Bridgeport Manual to CNC conversion...

[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.

[Davek0974]

Very nice :)

Have you any more pics, looking for ideas on homing/limit switches etc

I had not thought of putting the Y motor to the rear, all the builds i have seen have it hanging down low beneath the handle, it will have to stick out though as my motor is too long to tuck under.

[komatias]

Dave, I have mounted my limits off of the newall DRO scales but not happy with them. Going to be printing some parts shortly to fix the issues and will post.

[Davek0974]

Ok, I am only using the Mach DRO's - my Sino DRO kit will be sold to raise funds, can't really see the need to have two DRO systems.

[komatias]

Yes, with the CSMio you can get away from the extra DRO. I have it becuase I am using steppers and a smoothstepper but also have a very cunning plan there too.

What kind of switches are you planning on using?