I got a new toy

[NASTYZEN]

Aw..man..I was expecting to get a look at it..
Take your time and be safe unloading that beast. I don't know how your Bridgeport is built, but if was built like my Mighty vmc you would be making holes in the building to get it in...

I put in 10ft doors in both my shops for this reason. It cost more upfront but paid off so far.
Good luck unloading.

 

[A_Pmech]

The Cub won't lift it. I think the limit on the Cub is like 2000# and this mill is 3550#.

I was thinking in terms of removing the motor / head, not slinging the whole machine.

hat was in the plans except I can't find anyone to add onto my garage, so that plan is on hold until next year, as far as the addition. The bump out is still going to be done this year. Slowly by surely we'll get things done and under control. HOPEFULLY

Oh, believe me, I know!

I'm in the process of upgrading my electrical again so I can run some new machines and prepare for building my shop. To do that, I have to build an electrical building.

 

[Kevin54]

Aaaarrrggggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the guy told me I had to do to gain height does not work. I wasted a couple hours, sweat my *** off, up and down off of a fifth wheel trailer grabbing the right tools, only to gain a half inch.

So out comes the Sawzall. I have to remove brickmold from the top of my garage door opening, a couple pieces of siding, some door seal, a piece of flashing, then cut a notch into the header, all for 2" more of clearance.

My advice for anyone ever building a garage, never EVER put in a 7' door. As soon as I get cooled off, it's time to wrap the mill back up before it rains, then get to cutting.

I know some contractors that will never get my business. I could have been setting the mill in a larger addition, but no way that is going to happen. No one wants to work. I should have went down and hit up Home Depots parking lot.

And believe it or not, the one contractor that I spoke with that was interested in doing my garage addition, and only lives a mile from me, has yet to drive past my house since I spoke with him. Now if that isn't ************, I don't know what is. My money mustn't be as good as others money. Or maybe I asked too much for someone to put up three walls and a roof.

Oh well....Rant over!!!!! I probably wouldn't be so pissed is I hadn't hopped up on the trailer and split the crotch out of my damn pants

 

[EOC_Jason]

Man, sorry to hear about that. I know this is a long shot, but can't you just unbolt it at the spacer? Or is there a bunch of **** around your model? I found this pic on the internet so I'm not sure how similar / different yours is.

 

[Kevin54]

Man, sorry to hear about that. I know this is a long shot, but can't you just unbolt it at the spacer? Or is there a bunch of **** around your model? I found this pic on the internet so I'm not sure how similar / different yours is.

That's the same model of mill I have. I could probably unbolt it there, but everything is trammed in from the factory. Unbolting it there would probably screw up the settings. Then there is the fact that currently it's up on the trailer, and the fact that the wires and hoses run up through the column. So I would have to disconnect a lot of stuff to get the ram off. Once it's unbolted, I would have to find a place to set it or support it if I didn't disconnect every hose and wire.

It won't be too bad to cut the garage door header. It's just aggravating as to some of the things you have to do, just to gain some clearance for two inches. If it was a foot, it wouldn't seem so painful, but for two inches, it's almost more problem than what it's worth. I only have to cut through one 2x6 that is laying horizontal on the header, then cut an inch out of the doubled up header itself.

 

[Kevin54]

And it's in. The price for setting it was a little more expensive than the last time, but what does a person do? It took a total of about 20 minutes to get it off the trailer and in the garage. The two guys were here a total of 35 minutes from the time they pulled up until the time they left.

Now I have to put the mill back together, which I probably wouldn't have even had to take it apart. I had 1" of clearance where I have my overhang of the garage boxed in, and I had a little over an 1" where I notched the header. Once I get the mill back together, I'll get the header back together, and we'll be good.

And on top of that, I received an e-mail from the contractor that was going to give me a price on the garage. He's avoided me for over 2 months, now he wants to stop and talk. I don't know whether to still try and get a garage addition on this year or not. I'll have to see what he says I guess. I do know that I am quickly running out of room though. I will get the bumpout built, so I can put my rolling boxes in there and clear up floor space. Plus this winter, I still need to finish putting the tin up on the walls, and get some things organized.

 

[NASTYZEN]

That's great that you got it in.
Quite the sweet shop you have there Kev. I like those toolboxes.

 

[jhn9840]

Nice mill and shop. Those cabinets that the Craftsman boxes are on top of look really nice. What brand are they?

jhn9840
John

 

[KULIWOBBY]

Kevin, if you can be patient and the contractor can get the addition done in a quick timely matter before it gets cold I would go for it yet this year. Then you have the winter to work on the inside instead of waiting another year till next summer. Good luck. Nice mill btw.

 

[Kevin54]

Thanks Nasty. I have a ton of organizing I have to get done to it though to make it nice.

JHN....the rollers are 41" MasterForce that Menards sells.

Kuli....if the contractor stops and makes me a good deal, I may still go for it, but with the way things have been, I don't know. We were going to refinance to build it, and that will take about a month, along with getting my permits. Then I was going to apply for a variance so I could go higher with the addition, and that adds a few weeks to things. I'll just have to play it by ear and see how things go.

 

[EOC_Jason]

Nice Garage... Glad you got it in without too many issues.

 

[nine4gmc]

Great looking shop and glad you got the thing in finally, even though it cost you a crotch rip I think it was worth it!

 

[Kevin54]

Great looking shop and glad you got the thing in finally, even though it cost you a crotch rip I think it was worth it!

Hopefully I can get some reasonable priced tooling. For right now, I'll probably just get a toolholder or two with something like some ER32 collets, so I can use some different diameters of tools. Then later on get some solid toolholders. Right now it's a matter of finding some.

And at the moment, just taking a break, but trying to get it all back together. A few more bolts to tighten up, then get the covers on it. Tomorrow, I need to get a different outlet and plug so it and my Lagun will all be able to be plugged in the same outlet. I'm also thinking of just hanging on to the Lagun for a while. It's a tight, clean, mill. I can always use it for simpler jobs. And it's not like it's taking up any more room than what I don't have anyways.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Nice new to you toy Kevin.

Reading this thread, I see what happened to you build. I was wondering what was up with it. Man does that **** big time. It's reasons like that I do stuff myself and don't ask for help.

 

[Guster]

So if I hear you correctly is that you advise against 7' doors?

Nice new mill. I'd also be hard pressed to get rid of the Lagun. Money and space aside(both valid reasons) it will be good to have it available. Especially while you are tooling up on the new mill. Even if just running 2nd ops or doing things that are just outside the envelope or capability of the Bridgy.

Just read your workshop thread... you have a nice setup going there.

 

[rdn2blazer]

Now the bad part. It's 6" too tall to get into my garage. The guy told me that the top will unbolt to give me enough clearance. It also means that when the rigger comes to take it off of the trailer, once the top of the mill is taken off, there will still barely be enough room, so it will have to be slid. Never again will I have 7' garage doors.

I know exactly what you mean! I had to raise my header 12". Got it done and well worth it! I added the new header in WITHOUT taking the old 12" beam down first and without removing the garage door. The new header is much stronger built in, then I removed the old after the new beam was in. I also did 100% of all the work by my self while recovering from losing 1/2 a right lung to lung cancer in a 7 hour surgery, and a 7 1/2 hour brain tumor surgery to remove a larger then 1" brain tumor. It was also while I was going through chemo when I did ALL this work to fit my cnc mill in my garage shop. No way in hell cancer and brain tumors were keeping me from getting my mill! We just had to push the roll back garage door up over the cabling and what not as the forklift pushed the mill in. Just the slop in the door was enough. Was super close! I kick cancers *** every day.

 

[Kevin54]

I know exactly what you mean! I had to raise my header 12". Got it done and well worth it! I added the new header in WITHOUT taking the old 12" beam down first and without removing the garage door. The new header is much stronger built in, then I removed the old after the new beam was in. I also did 100% of all the work by my self while recovering from losing 1/2 a right lung to lung cancer in a 7 hour surgery, and a 7 1/2 hour brain tumor surgery to remove a larger then 1" brain tumor. It was also while I was going through chemo when I did ALL this work to fit my cnc mill in my garage shop. No way in hell cancer and brain tumors were keeping me from getting my mill! We just had to push the roll back garage door up over the cabling and what not as the forklift pushed the mill in. Just the slop in the door was enough. Was super close! I kick cancers *** every day.

Congrats on having to do that

 

[theoldwizard1]

I know some contractors that will never get my business. I could have been setting the mill in a larger addition, but no way that is going to happen. No one wants to work.

My son has been waiting for a concrete guy to replace his driveway. 3 weeks past the original promise date and still not a solid date set. "I'll call you next week."

 

[Kevin54]

Today I get to play with electricity. I have three machines and I have three plugs, and all three are different. I have on the Bridgeport an L16-30 plug, the surface grinder has an L15-30 plug, and the Lagun has an L14-30 plug, and I have one L14-30 outlet.

So...$167 dollars later I have 2 new plugs and 2 new outlets. OUCH!!!!!!! I would hate to have to buy those for a whole shop.

So everything will now have the same plugs on them, and I have to add an outlet over by the grinder.

 

[JTH]

Congrats Kevin! I would be so happy if my garage looked like yours.

 

[1Garageman]

Congradulations! Can't wait to see some of the jobs you do with it. One heck of a shop you have there!

 

[MP&C]

Kevin, nice addition to the shop!

 

[cnc-me]

I'm also thinking of just hanging on to the Lagun for a while. It's a tight, clean, mill. I can always use it for simpler jobs. And it's not like it's taking up any more room than what I don't have anyways.

Yes, don't even think of getting rid of that manual machine, you will be sorry if you do. They are so handy for just squaring up stock for the CNC and second operation work.

 

[cnc-me]

Well Ive noticed with my experience in CNC machine tool, sometimes post processors aren't so smart. You still need to know G/M code.

It can take a while to smoke all the bugs out of them completely.
We ran our router for 2 years with no problems, then on one job we noticed
somthing odd and traced it back to the post.

 

[Kevin54]

Yes, don't even think of getting rid of that manual machine, you will be sorry if you do. They are so handy for just squaring up stock for the CNC and second operation work.

I decided to keep it. Just the other day my BIL brought a JD carb over to drill some busted screws out, and almost everyone he ever brings me, the mill has to be set at a compound angle. So I'm definitely going to hang onto it.

I finally did get some tooling yesterday that I had ordered. Right now, I just ordered some collets, and a collet toolholder. It will be a pain swapping out the collets for different diameter of end mills, but until I get some more green together, it will have to do. 11 spring collets and one toolholder for them was $400.

I was messing with the mill the other day, but could not get the spindle to come on. Come to find out after some reading of the manuals, if a toolholder comes loose, or if a toolholder drops out, the mill automatically throws a code and shuts down. There's a microswitch in the quill.

I did buy me a GoPro camera yesterday, so I can get some of the epic wrecks that I know is going to happen, recorded

 

[Kevin54]

Congrats Kevin! I would be so happy if my garage looked like yours.

All it is is a few gallons of paint, a few pieces of tin. It's not hard to make yours look like you want. I'm still not done with mine yet, but I think adding on may be a plan this year, and then I am still going to add a 7x24 bumpout on the side. I had the contractor figure up the block and concrete separate for that, but the neighbors son, or even the wife and I, can have that built in no time.

My benches and roller boxes will all go in there, and that will open up a ton of space. Plus I'll move all of my overhead cabinets in there to open things up in the garage. I'm keeping my fingers crossed at least.