Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

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V8 BUG
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by V8 BUG »

Hi Bill,

What company are you with, we may have done business?
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Bill Shields
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by Bill Shields »

I work for Delcam: PowerMill / FeatureCAM / PartMaker.

Specifically, I write code for PartMaker but do a little work with PowerMill as it interfaces with our software.
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by V8 BUG »

OK, we have 2 seats of Powermill here. Very nice software.

In surfing the internet for used older cnc's i have found that "Tree" cnc's can be had fairly cheap, almost the cost of the retro fit. Would all of these machines if built for CNC from the factory come with ball screws? I may need to hold off until i can build my new shop.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by Bill Shields »

I BELIEVE that Tree only made CNC machines and I am fairly certain that they all had ball screws...

The iron is pretty good from what I have seen, although with a bad control, they cheap to be had, esp since the conversion of the tool changer can be a headache in a retrofit.

Not something that I work with every day - nor is the existence of a ball screw something that I worry about -

so take data with a grain of salt.

Yes - I like PowerMill also, but I don't work with it all that much. 99.99% of my work is PartMaker.
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by Harold_V »

Bill Shields wrote:I BELIEVE that Tree only made CNC machines and I am fairly certain that they all had ball screws...
If the Tree you mention is the same one with which I am familiar, they've been building mills for a long time---much longer than CNC's have been on the market.

Case in point, I went to Jordan High School, in Sandy, Utah, class of '57. There was an old Tree in the machine shop back then.

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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by Marty_Escarcega »

There are also companies that sell the ballscrew kits/mounts for the Bridgeports. Might save you a little grief....
Let us know what you end up doing. Post pictures if you go for it.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by Bill Shields »

THERE YOU GO - showing your age again Harold.

I have never seen (nor really had occasion to see) a manual Tree.

Like others - I would get ready-made screws from one of the multitude of companies that sell same for Bridgeport machines.

I even found them for my ancient series II NC machine
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by V8 BUG »

I have sent out request for quote from a few places. Rockford ball screw, Hiwin, and Broussard Enterprises. Rockford had a Canadian company quote for me. We have dealt with this company at work and found their prices high. Hiwin sent me drawings but no quote yet and Broussard sent the lowest quote. I do want ground ball screws as the price is not that much different. See the link below for the Broussard page. They look pretty good although I wanted a longer Y axis screw than the kit showed.

http://broussardenterprises.com/index.p ... uct_id=119
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by V8 BUG »

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Bill Shields
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by Bill Shields »

high bid...and only bid.

how far from Windsor to Auburn NY -> 400 miles or so?

What will CA customs have to say about it - giggle... :lol:

I have a friend with one of those (had a HH TNC 151 control if I remember correctly).

Not a bad machine for what it is...

If you can get it for that price and get it home reasonably, you will be well ahead of the game - maybe cheaper than a set of ball screws.

I did similar and stuck on a Fagor control. Machine was sitting in a parking lot, dead control and ruined part still on the table...

Long story...
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by V8 BUG »

Hi Bill,

Its a 7 hour drive. I have a car trailer and a couple buddy's that don't mind a road trip. I figure I can get it back to Amherstburg for about 300-400.(gas, food, beer for when we get home) Only think I don't like is the 18" travel on the x, but I guess if I have anything longer I can stage it. Yes it is cheaper than the ball screw upgrade on my manual BP. The expensive part will be where to put it. I may need to take over the back shed.

Canadian Customs I don't think will give me a hard time. I brought my lathe over with no problem. I will have the e-bay add printed out to prove what I end up paying if i get it.


Jim is this similar to what your running?
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Re: Thinking of a Bridgeport CNC Conversion

Post by Chris Hollands »

Look up Micro kenetics for ball screws they are rolled ones at about $1255 a set
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