanks

Dennis
Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion
« Reply #72 on: September 12, 2010, 04:29:57 PM »
Very nice progress on the machine!   How are you doing the tool carousel indexing and keeping track of it in Mach?  Do you have any feedback from the carousel to know the current slot when Mach starts?

Thanks

Dennis

The ATC carousel has a HOME switch and an INDEX switch.  I have an ATC init macro that searches for the HOME switch with a timeout and sets a user DRO to pos 1, then the INDEX switch is used to make sure the pos either increments or decrements correctly, also with a timeout for fault management. 

There is a custom screen I use to track the carousel pos and witch tools are in each carousel slot.  This way I can easily use an tool number in any carousel position just by updating the DROs.  During a tool change, the tool table is search for the new tool and the fastest rotation direction is then calculated.  Error checks are done to ensure the new tool is in the ATC before continuing.
User Interface and Control 3 of n
« Reply #73 on: September 13, 2010, 11:50:58 AM »
Got some sample buttons in with LED back lighting.  These square buttons are used on arcade machines and are of good quality.  Now that the size of the buttons are final, I was able to layout the control panel and choose the colors of the buttons.  The rest of the buttons should be in house in a couple weeks.

Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion
« Reply #74 on: September 13, 2010, 02:48:33 PM »
Great work.
thx for sharing your experiences


Amir
**Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day**
G84 Tap Cycle, VFD, Floating Tap Holder and Mach3
« Reply #75 on: September 21, 2010, 10:17:00 AM »
Mach3 can only rigid tap if the spindle is under tight STEP / DIR control.  STEP / DIR control converted to an analog signal +-10VDC then to a VFD does not have the tight control that you need for rigid tapping.  You must have a servo or stepper to do rigid tapping.  The real issue is the deceleration of VFD into the hole and the acceleration out of the hole and syncing this to the Z axis.

Sense we have a VFD we cannot sync the Z Axis to the Spindle.  So ..... we purchased a Floating Tap Holder.  This allows for small amounts of control error between the Z axis and Spindle. 

Below is the video of the initial testing using a G84 Tap Cycle with a floating tap holder.  These are ¼ 20 threads on a ½ plate of 6061.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/nQS2Q_aC_P4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6&amp;border=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/nQS2Q_aC_P4&amp;hl=en&amp;fs=1&amp;rel=0&amp;color1=0x006699&amp;color2=0x54abd6&amp;border=1</a>

Thanks
JH
Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion
« Reply #76 on: September 21, 2010, 11:37:20 AM »
cooooooool

Amir
**Even a clock that does not work is right twice a day**
Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion
« Reply #77 on: September 30, 2010, 05:49:09 PM »
Started on the paint…  Each part has to be degreased and sanded before the new oil based paint is applied.  Also making some custom covers to go over several modifications that have been done to the machine over the years.  


« Last Edit: September 30, 2010, 05:53:07 PM by JHChoppers »
Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion
« Reply #78 on: October 01, 2010, 02:38:49 PM »
Hey man,
    Cannot believe how nice this thing is coming out.  Very cool build and I am again insanely jealous that you are gonna have a nice VMC under Mach control.  Really like the color, kinda reminds me of my Lathemaster grey/tan/white I painted my machine.  Just a clean looking color and seems to last well altho some lubes I found can stain it.    This is really gonna be a useful machine when it is finished and that toolchanger is looking really nice too.  It looks like you have invested some pretty good cash in it with the AC servos and whatnot but when you get it all together and make your first cool machined chopper part you GOTTA post a cool completed video of the machine running. Peace

Pete
Re: 1987 Bridgeport Production Center Interact 412 to Mach3 Conversion
« Reply #79 on: October 01, 2010, 04:57:57 PM »
Hey man,
    Cannot believe how nice this thing is coming out.  Very cool build and I am again insanely jealous that you are gonna have a nice VMC under Mach control.  Really like the color, kinda reminds me of my Lathemaster grey/tan/white I painted my machine.  Just a clean looking color and seems to last well altho some lubes I found can stain it.    This is really gonna be a useful machine when it is finished and that toolchanger is looking really nice too.  It looks like you have invested some pretty good cash in it with the AC servos and whatnot but when you get it all together and make your first cool machined chopper part you GOTTA post a cool completed video of the machine running. Peace

Pete



Pete,

Thanks !  I am very happy on how things are turning out.  Old iron is great, boxed ways, ATC, ...  new electronics and Mach3 !

I am looking forward to getting the paint done and the sheet metal put back on.  After that is the coolant system.

Thanks,
JH