Centroid Community CNC Support Forum

Hi All,
I just acquired a real variable speed Bridgeport head to put on my clone mill. I'd like to retain low gear, and may replace the vari-speed pulleys with fixed since it runs on a VFD. It looks to me like the speed change handle will interfere with the Z-housing though. What do people do here? There isn't a handle on the current head- Here is the new one. Thanks,
Kevin

That isn't the speed change handle. That handle engages the worm drive for the quill power feed which is no longer needed if you have a CNC controlled Z-axis.

Elrod used that boss on the housing as another attachment point for the Z drive making it much more rigid than other Z drives available.

Ah, thank you Tom. I guess it's been so long that I forgot how it works. I did add a bracket to the other side and removed the spacers that were mounting it originally. It seems stiff enough but I guess I could add a bracket over there on the right side also.

I'm assuming that the new head will bolt up and have the same gear ring. If anyone knows differently, please let me know.

Kevin