Done! It was not fearsome, just took a while. About $800 worth of parts,
including a new motor shaft.

It's so quiet now, at 1500rpm, I can hold a normal conversation 4' from the
spindle without raising my voice at all. I can take a phone call while
standing at the machine. It's freakin' amazing!

I will document; for those with rigid-ram machines, this is something I
can't find good docs for anywhere, sans totally removing the head, which I
did not do.

Lloyd

On 2012-06-19, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Done! It was not fearsome, just took a while. About $800 worth of parts,
including a new motor shaft.

It's so quiet now, at 1500rpm, I can hold a normal conversation 4' from the
spindle without raising my voice at all. I can take a phone call while
standing at the machine. It's freakin' amazing!

I will document; for those with rigid-ram machines, this is something I
can't find good docs for anywhere, sans totally removing the head, which I
did not do.

Lloyd

Awesome!

Can you upload G code to this machine from a PC?

i

Ignoramus5636 fired this volley in
:

Can you upload G code to this machine from a PC?

Yes. It's limited to 12K in memory at one time. Larger programs require
"drip feed", but that works nicely, too.

Lloyd

On 2012-06-19, Lloyd E. Sponenburgh lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:
Ignoramus5636 fired this volley in
:

Can you upload G code to this machine from a PC?

Yes. It's limited to 12K in memory at one time. Larger programs require
"drip feed", but that works nicely, too.

Lloyd

That's great!

Pretty much all you need.

Ignoramus5636 fired this volley in
:

That's great!

Pretty much all you need.

Yeah, but I got a real plus out of this exercise I didn't expect.

Apparently, because of the belt wear and eccentricity of the pulleys in
the head, the spindle (not worn) was emulating an interrupted cut most of
the time. Surface finish was always pretty bad, and I'd trammed the head
as well as it could be.

Now the spindle runs smooth as silk, and the surface finish - with the
same facing cutter - is smooth as silk, too! Nice benefit for a couple
of days of grungy work.

LLoyd

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in message . 3.70...
Ignoramus5636 fired this volley in
:

That's great!

Pretty much all you need.

Yeah, but I got a real plus out of this exercise I didn't expect.

Apparently, because of the belt wear and eccentricity of the pulleys in
the head, the spindle (not worn) was emulating an interrupted cut most of
the time. Surface finish was always pretty bad, and I'd trammed the head
as well as it could be.

Now the spindle runs smooth as silk, and the surface finish - with the
same facing cutter - is smooth as silk, too! Nice benefit for a couple
of days of grungy work.



A couple of days ?

"PrecisionmachinisT" fired this volley in
news:OqidnYHkefO7jnzSnZ2dnUVZ_gmdnZ2d@scnresearch. com:

A couple of days ?

PT, it took a whole day to properly clean and re-paint all the parts I'd
taken off. I'm not sure you appreciate how gooey, black, and hard-to-
remove 26 years worth of varnished oil, carbon black from belts, and
rubber/fabric fibers can be to wash out of about 50 parts, some larger
than my parts washer tub.

It took a whole lot more work than I would have suspected, and this was
with Stoddard solvent, not those water-based detergent thingies. So
there's one day.

Plus, I had no working documentation, so some of the handstands necessary
to remove the motor without removing the head took a while to figure out.

I replaced the motor shaft and bearings, all but one of the bearings in
the top end (6 replaced, all press-fits), replaced one vari-speed sheave
half, re-bushed the other (epoxy takes overnight to cure), and had to
clean out and re-pack the bull gear housing with grease (which alone took
about 1/2 hour).

Not counting parts washing and painting, I think the same job (all up)
would take me about 4-5 hours, including replacing the motor bearings and
re-tramming the head -- now that I know how.

Working on a new system without any prior experience or guidance or
decent docs takes time. It ain't _hard_, it just takes time to figure
out strategies and what comes off next. Remember, I had to work out a
way to remove the motor without pulling the head, and it was not easy
(simple to do, just not easy to figure out).

The only good documentation out there is for the Series I manual
machines. It's not the same on the R2E4 -- not if you have to replace
the back gear belt and the motor bearings or motor shaft. The R2E4
Bridgeport maintenance manual is almost useless for this process (unless
you like "chapter hopping", and then it still skips about 200 useful
things).

LLoyd

"Lloyd E. Sponenburgh" lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote in message . 3.70...
"PrecisionmachinisT" fired this volley in
news:OqidnYHkefO7jnzSnZ2dnUVZ_gmdnZ2d@scnresearch. com:

A couple of days ?

PT, it took a whole day to properly clean and re-paint all the parts I'd
taken off. I'm not sure you appreciate how gooey, black, and hard-to-
remove 26 years worth of varnished oil, carbon black from belts, and

....LOL...

If you're thinking that I've never gotten neck deep in that kind of **** WAY more times than I'd have liked to in my lifetime well then you're sorely mistaken...

rubber/fabric fibers can be to wash out of about 50 parts, some larger
than my parts washer tub.

It took a whole lot more work than I would have suspected, and this was
with Stoddard solvent, not those water-based detergent thingies. So
there's one day.


Hint: For (small, but) exceptionally grungy parts / areas, diesel starter fluid is like Stoddard's on crack.


Plus, I had no working documentation, so some of the handstands necessary
to remove the motor without removing the head took a while to figure out.

I replaced the motor shaft and bearings, all but one of the bearings in
the top end (6 replaced, all press-fits), replaced one vari-speed sheave
half, re-bushed the other (epoxy takes overnight to cure), and had to
clean out and re-pack the bull gear housing with grease (which alone took
about 1/2 hour).


The spindle itself probably drops out the bottom but if it's not making noise then I'd suggest DON'T mess with it.

Not counting parts washing and painting, I think the same job (all up)
would take me about 4-5 hours, including replacing the motor bearings and
re-tramming the head -- now that I know how.


Probably less....


Working on a new system without any prior experience or guidance or
decent docs takes time. It ain't _hard_, it just takes time to figure
out strategies and what comes off next. Remember, I had to work out a
way to remove the motor without pulling the head, and it was not easy
(simple to do, just not easy to figure out).


Some times it's easier if someone hands you a basket of parts...


The only good documentation out there is for the Series I manual
machines. It's not the same on the R2E4 -- not if you have to replace
the back gear belt and the motor bearings or motor shaft. The R2E4

Tell me about it....I have to maintain a Bridgeport cnc horizontal, circa 1985 with fanuc 6mb, 8 pallets and an 80 tool atc.

--basically, you're preaching to the choir...

Bridgeport maintenance manual is almost useless for this process (unless
you like "chapter hopping", and then it still skips about 200 useful
things).


Anyways, no reason to get ruffled--mostly I was only jerking your chain...

But as long as I have your attention, if you can avoid taking interrupted cuts at too low of a speed and so forth, then your new bearings etc will likely outlive you by a wide margin.