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Replacing Bridgeport knee mill with CNC


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29 minutes ago, htm01 said:

supermax-ycm-12-9Ã50-cnc-vertical-milling-main

I used to own one of these.. only with an older Anilam Control

I got rid of it because I couldn't keep the control running.

The control had been discontinued and the only boards available were refurbs

Every time we had a power failure or power surge,  the control would pop a board.

The refurb boards were $1K and the service call was $500.

I tried putting a surge protector on the control's power supply, I tried battery backups,

nothing worked.

It was getting to the point were I was going to spend more on refurb boards that I spent to buy the machine new

so I sold it to a buddy who turned it back into a manual mill.

I hated getting rid of it.

It was an old friend.. I learned to program on it, both Pencil Cam and Anicam 1.0

and made a whole of of parts and $$$ with it.

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Without doubt, I really don't understand how anyone can be in business using a manual mill and lathe - unless they're being used for 90deg head work or to just drill a hole or polish a shaft.

I thought that back in 2007 and my mind hasn't changed since.

I would buy a mill from a manufacturer that also sells a lathe - that way, when you buy both your operator can have familiarity jumping between the two.

I bought Protorak from the UK suppler (an XYZ SMX1500 mill & SLX1630 lathe).

The mill was a direct Bridgeport clone, with a 2axis control and manual quill and R8 taper.

I developed a Mastercam post (finished by my reseller (Phill @ 4D Engineering :welcome:) so i could program 3ax parts in Mastercam and on the machine the control would pause for every Z move and prompt you what to do (plunge Z-2mm or Retract Z etc).

I wouldn't go for a bed mill as a replacement, and I really wouldn't go for a 3ax version (motor on the quill). Just keep it as a straight replacement and you won't regret it.

Superb piece of kit

 

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29 minutes ago, Newbeeee™ said:

Without doubt, I really don't understand how anyone can be in business using a manual mill and lathe

I worked at a few shops with mostly manual machines in the past ten years, a few years back i took do 3 operations on a part, facing, boring and grooving each removing between .125 -> .5" inches of 304 -> 306 sst in less than a minute.. I think it will be a looong time before we see the end of manual machines.

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Pete - look at these adverts attached and they are real. Easily achievable times with this control.

For the milling - i would always DXF in that type of part, select the contours and holes, select tools and done. Simples.

You cannot beat this type of machine for flexibility and they genuinely are a real money maker for a prototype and tooling shop.

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3 minutes ago, Peter from S.C.C.C. said:

It would be awesome tl have with the automatic z axis as well, although I believe that is very expenaive.

The Z (on the quill) becomes very restrictive - you have to disengage the power and wind the motor by hand (on the ones i saw at the time).

If you wanted a powered Z, go for the bed mill as it has a driven head (Z) but also a manual quill. This = more flexibility.

BUT they are bigger machines, and the head only rotates in the one axis - so it is no longer a Bridgeport style clone - you lose flexibility.

And besides, if you want a driven Z, go buy a machining centre... :D

 

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5 hours ago, Peter from S.C.C.C. said:

It would be awesome tl have with the automatic z axis as well, although I believe that is very expenaive.

The Z axis on my machine was very problematic.

The mechanical link between the Z axis drive motor and the quill was very weak

It was not capable of serious drilling and required constant attention as it was always working it's way loose.

It worked well for light duty work

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 3/21/2020 at 12:03 PM, civiceg said:

What about a older Haas TM? One that has no enclosure? You can usually find a low hour one for 15 to 20k. 

we got rid of one like new 2004 don't think they got $5000 for it,that a toolroom lathe and the big one was a Mazak hyperquadrex

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