Was running turboCNC on my Taig and just upgraded the computer and placed Mach3 on it.  What a difference. the machine is smooth and fast with 35KHz setting and a Xylotex controller. Looking forward to using it on my Bridgeport R2E4 retrofit.

Even though I am just a hobbyist here and Art is great about licensing, I think I will up for a second license just cause I am so impressed.

I Found the same thing when i started running his software! I have been doing some 3D milling and WOW I have a mill that is 150,000 and I can do the same job on a mill that I have 4,000 in!

It is very good stuff!
Brian

I too started out with a Taig and Xylotex.
I moved the motors a couple of times with the tcnc but never got far because the board cooked itself.
I have recently gotten another Xy Board and have been running M3 on it now for about three weeks.
I have watched a few videos but have not gone but the first few pages of the manual.

I am impressed that all the stuff I could design for years can now be cut in relatively short order using Mxx and this little mill.
Great software hardware combination.

Oh and I am also runing at 35KHz.

I have recently purchased a used R2E4 and it has some problem in it. Since I am new to CNC it would take me equal time to correct the problem or retrofit the machine with Mach 2. What is your experiance with Mach2 on R2E4 and what do you suggest?

I have a Bridgeport R2E4 that I retrofitted and ran with Mach 2, now Mach 3.  It runs beautifully.  The only problem I have is the servo drives I used were to small.  Mine is a servo machine and I reused all the originall power supplies, motors, encoders, etc.  I went with Rutex drives (no connection to the company, just an extremely satisfied user).  This is where my only problem came in.  I did the retro about 3 years ago now, and Rutex had not released the R90 drive for 200V 40amp.  I ended going with, if I remember right, the R990H2 so I would not have to mess with altering/building power supplies.  These drives were rated for up to 200V, but only 10amps.  Where as the alternative Rutex drive at the time was 100V 20amp.  Being lazy (or more cheap than anything  ) I was intent on reusing as much as I could, including the power supply.  And I did not want to mess with electronice and what not to drop the voltage to an acceptable level for a 100V drive.  So I traded off amperage.  This made it hard to tune in the drives to the motors since they were soo underpowered.  I don't remember the amp rating for the motors or what the supply originally put out to the original drives, but it was more than 10 amps.  I had to max out the current limit pot on the drives I had.  This underpower condition meant I had to run things much slower than the machine originally could.  I run with 100ipm rapids reliably as opposed to, I believe, the original drives 250ipm rapid capability.  Slower than original but not too shabby.  So the only real problem I had was being a cheapskate.  The Rutex drives functioned beautifully, and the tuning software was very easy to use.  I now have 3 of the new 2000 series drives on the way from Rutex, the R2020 rated for 200V 40amps.  These should bring things back up to speed.  Not sure if your mill is servo or not, I don't know if all the R2E4s were the same.  Mine had a BOSS 10 control.  But mice had done some "customization" of the original wiring with their teeth, so retrofit it was.  Mine is also a Series II, again, not sure about all the R2E4s.

Anyway, to make an already long post a little longer  , I would say go for it.  If you don't like Rutex, there are many other great drive manufacturers out there like Gecko.  I have used them too, and they are also very nice.  But if yours is like mine, Rutex was the only one that came close to the electrical requirements.  So dive in.  I will be glad to answer any questions you may have, to the best of my knowledge and experience anyway.  And if I don't know, some one else here certainly will.  Good luck and hope that helps.


p.s.  I would recommend going with Mach 3 over 2 at this point.

Mine is a servo drive too with 65 pulse Amps/ 132 Volts and Boss 9 software. Is pulse amp the same as Amps or less?  I think one of the Axis drive has a problem, red led on DCS Board is lit when powered inspite of interchanging its slot with other drive slot. First I will try to understand the electronics as written in the manuals and if possible try to repair the drive or get it repaired locally. Since I am located in India, it would be much cheaper to get the card repaired rather than replacing it or is there any other problem? I purchased from New Jersey and they even sent screen snapshots to prove that it works properly and the card in which red led is lit up is also consectively numbered which shows that it was not replaced. I have cleaned all the electronics and installed back the cards.

I have downloaded the manual for Mach 2 and started reading the stuff. I think networking the machine with Mach 2 and Mach3 is same with difference in software only.

What minimum hardware is required for R2E4 for interfacing with Mach2/3, using as much of the original as possible?