Knee mill with Trak AGE2 controller

[Rocketdc]

I'm considering replacing an old clapped out Bridgeport with a knee mill in better condition that has a Trak AGE2 controller. I believe SWI still services and has parts for their older controllers, but I have no experience with them.

All the parts I make are pretty simple, but It's getting tedious to do them all manually on my Bridgeport since it's so worn with a number of issues and needs to get replaced sooner than later. I don't have the room, budget or volume to consider a VMC.

Any issues I might encounter with the AGE2 I should be concerned about? Does this sound like a decent step up?

 

[adh2000]

I see you didn’t get much response on this. I have a Bridgeport with TrakAge2. It was OK for milling rectangular pockets or specific distances. But in reality it is just too old. You have to do all the programming at the control, it uses a 3.5 inch floppy. Can you buy those anymore? In theory sure you can do it but it’s just so old everything is a pain. Mine stopped working a year ago or so and I haven’t found time to look into it. I assume it’s a power supply problem. I would like to get it going again just to use as a dro at least.


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[Peroni]

I'm considering replacing an old clapped out Bridgeport with a knee mill in better condition that has a Trak AGE2 controller.

If it has the TRAK sensors check that the scraper and pad are in good shape and renew them regularly. SWI still supports the control but their exchange rates on the pendant and computer are pricey. Otherwise keep the machine calibrated and run the backlash serv code and it will be a big improvement over a plain manual mill.

You have to do all the programming at the control, it uses a 3.5 inch floppy. Can you buy those anymore?.

That is not true at all. You absolutely can program an AGE2 using cad/cam and send programs to the machine via floppy or RS232. I was doing that back in 1997 and cut some fairly complex parts that way. Also a new pack of ten 3.5 floppy discs can be had from Amazon for under $20.

 

[Rocketdc]

I did a fair amount of searching the database and figured it was worth the gamble so I ordered the mill. I know it's an antiquated controller so I contacted SWI and they do in fact still support them. The replacement pendant, that's USB compatible, runs about $1,350 with the exchange.

Reality is my current knee mill should have been thrown out to pasture years ago. It's so worn the table bounces around like a bunch of teenagers doing the jitterbug at the high school prom circa 1940 and the beast puts out a massive 3/4hp from the lightning quick-to-change step pulley. Most of the parts I need it for are pretty basic shapes with pockets, so I'm sure the Trak controller should be plenty fast and repeatable for these parts. The new one also has a power draw bar. Will be nice to finally run parts on a mill that isn't a complete POS.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[Billtodd]

Age 2 is old but , can stll perform a useful task or two.

The common failures seem to be the crts . These can be replaced with vga cards and tft monitor s on the AGE3 devices , but I've not had any luck getting AGE2 to run on the machine (it should just switch over from the menu) . I suspect AGE2 is configured to use the monochrome adapter and simply won't run if it can't find one.

Edit:

You can replace the floppies with cheap usb floppy drives . The software for these things is flaky but once configured, and a formatted usb stick made, the things work great.

 

[M.B. Naegle]

No experience with that specific control, but we have a couple Trak SWI machines in the shop, one a BP with the Edge 2-axis control. IMO, Trak machines are fantastic for what they are: a conversational CNC that's serves as a half-way between CNC and manual. If you have CAM or G-code experience, or only manual machine experience, it's easy to use. It doesn't compare to a "real" full G-code CNC control, but it's not meant to IMO. We use our BP like a manual mill for simple jobs or 2nd op stuff, so the control is fantastic to have on it. It rarely gets used for start-to-finish programmed jobs, and more often does specific operations like hole positioning, perimeter cuts, arc milling, etc. etc. and those programs don't often need to be saved, so the ability to load/unload CAM programs is a moot point for us.

Sometimes the CNC side doesn't get used at all and it's just a fancy DRO, but I'd rather do that than be deburring holes on a "real" vertical machining center that could be making me more money some other way.

 

[adh2000]

That is not true at all. You absolutely can program an AGE2 using cad/cam and send programs to the machine via floppy or RS232. I was doing that back in 1997 and cut some fairly complex parts that way. Also a new pack of ten 3.5 floppy discs can be had from Amazon for under $20.

That’s good news. Once you get your machine post your experience so we can learn more.


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[Rocketdc]

No experience with that specific control, but we have a couple Trak SWI machines in the shop, one a BP with the Edge 2-axis control. IMO, Trak machines are fantastic for what they are: a conversational CNC that's serves as a half-way between CNC and manual. If you have CAM or G-code experience, or only manual machine experience, it's easy to use. It doesn't compare to a "real" full G-code CNC control, but it's not meant to IMO. We use our BP like a manual mill for simple jobs or 2nd op stuff, so the control is fantastic to have on it. It rarely gets used for start-to-finish programmed jobs, and more often does specific operations like hole positioning, perimeter cuts, arc milling, etc. etc. and those programs don't often need to be saved, so the ability to load/unload CAM programs is a moot point for us.

Sometimes the CNC side doesn't get used at all and it's just a fancy DRO, but I'd rather do that than be deburring holes on a "real" vertical machining center that could be making me more money some other way.

This is spot on, exactly my experience so far. I've had the knee mill with the Trak age2 controller for a couple of weeks and it only took a few attempts to understand how the programming works. I've got my basic programs loaded and all I have to do is return the table to the absolute zero X/Y positions before I shut it off and I'm ready to go the next day. It's been a huge boost for the basic parts I need to make and really quick to setup for sequences like bolt hole locations. Very pleased I added this machine, wish I did it a long time ago. Also nice to finally work with a knee mill I can trust with tight tables, stays in position during heavier cuts and the power draw bar is awesome!