Bridgeport Manual to CNC conversion...

[Davek0974]

Can't go much further ;)




Stripped most of the poor paint job off now, will be sanding and painting this weekend, not filling the dents in as it's a machine not decoration ;)

[Davek0974]

Now for the spare parts :(

The knee lift-screw bearing is dead, it looks like a 3306-2RS Double row angular contact 2 rubber shield item - 30mm ID, 72mm OD, 30mm W

Can anyone confirm that please?

Also is there a good source for the tubes and fittings for the lube system in the UK, might replace the lot as it looks like some of the points on the knee lift ways were doing nothing, luckily i always backed up with the oil can;)

[lucan07]

Off subject just making sure you have this came across it looking for something else looks interesting

http://neme-s.org/Shaper%20Books/bri...%20Rebuild.pdf

[m_c]

I got replacement Bijur metering units for my mill from Lubetec. They do have a web shop, but it's just a generic skinned airline/pneumatics one used by lots of similar suppliers, and doesn't contain any of the lubrication stuff.

They do however have their own catalogue online, which contains all the centralised lubrication stuff.

I did consider the Arc Euro parts, however the threads were wrong and the genuine Bijur ones weren't that much more expensive. Just checked and they were £5.54+VAT each a few years ago, so not worth the hassle of retapping threads and changing fittings.

You'll need to get the flow rate of the existing metering units, as well as the thread/style/direction of flow if you need new ones.
I removed all the metering units from my mill, connected them up, and then left the lube system running overnight (it's an electric motorised one designed to lube every few hours). Any that were still dry in the morning, I replaced as they're pretty much impossible to clean properly once gummed up, and a few metering units is far cheaper than the potential damage from lack of lube.
One trick I did use, was to fill the system with ATF fluid and leave it running for a day. You can then check that all the slides have a nice coating of red oil, which tells you the system is working and getting oil to where it should.

For replacement pipe/fittings, I just used whoever could supply them. My mill originally had aluminium distribution pipe, which had corroded where it had been sitting in coolant, so I replaced it with the same sized copper pipe.

[Davek0974]

Thanks I'll have to test them all first then.

The plumbing is all nylon so that should be cheap enough with some olives.

Mine is a manual pull-pump by interlube.

[Davek0974]

Looking better...



Got the knee painted too.

Hit a block now - turns out the knee-lift screw bearing is dead, got the deadly silver paste coming out of it and feels like a bag of nuts. Will have to order one from somewhere but cant reassemble until i get it :(

[Davek0974]

Got most of the big stuff stripped , sanded and painted now. Started putting a few little bits back on but cant do much until i get the new knee lift bearing.

Found an issue with old lube system - this is the feed to the saddle...

Olive was cocked and tube crimped, probably wrong size olive for the pipe :(

Moving on....

Motor mount plates for X & Y axes.

Is it better to hang the plates from the four bracket mount screws or the three bearing retainer screws?



Using the four screws would mean a much larger lump of metal is needed to span the width, I won't be refitting the dials so using the three mount screws probably won't affect anything.

Any thoughts?

[komatias]

Go off the plate:






I made a spacer and clamped it all there.

My Y axis one looks like this:





I bought proper angular high spec contact bearings for the screws (+£250) and some very fancy face locking lock nuts from Germany.

[njhussey]

You can also get them from Denco Lubrication (part of the Bijur group of companies) in Hereford (or Cougar Lubrication if you're in the South of the UK), shame I wasn't working there still else I'm sure I could have helped out;)

Nice refurb log Dave, following with interest. I was looking at doing this for work but we're still undecided on retrofit or purpose built....funds will decide!

[Davek0974]

Got the lube parts from Lubetec, very fast delivery.

Started sketching out my control circuits, change-over from main spindle to bolt-on aux spindle will be done via the respective Mach3 profiles.


Luckily the CSMIO has two 0-10v outputs and stacks of digital I/O so i can connect both VFD's up and use mach to decide which motor to start or which limits to look at.