Bridgeport EZ vision CNC mill issue

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amadlinger
Posts: 174
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:18 pm
Location: Central NJ

Bridgeport EZ vision CNC mill issue

Post by amadlinger »

Hi all,

An unfortunate series of events played out today here in the shop and I am in need of some advice. I have a Bridgeport 3-axis EZ Vision CNC knee mill, which I purchased new from Hardinge in 2009. When I went to turn it on today, all I saw was a white screen - it did not even boot to the BIOS. I tried cycling the power (no change), re-seating the hard drive (no change), re-seating the motherboard cables (no change), and finally pulled the motherboard battery off to try to reset anything that I might have missed. When I turned the power on after that, it actually started to boot to the BIOS...BUT within 5 seconds I started to smell that horrifying smell, and watched in horror as the hard drive ribbon cable connection to the motherboard went up in smoke. After powering down, I pulled the ribbon cable from the motherboard and several of the pins from the motherboard were fused to the ribbon cable itself. At this point, I have a bad feeling that the motherboard is shot. Alas, the machine spindle cannot even be turned on without the computer being booted up, so I now have a hunk of metal sitting in the shop.

My research has indicated that the EZ Vision product line has been discontinued by Hardinge (I know from a previous issue that they haven't supported it in years and at that time claimed to not have anyone who can offer any technical assistance on the product line) and finding parts will be extremely difficult. Broadly speaking, it seems that I have at least 3 potential options:
1. Try to hack or otherwise rewire the components I have in order to get something to work - the spindle at least, if not the controller. Could I somehow build a Mach4 setup that would work with the existing servo motors and motion controllers that Hardinge is using? Is it even worth it?
2. Find another CNC package (Acu-Rite MillPwr G2, Centroid, etc) and replace the EZ Vision package entirely.
3. Get rid of this machine altogether and "upgrade" to something "else". Is there something better?

I am still a bit in the shock/bewilderment phase of getting my mind around what happened/what to do, so I would most sincerely appreciate any thoughts/questions/advice anyone has on any of the above. At the moment I am leaning toward option 2, so I would be very eager to hear if anyone has experience with other CNC retrofit packages.

Many thanks!

Sincerely,
Adam
FKreider
Posts: 338
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2018 8:44 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Bridgeport EZ vision CNC mill issue

Post by FKreider »

I just did a complete controls retrofit on a small CNC using the Centroid Acorn. The product and Centroid CNC12 software is excellent!

I'm guessing you have servo motors on this machine so you might be better off using the centroid "Oak" or "Allin1DC"

If you post your machine info over on the Centroid forums someone should be able to tell you which product is the best fit for your machine:

https://centroidcncforum.com/
-Frank K.
FKreider
Posts: 338
Joined: Fri Feb 02, 2018 8:44 pm
Location: Massachusetts

Re: Bridgeport EZ vision CNC mill issue

Post by FKreider »

I did a lot of research on what control system to go with before I pulled the trigger on the centroid product. I can tell you that after doing all of that research I will never install a Mach 3 or 4 system- there are A LOT of folks out there who complain of bugs and glitches- programs crashing when the same file has run previously with no problems, etc.

I could find almost nothing but positive info on the centroid which is why I went with them in the end. In addition to this- Centroid is a commercial/industrial grade product- these controls are used to build NASCAR race engines. If you need support you can email or call them and they will help you. You can also pay for remote technical support if you are really stuck but if you can wait a day or two and can take the time to type out your problem then most times you can get excellent answers on their forum for free.

Plus the centroid program has the built-in Intercon conversational programming- you can do a lot of in-controller programming for simple parts without the use of an external CAM system. (Same as a ProtoTRAK - I'm assuming the EZ Vision had similar capabilities but I've never seen one myself.)
-Frank K.
amadlinger
Posts: 174
Joined: Sat Jun 23, 2007 8:18 pm
Location: Central NJ

Re: Bridgeport EZ vision CNC mill issue

Post by amadlinger »

Hi Frank,

That's great info, exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for. It seems like the only source for EZ Vision parts these days (EMI Works) is also a Centroid dealer, so I will chat with them this week on the subject. Yes, the EZ Vision had conversational programming but no DXF import function which would be mighty nice for complex profile parts.

In the meantime, I was able to find the digital output from the controller interface module that enables the spindle forward/reverse contactor and jumped out the corresponding relay. I can now use my machine manually, so at least I have something while I figure out the rest.

Many thanks!

Sincerely,
Adam
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Bill Shields
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Re: Bridgeport EZ vision CNC mill issue

Post by Bill Shields »

Centroid is the way that I would go, short of a full-blown commercial control like a FAGOR or similar..
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
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