I found a local company that repairs Bridgeport mills. I decided to
pay them for a visit and to look at the mill and find out what is
wrong.

As you recall, what I have is a monitor that is completely dead.

Someone came out to look at it (it is still in my friend's warehouse).

He brought two spare monitors. Connecting either of them to the
control did not help matters and both of them also appeared dead.

The first thing we noted is that the iron is in a very good shape with
minimum wear.

His conclusion, that I agree with, is that it is the control that is
most likely broken, and that there is no evidence that my monitor is
bad (which could be the case, we just do not know).

He took out the control.

He said that Heidenhain in Schaumburg may be able to repair it, the
cost depends on what is wrong with it, but it could be under a
grand. I will call Rick at Heidenhain (great guy) tomorrow.

He also told me that TNC151 is a great control that will let me do
pretty much anything I want, especially with RS232 input for G
codes. That it is a full 3D control and hooking up, say, an indexer to
it is a piece of cake.

They also have a spare TNC151 from a parts machine and that could also
be a viable option.

I am very undecided on it, but if I get the old control to work, maybe
it is a better option than a retrofit, from all standpoints.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has some related experience. I do
not want to do something very stupid.

i

Ignoramus32248 wrote:

I found a local company that repairs Bridgeport mills. I decided to
pay them for a visit and to look at the mill and find out what is
wrong.

As you recall, what I have is a monitor that is completely dead.

Someone came out to look at it (it is still in my friend's warehouse).

He brought two spare monitors. Connecting either of them to the
control did not help matters and both of them also appeared dead.

The first thing we noted is that the iron is in a very good shape with
minimum wear.

His conclusion, that I agree with, is that it is the control that is
most likely broken, and that there is no evidence that my monitor is
bad (which could be the case, we just do not know).

He took out the control.

He said that Heidenhain in Schaumburg may be able to repair it, the
cost depends on what is wrong with it, but it could be under a
grand. I will call Rick at Heidenhain (great guy) tomorrow.

He also told me that TNC151 is a great control that will let me do
pretty much anything I want, especially with RS232 input for G
codes. That it is a full 3D control and hooking up, say, an indexer to
it is a piece of cake.

They also have a spare TNC151 from a parts machine and that could also
be a viable option.

I am very undecided on it, but if I get the old control to work, maybe
it is a better option than a retrofit, from all standpoints.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has some related experience. I do
not want to do something very stupid.

i

Your retrofit options run what, $4-5K? If for $1K you can get the
existing control working properly, be able to use the mill immediately
without a lot of work and it lasts for another 5 years before conking
out, you're probably ahead of the game and you will have a lot more time
and experience for the ultimate retrofit to something else.

....
I am very undecided on it, but if I get the old control to work, maybe
it is a better option than a retrofit, from all standpoints.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has some related experience. I do
not want to do something very stupid.

Tuff call. How long to you feed a dead horse? Its up to you.

One thing, moving is about the hardest thing on old controls. I've got an
antique CNC wire EDM. I paid to get the old girl running. The guy said to
never move it. Anyway, get the machine in its final place before installing.

karl

On May 25, 9:32*pm, Ignoramus32248 ignoramus32...@NOSPAM.
32248.invalid wrote:
I found a local company that repairs Bridgeport mills. I decided to
pay them for a visit and to look at the mill and find out what is
wrong.

As you recall, what I have is a monitor that is completely dead.

Someone came out to look at it (it is still in my friend's warehouse).

He brought two spare monitors. Connecting either of them to the
control did not help matters and both of them also appeared dead.

The first thing we noted is that the iron is in a very good shape with
minimum wear.

His conclusion, that I agree with, is that it is the control that is
most likely broken, and that there is no evidence that my monitor is
bad (which could be the case, we just do not know).

He took out the control.

He said that Heidenhain in Schaumburg may be able to repair it, the
cost depends on what is wrong with it, but it could be under a
grand. I will call Rick at Heidenhain (great guy) tomorrow.

He also told me that TNC151 is a great control that will let me do
pretty much anything I want, especially with RS232 input for G
codes. That it is a full 3D control and hooking up, say, an indexer to
it is a piece of cake.

They also have a spare TNC151 from a parts machine and that could also
be a viable option.

I am very undecided on it, but if I get the old control to work, maybe
it is a better option than a retrofit, from all standpoints.

Just wanted to see if anyone else has some related experience. I do
not want to do something very stupid.

i

Just got a used Hardinge 4-axis lathe on the floor a couple weeks ago.
Minor physical damage during the move (couple thousand km). Control
was also different when it arrived.

Fanuc guy came in with several new boards for the control which might
be causing the issues we were seeing.

Luckly my boss was able to fix the $1400 (new) board and the machine
now runs ($500 diagnostic bill for Fanuc North America). If it hadn't
been that board, it could have been the $6,000 board right beside it!

With PC controls being so cheap and powerful I'm surprised anyone
would invest in one of these OEM-type controls unless their machine is
paying for itself, and the owner's dinner too. The Hardinge will be
making money (maybe on Friday) and it's also a 30kva machine so we're
not currently in a position to retro fit it.

Regards,

Robin