New to me - Bridgeport serial number 'cnc 1459' - mostly complete kit

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dansawyer

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Bridgeport CNC 1459 followed me home yesterday. It is mostly complete; missing the motor and drive mechanism from a 2J head but otherwise in pretty good shape. I can manually turn the stepper belts so nothing is frozen. The ways appear to be in very good shape. The table is a C-, it is still square but has 1% rust with small pits and about 5% surface rust, definitly usable but visually unappealing.
It has steppers and X and Y ball screws installed. The quill feed is also stepper driven. The panel has Gecko 203V drivers installed, my plan is to rip everything before those out and start from scratch. Based on reading I may have to replace the steppers, apparently they loose power over time, I will bench test them.
The 2J head is missing the motor, drive pulley, slow speed pulley. It is also missing the front panel speed control. The top cover case seems to be in good shape.
The machine may be a composit. It has steppers and the serial number is relativly low so it was an early model. However the panel has some USB connections and current stepper drivers. I cannot find the year of manufacturer for CNC serial numbered machines.
My immediate problem is moving it from the front of the garage to the rear. :)
 
Sounds like a fun project- post some pics when you get a chance
-Mark
 
Some of the rigid ram Bridgeports didnt have a speed control on the front, they were pneumatically driven via the pendant. For the most part, its all the same parts as a 2J 2HP head, minus the spindle and the guts from the casting where the Z is driven from.

If this is the table size I am thinking of, be careful not to overtravel the X, sometimes the little stopper on the screw is removed and you can unthread the ballscrew from the nut.

Definitely sounds like someone tried to retrofit the old controller (my guess would be some sort of BOSS) to something newer.

Jon
 
This was pre ridgid ram; the ram itself looks to be standard. I was able to loosen the locking nuts and move it with a 3/4 wrench.
However the table is definitely a CNC table. Both the X and Y axis drive belts trun smoothly and the table moves smoothly. The front of the Y axis where the ways are visible look nearly new. I have not been able to see the X ways yet.
There is a counter in front near where the X dial would have been, it reads 0650. Does this mean 650 hours?
I have a fair amount of stepper experience building telescope controls so I will tear everything out before the Gecko drivers. I will take one motor and a controler to the electronics bench and test it there.
The real problem is the power section of the head. It is all missing. The base casting is in tact and the high low gear works. Someone replaced the R8 mechanism with somekind of quick change mechanism. The top end of the head appears to be a litte differnent from the normal 2J. I am missing the motor, the front and rear drive spindles, the speed control mechanism, and the top casting. I suspect I will have to find a full head somewhere and scavage the motor / drive mechanism.
 
I am pretty sure all of the Boss type CNC controllers too 30 taper quick change style tooling.

I have no clue as to what that counter means, it could be something added on when it was retrofit. If it is/was a Boss style controller, those machines typically have gorgeous iron and ways... cause the controllers sucked and rarely got used. Of all the ones we get in to retrofit, the ways are always amazing.

Do you have pics of what all is there?

Jon
 
Update: The ram is off along with the head. I will send pics this weekend.
The base and column, knee, y axis, and x axis assemby is siiting on 4x4 blocks (to be moved with a pallet truck). The steppers are all in place, the gecko drives in the power cabinet.
This all led to the first opportunity to inspect the ways. The z and y are in perfect condition top and bottom, front to back. :) With limited testing all axis move uniformliy and smoothly. This is all above expectation. I was expecting some visable wear.
The next step is to connect the stepper drivers with a test controller, Arduino based. This will provide the lower unit basis of an MPG 'drive by wire system.
 
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