New to me Bridgeport mill

[Chuck...]

I have been wanting a mill since about 2001. Have been looking for one worth buying for alittle over a year I wanted one ready to run and not a project so it was a waiting game. Finally found one that is worth buying.


I rented a trailer that the deck drops right down to the ground with made things alot easier.

Luckily the guy I bought it from had some plastic wrap that he let me use for transportation I had 6 miles of dirt road

 

[Chuck...]

Well I guess before I unload it is should clear a spot in the garage for it. I figured I would get the most bang for the buck space wise I'd I put the mill in a corner. So I had to move the whole shop around. Had a corner shelf that had to go and a long work bench (16 feet) that I never really cared for but came with the house when we bought it.

Here is what the corner of the garage looked like before I started



Had to move alot of stuff took half of the work bench down


Now it's ready to move the mill in

 

[Warrenator]

Color me jealous, they are hard to find in the Portland area. I've been looking casually for a few years but finally am finishing up my shop so I have a perfect spot for it.... where did you find it, craigslist, ebay, friend of a friend, won it in a poker game?

 

[Chuck...]

Mostly found it on Craigslist. There was a guy selling a bunch of bridgeport parts on Craigslist last summer so I called him to see if he knew of any machines for sale he said no but he would be selling his personal mill in the spring. So I called him back a few weeks ago made an appointment to go look at it

 

[bczygan]

Cool!

I used that same kind of trailer to get mine.

What model, and what did you give for it?

Photos?

Bill

 

[Chuck...]

I pulled it off the trailer with my garden tractor and started to get it into postion

 

[Chuck...]

Pretty much where I want it

 

[Chuck...]

I took off the DRO for transportation






Here it is in the guys shop

 

[OCD]

Wow, too cool!!

 

[blind]

That's nice! Lots of options

 

[Thumper68]

Nice find, kinda upset, if it's the same guy he was supposed to call me when he was ready to let it go.

Oh well the search continues.

 

[landlord30]

Nice! I would love to have one some day. Don't know how to use one but I would love to learn. There have been a few occasions I could have made a part or two for my old cars.

Keep us posted on how it works.

 

[Chuck...]

The guy I bought it from was a cool old guy I thought he said he was 82. Turns out he spent his career specializing in rebuilding bridgeports and he recently rebuild the mill i bought. I lucked out for sure.


Then spindle was all rebuilt new bearings belt and what not, new x and y lead screws with a new nut, and all of the ways where all hand scraped back into spec.

Beautiful machine he really took good care of it he told me he has had it about 30 years

The table is orginal he said when he rebuilt it he took like .020 off the top and that was all hand scraped too.

 

[texasranger]

Wow that is a beautiful machine. Congrats!

 

[Chuck...]

Wow that is a beautiful machine. Congrats!

Thanks I am pretty excited finding something this clean waited along time to find a mill this nice. Still need to figure out my 3 phase power but that shouldn't be to serious

 

[texasranger]

I just noticed all your RC cars on the shelf. Plans to make parts for those?

 

[Chuck...]

Maybe someday I would make parts for them all of the stuff on the top shelf you can kinda see in the picture are display now days mostly from when I was a kid. Have a few RC10GT's, Sandmaster MK 2, OFNA monster blazer, few tonka toys and some electric cars.

My ultimate goal is to make those scale hit and miss engines maybe a few steam ends and what not. Kinda the model engineering thing I guess

 

[bullnerd]

Congrats on the new tool, very clean!

I personally don't like them in the corner. Hard to get to all the chips that will pile up back there, limited on length, are the two biggest issues. If your too close sliding the ram around may hit the wall. I actually like them out where you can get to all sides of the machine, back to the wall.

 

[Chuck...]

Congrats on the new tool, very clean!

I personally don't like them in the corner. Hard to get to all the chips that will pile up back there, limited on length, are the two biggest issues. If your too close sliding the ram around may hit the wall. I actually like them out where you can get to all sides of the machine, back to the wall.

Funny you say that I was actually 2nd guessing my corner location. Although I do have it far enough out of the corner to walk behind it left enough room to maybe put a little fixture corner shelf in place behind it.

 

[chrispyny]

I brought my dads bridgeport home for him exactly like you did yours just 3 months ago. Sunbelt trailer rental and all.

Only WOWZERS is your machine pretty! Goodness! How much???

 

[Chuck...]

I brought my dads bridgeport home for him exactly like you did yours just 3 months ago. Sunbelt trailer rental and all.

Only WOWZERS is your machine pretty! Goodness! How much???

Yeah that trailer sure makes it easy to unload and I thought it was pretty cheap was like $80.00 after taxes for the while weekend.

Well I paid more than I wanted to as I kinda spent my wiring budget on the mill but I didn't think I would find one like this again so I ended up paying $6500.00 came with a vise bunch of endmill, hardinge collect set, bunch of taps and endmill, nice hold down set, plus it was just rebuilt by a guy that must have been doing it for 40 plus years. But I think it was a fare price for both of us as.
if I didn't buy it he would have had no problem selling it so I put money down right away to hold it.

 

[bullnerd]

Funny you say that I was actually 2nd guessing my corner location. Although I do have it far enough out of the corner to walk behind it left enough room to maybe put a little fixture corner shelf in place behind it.

Yeah, I did notice it was pretty far out. Should be good. Its not permanent, so if its a problem, just move it. I started on a BP in 90', so after a while you start get a preference where you want it,lol.

Have fun.

 

[jmarkwolf]

Thanks I am pretty excited finding something this clean waited along time to find a mill this nice. Still need to figure out my 3 phase power but that shouldn't be to serious

Very nice machine, particularly with the extras and upgrades.

Get a VFD (variable frequency drive) to "make" the 3-phase power it needs. They're inexpensive and work great.

They have versions that "make" 240V 3-phase from either 120VAC or 240VAC single phase.

There's a "show us your VFD" thread on this same site at the top of the "General Tools" section, with many installation ideas.

Have fun with it.

 

[Griff93]

If you have them far enough out of the corner but still oriented that way, it can work out very well. I've had mine in a corner for a while now. If I needed to do something really long, all I would have to do is grab a bar and walk the front around.

You'll wonder why you waited so long to buy one and how you got anything done without it. We have two CNC mills but our old bridgeport isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

The VFD suggestion is a great one. I have had a VFD on mine for a years. Being able to make it completely variable speed is terrific.

 

[Chuck...]

Making alittle progress on rearranging the shop lots to do still

Had my 3 month old son helping me today to

Thinking about moving the lathe to the corner where the sandblaster is but I don't know



Still have alot of stuff to move but starting to take shape





Prolly going to go with a vdf for the 3phase for now not sure what one yet not sure what is a good brand

 

[nine4gmc]

I just put a VFD on my BP mill. I went with the cheap Chinese VFD but it works great. Here is a link to the one I bought: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121551267361?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Great looking mill you got there, congrats!

 

[Chuck...]

I just put a VFD on my BP mill. I went with the cheap Chinese VFD but it works great. Here is a link to the one I bought: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121551267361?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

Great looking mill you got there, congrats!

Wow that is cheap. Can you still use the switch on the mill for forward and reverse or do you have to use the vfd to changes directions and for on and off
One more question what size breaker did you put it on
Thanks

 

[J king]

I wired my bp ac drive tru the factory switch. Makes it feel normal. You need to remove the jumpers inside the switch and wire in your little signal wires..
On the second bp I did I even put the pot switch into the side of the switch box. It's all right there.. . Click on pic to see

 

[nine4gmc]

Mine is on a 30a circuit because that's what I had available there, it doesn't need to be that large. I think the draw is only 7.5a or something smaller for my 1hp mill and VFD, I would have to look again. You can still use the For/Rev switch with the VFD, I plan to use mine but have not wired it up yet(still waiting on parts). There is plenty of info on using that switch with the VFD in the SHOW YOUR VFD THREAD here in the general tools section. That was my first time messing with a VFD and it was pretty simple once I figured out I had to set the motor parameters up. Literally took minutes to get going. I put another one of those VFD's on a 20" band saw and one more on an old Delta drill press recently. Those are all documented in my projects thread and within the last few months to be more specific. I certainly don't know a lot about them but I do know I have used 3 of these on 3 different machines and they all work great. I'm getting ready to order another one for my other band saw. If you have any questions, just ask and if I can't help there are lots of great guys in that VFD thread that will.

 

[Thumper68]

I love your helper, Start'em early!!

 

[Chuck...]

I love your helper, Start'em early!!

Thanks he liked to watch me walk around
Here is my daughter she likes to help out to she helped me rebuild a 1998 Toro wheel horse 520Lxi







I like watching your youtube videos by the way

 

[Chuck...]

I wired my bp ac drive tru the factory switch. Makes it feel normal. You need to remove the jumpers inside the switch and wire in your little signal wires..
On the second bp I did I even put the pot switch into the side of the switch box. It's all right there.. . Click on pic to see

That makes sense wasn't sure how that worked

 

[Chuck...]

Mine is on a 30a circuit because that's what I had available there, it doesn't need to be that large. I think the draw is only 7.5a or something smaller for my 1hp mill and VFD, I would have to look again. You can still use the For/Rev switch with the VFD, I plan to use mine but have not wired it up yet(still waiting on parts). There is plenty of info on using that switch with the VFD in the SHOW YOUR VFD THREAD here in the general tools section. That was my first time messing with a VFD and it was pretty simple once I figured out I had to set the motor parameters up. Literally took minutes to get going. I put another one of those VFD's on a 20" band saw and one more on an old Delta drill press recently. Those are all documented in my projects thread and within the last few months to be more specific. I certainly don't know a lot about them but I do know I have used 3 of these on 3 different machines and they all work great. I'm getting ready to order another one for my other band saw. If you have any questions, just ask and if I can't help there are lots of great guys in that VFD thread that will.

Sounds like the vfd is the way to go
Thanks

 

[zmotorsports]

Nice looking mill. Great score.

Nice clean and organized shop as well.

Thanks for sharing.

Mike.

 

[Trey T]

That's a nice size pressure washer pump there ... a General brand pump?

 

[gorilla]

You might want to consider placing your lathe so the bed is Parnell to the mill table and one operator space apart. This saves floor space and the lathe is much easier to clean than when it's against a wall.

 

[Chuck...]

Nice looking mill. Great score.

Nice clean and organized shop as well.

Thanks for sharing.

Mike.

Thanks now if I could just get alittle more time to be out in the gagrage lol

 

[Chuck...]

That's a nice size pressure washer pump there ... a General brand pump?

Good eye the pump is a dayton (Grainger) brand
4000 psi and 4 gpm I had it running off of a 10hp engine but it's supposed have like a minimum of 18hp if I remember right so I plan on make ing like a front pto shaft and running it off of this
1998 Toro wheel horse 520lxi with out the metal on
Should have enough power it's a 20hp liquid cooled kawasaki



Here is my homemade contraption I made about 12 years ago
Same pump

Then bridgeport will come in handy for the front pto build for sure

 

[Chuck...]

You might want to consider placing your lathe so the bed is Parnell to the mill table and one operator space apart. This saves floor space and the lathe is much easier to clean than when it's against a wall.

That's I good idea I will prolly do something like that.

 

[Chuck...]

Well one step closer to getting the mill up and running. I ordered a VFD like a week ago and it showed up today.

I ended up going with a 700 series mitsubishi



It is rated to run a 3hp motor



Thing seems to be well built just from looking and holding it. Half of the thing is heat sink so it must get warm

Now I just have to figure out how to wore it up