Hey guys, its about time I started a thread for my project.

Its a 1991 'Lillian', a Taiwanese clone of a Bridgeport.



I bought it from work when we scrapped it.  The motor threw its bearings and chewed up the stator, with repair costs being more than we though worth, and the old 2-axis CNC system was on its last legs.

I've got it a brand new motor and a Variable Speed Drive which I'll control with a 3-step pulley setup I've made, and use Mach 3 to hopefully control the motor.  Servo drivers being expensive, and needing to add the third axis anyway, I've opted for 8.5Nm stepper motors from Zapp Automation, driving through 2:1 belt drives.  So far, I've only got the long axis set up, and I think I've got some backlash somewhere that I'm trying to trace.  I have started work on the short axis, and got a Bridgeport Z axis for it.  It may be the Z which gets done next I'm not sure, a little bit of modification is required to mount the motor as the mount holes are a different pitch to the old ones. 













More to come as work progresses 

Nice project you have there. Keep us updated, we love pictures!

The Z axis mount I got for the mill was from a servo driven Bridgeport and not exactly matched to the Lillian...not that thats a problem for me!  Minor modification to the head casting was required and that was sorted out.  Because the old servo motor had a 5/8" shaft, and the steppers I'm using have a 1/2" shaft, I had to discard the pulley....the belt appeared to be an odd pitch, and so I ditched both and got new 5mm pulleys.  The one has been fitted to the ballscrew for some time, the other is waiting payday to get another stepper. 

Another problem was the mount holes of the servo motor being different to the stepper, and the shaft on the stepper being slightly shorter.  So, yesterday afternoon I headed off to a friends to use his mill to sort that out.  An hour later and I'd thinned the plate a little to let the motor sit a touch higher, and then drilled four new M6 mounting holes...as luck would have it, they just fell outside of the old slots!



Been playing around some more this afternoon.  I've known from day 1 I could have trouble with the main spindle motor.  The original motor fretted its shaft at the bearings, with the result the stator moved and chewed out the windings.  Repais was going to be £750+VAT to have the shaft ground, plated and ground back to size, and then rewind.  Too much.  Especially with the belts we're getting at work only last 6 months and hundred squid a pop.  So to that end I got a new 3hp standard motor, and its now got a 3 stage V belt pulley, and I've stripped the old varispeed drive out.

I've always thought the motor was too long to sit on the old top casing and I'd have to fabricate or get Aubyn too.... a new top casing to hold it the other way up and down one side.....it was only when I started looking at it this afternoon......







It fits...but literally only just!

I've still got other problems to deal with....at the moment the pulleys are too high and are fouling the middle of the casing meaning I can't use top speed...i need to take it out and recess the back of it to let it sit lower on the old bottom pulley which is also the spindle brake.

Little more progress has been made, not at lot as I've been busy making bits for my steam engine, and the workshop's cold now (must finish insulation then I can have a heater!).

I got the stepper for the Z axis at the start of the month and got that mounted, and I've now modified my SPA pulley to sit low enough to clear the top housing.  I still need to make a spacer for keeping the pulley down, and then a spacer to fix the pulley on the motor shaft in the right place.  Both easy jobs, I just need to get on and do it!





At the moment I'm trying to decided whether to buy a laptop or a desktop to run it from....sort of leaning toward laptop at the moment, then I can program in the house...

Looking good.
Word of warning on the desktop/laptop thoughts. If you are going to use an external controller then a laptop should be fine, if using the parallel port then avoid the laptop as they can be very problematic.
Hood

Hi Hood, I *think* I've got it worked out....please correct me if I'm wrong!

Working backwards, I've got the steppers.  They're connected to the drivers, that goes to the smoothstepper, then the breakout board, and provided I use USB connectivity, I can run to a laptop running Windoze 7 pro 64-bit....I think...  If I understand it right, I can only use the 64-bit software if I use a USB connection between laptop and BOB, and the smoothstepper will iron out the laptop's tendancy to power save

Yes?

You should be fine with a laptop and a SS, either ethernet or USB, personally I would go Ethernet. There are also other external controllers available, all with their pros and cons, some USB, some Ethernet but I would definitely choose Ethernet if there was a choice.
And yes 64bit OS is not an issue for Mach if using an external controller.

Hood

phew, got it right!

Ordered two slightly different length A section belts this morning, should be here for the end of the week and we can see how things fit up.  Also ordered the belt for the Z axis, and last night I got the spindle pulley anchored down and the top housing bolted on - hopefully for the last time!

I've actually managed a bit of progress recently, and things are very very slowly coming together.

I've finally managed to get the spindle motor and the new A section pulleys all made and mounted up, and earlier this week I succeeded in getting the VFD wired up, albeit currently fed with a plug and lead rather than the proper wiring, but it's up and running now in some form at least....





A plate has been made for mounting the Y axis stepper and the bearing to support the ballscrew bearing...



...although this is now delayed, as fiddling fingers of my God Son unwound it and its lost half its balls.....

I've finished off the Z axis motor and its cover, an also got the blanking plates made and fitted for all the old controls relating to its manual head days....





Most importantly, I've made a new gear tray for the electrical cabinet, and started mounting the control gear....







The original machine cabinet will house the main power distribution, the stepper drivers and the power supply for the steppers, with the VFD for the spindle housed in another enclosure above it, forced draught cooling air fed to both.  I'm reverting back to my desktop PC for the time being, this will be housed in another enclosure, along with the BOB and SS.  Hopefully that accounts for everything!