Danage to ways on Bridgeport

[Musky_Hunter]

Looking at a mill and notice the ways in this picture look a little dinged up. Having wanted one for a while and this one being priced right wanted to see if this is a concern.

 

[WhoWhatNow]

The hand scraping is worn way about 1-2 inches from the end of the ways. This is the most used part of the machine. There are some gouges but honestly if this is your first machine and this is just a hobby I probably wouldn’t worry about it. You will not be sending anyone to the moon, but if the rest of the machine checks out you will most likely be fine. Your second machine can be better once you know what you are doing.

 

[Musky_Hunter]

The hand scraping is worn way about 1-2 inches from the end of the ways. This is the most used part of the machine. There are some gouges but honestly if this is your first machine and this is just a hobby I probably wouldn’t worry about it. You will not be sending anyone to the moon, but if the rest of the machine checks out you will most likely be fine. Your second machine can be better once you know what you are doing.

That's kind of what I was thinking. I am not going to be building to aerospace tolerances. Just don't want to be getting into a machine that is going to need a ton of work. About the biggest thing I would be doing is resurfacing some 3cyl exhaust manifolds for old Ford tractors.

 

[Maui]

I’ve see many machines where no flaking is visible at all anywhere on the ways. And that is after you wipe all of the grit and chips and grime away. That honestly doesn’t look as bad as most used machines. What is he asking?

 

[dutchgray]

The ways look about the same as on mine, albeit with a few more dings right at the front, which you can stone down if needed, mine I consider to be a pretty decent example, get hold of the end of the table with it roughly centred and give it a good shake and see if you can feel any slop which would be bad and run all the axis through full travel, if they get really tight at the ends you know it has wear and it has been adjusted tight in the middle.
Make sure everything in the head works (my power feeds don't which very occasionally is a pain) and it runs without sounding like its about to explode (they are often not the quietest heads) if a variable speed head wind if through its entire range whilst running.

 

[Kenstone1]

The top/dinged-up surface of the dovetail is clearance and does not affect the operation.
You can see that clearance/gap.
I would be more concerned with the dings on the corner/edge where the dovetail surface meet the top surface.
jmo,

 

[rsanter]

The two upper areas that are dinged up have nothing riding on them so they are purely cosmetic.
If it bugs you you could paint or fill those and it won’t matter.

The lower dovetail areas to seem to have a fair amount of “hourglass” wear which is very typical.
It now comes to how much for the machine, I would not pay top dollar for this machine but is could still be a good enough machine for the right price

 

[Musky_Hunter]

I’ve see many machines where no flaking is visible at all anywhere on the ways. And that is after you wipe all of the grit and chips and grime away. That honestly doesn’t look as bad as most used machines. What is he asking?

Asking 2500 for the mill with DRO.

 

[larry_g]

The dings in the working ways are not a problem IF they have been stoned down so they do not raise a high spot around them that interferes with the upper part of the way that passes over them. I would be more concerned with the missing way wipers that keep 'stuff' from getting under the saddle.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[Walkers]

Asking 2500 for the mill with DRO.

I’d probably buy it for that.

 

[Firebrick43]

As a machine repairman I deal with this all the time. I use a Norton India bench stone (IB8) and using a light oil liberally stone it without a lot of pressure. Use only the fine side. You will feel a lot of work being done at first, areas around the dings will get shiny. Wipe and reoil regularly. Once you feel work not being done with the light pressure stop. Most of the time it doesn't take much.

I actually keep 3 of these stone. I flatten them against each other with oil, switching between the three and turning 180 and moving in a figure 8 pattern. This keeps them dead flat. You don't need to do this for one job but don't use a beat up stone, get a new one.

As for the damage, there are not many mills or lathes out there that were in a shop environment that don't have damage like that. Its relatively rare to have a pristine mill unless it was owned by a **** retentive ******* like me from purchase.

This could be completely fixed with scraping, but that is quite the rabbit hole to go down. A hand scrapper (I have sanviks) isn't to costly but finding an acceptable flat edge for reasonable cost is hard and biax power scrapers are really costly.

 

[dutchgray]

I’d probably buy it for that.

I definitely would, mine was £3,600 plus transport costs, about $5000 by the time I got it home and it doesn't have a DRO, but they tend to be expensive here, until about 15 years ago you could send any complete Bridgeport back to the factory no matter how worn and they would give you £1,200 ish just for the castings for rebuilding

 

[dutchgray]

The dings in the working ways are not a problem IF they have been stoned down so they do not raise a high spot around them that interferes with the upper part of the way that passes over them. I would be more concerned with the missing way wipers that keep 'stuff' from getting under the saddle.

lg
no neat sig line

I think its generally a good Idea to replace the wipers on any second hand machine, I am yet to buy any used machine that didn't really need a set, the holders for the wipers shouldn't be too costly or hard to get and the wipers themselves are cheap.
I would also remove the table which isn't hard to do and check everything is ok under there, if central oiled that all the lines are flowing and connected, adjust backlash and gibs on reassembly.

 

[Musky_Hunter]

Well I ended up going with a Rutland BP clone instead. It was local and I got to see it in action and take a few cuts. The ways still have the scraping on them. Has a DRO, vice, power feed and came with a set of collets for 100 more and it's getting delivered. Already setup with a VFD and it's a 2HP vs the 1HP BP I was looking at. Guess we will see if it was worth the gamble.