# bridgeport MDI?



## billsnogo

I found a Bridgeport Series 1 MDI with Heidenhain TNC 131 controls for sale, and the price is right at $1000, but was told the tnc controlls has problems and has been used as a manual mill. I can not get any info on these machines, but would love to have a bridgeport for a mill. Can the tnc controlls be removed and just used as a regular series 1 bridgeport? Or were these built different and can't strip it of the other items?

any help is appreciated :nerd:


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## billsnogo

stupid double post :-X


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## Tony Wells

Pity the TMC controls are bad. Heidenhain looks like an interesting setup. I would think that unless there are serious mechanical modifications to the mill, you would simply remove the drives and install cranks and handles. The motor would probably need to be wired directly to a reversing switch, or better yet a VFD. For a grand, I'd probably go for it. If it has ball screws on all axes, it should be a smooth machine.

I assume the current owner has given up on repairing the control?


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## Hawkeye

If you pick up the mill, check the power supply to the board inside the controls. If there is no power, getting that working may be all you need to have a TNC mill. Who knows, might just be a fuse or a transformer.


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## billsnogo

This is what he said in an email
"The DRO lights up but the joysticks aren't working right now with it.
I replaced a board in it after I purchased it and the joysticks and
everything seemed to work great.
Then they just quit one day.
A friend that knows a bit about them thinks it's a brake on one of the
motors hanging up."

I don't know what kind of tooling this would take, and the guy selling it does not no much about it, it looks like he knows even less than me, and that is surprising  as he didn't know what backlash was, or DRO until I described it. I can not identify the tooling he included in the pic (vise not going with the mill) so not sure about this.


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## brucer

that would be a nice project machine to convert to emc2 or mach3.. matter of fact thats exactly what i would do with it.. might take some time but i think that would probably be your best route...


 read up on mach3 and linux emc2... emc2 is free.... as far as i know, the time wiring would be the biggest thing... basically a controller board, 3 driver boards and a cheap pc with an old parallel port (printer port) and wire would be your cost...

controller and driver boards are pretty cheap..


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## Tony Wells

I'd buy it, then either retrofit a newer control or fix that one. Sounds like a simple case of the cause of failure not being diagnosed, but replaceology used in an attempt to fix it.


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## Fishchips

What did you decide on the MDI?


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## billsnogo

Fishchips link=topic=3687.msg28465#msg28465 date=1317811354 said:
			
		

> What did you decide on the MDI?



Have not decided yet. Neighbor said it might make a lousy manual machine if I can not lock the axis not being used, and with the different tooling needed, that is may not be a good first machine. There is a manual bridgeport machine at an auction I am going to check out before I make any decisions.


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## billsnogo

Looking at picking it up this weekend, except now it is a better price, but bigger risk. The seller moved it out of the garage, and to do that took the head off. So now it can not be tested. Price is worth the gamble I think at $600


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## brucer

billsnogo said:


> Looking at picking it up this weekend, except now it is a better price, but bigger risk. The seller moved it out of the garage, and to do that took the head off. So now it can not be tested. Price is worth the gamble I think at $600




 think i would make a cnc retrofit project out of it..


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## billsnogo

brucer said:


> think i would make a cnc retrofit project out of it..



That is my plan, or hope I should say, but need to learn what is all involved/needed. Kind of in the dark. Will post questions when/if I get it home undamaged.


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## Fishchips

$600, I think you'll be ok.


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## billsnogo

Well, got it home, and went much easier than I thought. I rented a drop bed trailer and pallet jack (did not need the pallet jack), headed to pick it up, the seller and his father were there with a john deere tractor waiting to load it up. Dropped the bed of the trailer till it was an inch off the ground, they lifted the mill, I backed the trailer under it, strapped it down with there help (very nice family, was glad to do business with them), lifted the head on the front of the trailer, strapped that down, and headed home. Checked straps after a couple of blocks, it was fine, then went about five miles, stopped in a gas station and rechecked and one was a little loose, tightened it down, and the rest of the trip back was uneventful (thankfully).

Got home, tried to figure out how to get it to the back of the garage, and what do you know, if I dropped the bed till about an inch off the ground it would clear my 7' garage door. Even better was I could back it all the way in. I used some ratchet straps and some oil (spilled all over the trailer from the mill) to help it off, and a little help from a medium pry bar. Those drop bed trailers are golden for this purpose.

I need to put the head back on, and he had it all marked for what wire goes where, and he said I could call or email and would help me if I could not figure it out. Only thing broken was the front handwheel (had been previously broken, and glued back together since it is plastic), and the handle for the variable speed on the head snapped off (only a screw, the handle itself is fine so no big deal).

Now for the bonus, the machine came with a power inverter on the back of it, so I can plug it into my 220 outlet!   

Has a coolant mister on the back, and an oiler. Has five quick change 30 tool holders and a jacobs drill chuck! Looks like no draw bar needed, just a spanner wrench.
So for $600 for the mill, $70 for the trailer, $30 for pallet jack, $40 for two heavy duty straps, $60 in gas, grand total of $800 I got myself a project mill

that is all for now, I am tired and am going to watch some Halloween movies


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## Tony Wells

No flies on that!

Reminds me of a couple of Webb CNC mills I used to run. I'd sure look into repair before re-fit.


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## billsnogo

Little confused on the tooling. From what I have been able to read by searching that qc30 is not the same as nmtb #30, but I have both with this machine. Are these interchangeable? Trying to find a bunch more tool holders when the prices are right. 

thanks all


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## brucer

nice score bill, either way you got your moneys worth for sure.

 couple of questions...  you might have to wait till you get the mill hooked up...   do you have to plug in 2 cords for the machine to run? like plug in the controller and also the phase converter?  

 the phase converter might be the problem, i dont know enough about them really, but i do know they put out a reduction of power to a motor, or something along those lines, basically you might have a problem with not enough power being supplied to the machine for the motor and the controller to operate correctly..  might be something for you to look into..


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## billsnogo

Thanks for the suggestion. Only one cord, and the previous owner said after he replaced one card, it was fine and used it for several months, and then it had the problem. I might be looking into running the phase converter to run a three phase idler motor, and use the idler motor to run the mill since my 220 in the garage has a different plug, and rather not run more wing out there unless there is no choice. We will see. 

First I need to find out how to get this thing back together...... oh, and boy is that cabinet full of electronics, not going to be fun.....

thanks guys, hope it turns out to be a decent starter


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