Bridgeport VMC760 retrofit

Yes, the RS-422 is their smart serial connection between the 7i97T FPGA main board and 7i73 and 7i84 daughter boards. Since there is only one RS-422 configured standard on the 7i97T (on TB4), you can only connect one of those two cards, until you reflash the 7i97T to reconfigure some of the pins of the P2 expansion port to provide a second RS-422.

Glad you are enjoying my videos. It is fun to dick around with this stuff
Cheers,
Mark

langdons wrote:

Do you need all new drives?

I thought only one broke.

Sorry Langdons, I've been away the last week and decided to take a breather from the internet.

By the looks of it yes, just one. However, given the likelihood of another dying in the future, I'd rather replace the whole bunch. The quotes to repair them are sky high and secondhand ones are almost as bad.

RotarySMP wrote:

Yes, the RS-422 is their smart serial connection between the 7i97T FPGA main board and 7i73 and 7i84 daughter boards. Since there is only one RS-422 configured standard on the 7i97T (on TB4), you can only connect one of those two cards, until you reflash the 7i97T to reconfigure some of the pins of the P2 expansion port to provide a second RS-422.

Glad you are enjoying my videos. It is fun to dick around with this stuff
Cheers,
Mark

Thanks for the clarification Mark.
Apologies on the slow reply, I've had an internet detox the last week! 

Howdy!

I've made some progress the last couple of days with the retrofit. Mainly around the control panel design.

I received a secondhand 27" ELO touchscreen in the post, which I got for an absolute steal. Yet to power it up, but it was sold as functioning and the drivers work on linux. The new control panel is based around this screen and the gmoccapy gui, with a handful on hardware controls I've deemed necessary from the Heidenhain. I'd also like the panel to rotate around to aid interaction while standing in front of the bed/doors. I've orientated the screen vertical, as it's bloody huge.

Attached are some screen grabs of the CAD model. It's designed to take the MX Cherry style switches. Looks like a few of you have used them and I'm a sucker for a "clicky" button. One MPG, e-stop, usb jack, all the usual suspects etc. Control enclosure is to be fabricated from 80x25x3mm aluminium channel for the perimeter frame and cnc routed 3mm sheet for the front and rear panels. I'll glue this together with the TIG and send it out with the next client job batch for powder. 

I also received a Delta 11kw VFD. Again, it was removed from a working machine and was considerably better value than a new one. Dug out a Omron encoder that was leftover from another project that never saw life. Planning to use this on the spindle.

Cheers,

J
 
 
 
 
 

 

Why does the VFD have 2 different ground terminals?

Not sure Langdons. I'll have to look at the manual.

Made some progress with the control panel today. Machined the panels on the router and welded up the frame. Just need to countersink the panels and tap the rear mount holes. Not shown are the monitor facia and rear panels. Should be off to powder coating next week. I'll start 3d printing the custom keys in the meantime. Pictures below.

Cheers,

j 

 
 
 
 
 

Looks great!

FUN FACT: most CNC machines are CNC-machined, most 3D-printers are 3D-printed.

Kinda weird, eh?

I need an aluminum clamping table like that!

Where'd you get that anyways?

Be aware that vibrations can trigger sensitive switches like those used in most mechanical keyboards.

My Logitech G413 carbon mechanical keyboard turns on my iMac if I bonk the table it rests on.

But it uses romer-g switches.

(And it was scavenged from garbage)

Its steel actually.

Made it. Not hard!

Have a few of them in the shop. Made out of solid 2" (50mm) plate offcuts from the scrap dealer. I had them blanchard ground. Just mag drilled and tapped the M16 holes. Cheap and flat fixture tables. I've built some very straight motorbike and push bike frames on them over the years.

Thanks for the heads up on the switches. I'll keep this in mind.