Bridgeport - anyone have one / buy one used?

frekeyguy

frekeyguy

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Just curious about anyone here that has / uses a bridgeport ?

I guess it can always be used as a glorified drill press, but looks like a easy way to make one off parts out of softer material like aluminum or delrin.

I see used ones from 5-7k sometimes - but how good / bad are they?
 
Ex tool and die guy here....a bridgeport might be the most versatile tool you could ever purchase. Making one off parts and the likes is one of the biggest things I miss about trading careers. As far as what is good and what price they should be I wouldn't be much help. It seems like back in the day guys were spending 10k give or take for some superior stuff so your pricing seems reasonable.
 
Don't rule out all of the Bridgeport knock offs. Real Bridgeports have some additional money attached to the name. I would take a knockoff in great shape over a clapped out Bridgeport any day.

Why just aluminum and plastic? Steel is no problem unless the machine is worn out in which case it will still fight you with softer materials(just not as much as with the steel).

Personally if I were looking, I would try to find someone selling the mill along with a decent amount of tooling, clamps, mill vise, collets, indicators etc. If you get just the mill, the rest of the stuff will add up really quickly. Another positive is you can use the indicators to check the wear in the ways (you may be able to tighten them up some, but you can't compensate for all the wear).

It's like a track bike, you pay more for one already setup, but way less then if you set it up yourself. Make a list of things you want/need (eg. Digital readout, powerfeed, collets) and try to find one that has what you need even if it costs more.
 
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I use a regular old manual mill at my friends shop down the street about twice a week, to make, modify, etc pieces

I believe he paid $2000 for it used about 10 years ago, its a cheap brand, but gets the job done at his machine shop for the last 10 years

Brand name aside like mentioned above its useless without a ton of accessories, tooling, edge finders, digital readout/feed, collets, etc, etcc

Its taken me a good year or 2 of messing around with it to become confident and skilled enough to fixture and machine parts on it by myself, but it is a great tool that I use all the time instead of my CNC's

We get flyers here at work every week with used machinery auctions, there is always 5 or more milling machines on them. Some go for $500, some go for $8000+, thats the auction life, play the game and you can get some pretty good used equipment for cheap
 
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There are dozens of web sites ( Xfactory) that have listings for Bridgeport style vertical mills. Just watch the voltage if your putting in your garage, 575V isn't going to be easy and the setdown transformer may be worth what you pay for a machine.

I bought a Chinese knockoff, I was not making critical fit parts and it was great fun for $1000.
 
A semi-low hour First will do you fine. As stated above, getting the right phase motor is critical for garage use.
 
Old machinist here. You get what you pay for... Bridgeport mills have outstanding metallurgy. If I had my own machine shop to make a living with, one of the mills would definitely be a Bridgeport. I also loved using a Toss, as they are tough as nails and last forever. For hobby use, a knock-off is affordable. Excello use to make a decent product. I also remember using a boring-mill made in 1914 and still had WW1 tags on the back! They usually don't make them like long ago. Half of the equipment I learned my trade on was converted from a common factory/plant steam-engine belt drive to having a motor welded to the old machine tool (It's why they still call them engine lathes). An old(er) machinist once told me that Bridgeport buries their roughed out steel for 10 years for complete stress relieving, then digs up the metal and finish machines the final product. I somehow believe the old tale as a Bridgeport is quite pricey.
 
FullMotoJacket said:
A semi-low hour First will do you fine. As stated above, getting the right phase motor is critical for garage use.
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Although not free, commodity priced VFD's have made these problems less important than in the past. As an added bonus you gain easy speed control.

I think you could also compensate for voltage given the right circumstances (eg. run a 575 motor with 220 by gearing down the mill and overspeeding the motor to extract power. Be careful with this, you don't want to overspeed the motor too much. You should be able to get over 50% of the nameplate power this way and for a hobby mill that should be good enough.)
 
Bridgeports are top notch. As mentioned before if your using it to make a living you cant go wrong, if your playing around in the garage, craftex has some decent hobby mills. Budget for a digital readout for either.
 
GreyGhost said:
Although not free, commodity priced VFD's have made these problems less important than in the past. As an added bonus you gain easy speed control.

I think you could also compensate for voltage given the right circumstances (eg. run a 575 motor with 220 by gearing down the mill and overspeeding the motor to extract power. Be careful with this, you don't want to overspeed the motor too much. You should be able to get over 50% of the nameplate power this way and for a hobby mill that should be good enough.)
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I'm no electrician but the 575/550V stuff I've connected was 3phase and a house is 2 phase at 220. If you can run a 575V anything at your house on 220 I'd like to see that. I'd be keeping a fire extinguisher handy.
 
GreyGhost said:
Although not free, commodity priced VFD's have made these problems less important than in the past. As an added bonus you gain easy speed control.

I think you could also compensate for voltage given the right circumstances (eg. run a 575 motor with 220 by gearing down the mill and overspeeding the motor to extract power. Be careful with this, you don't want to overspeed the motor too much. You should be able to get over 50% of the nameplate power this way and for a hobby mill that should be good enough.)
Click to expand...

crankcall said:
I'm no electrician but the 575/550V stuff I've connected was 3phase and a house is 2 phase at 220. If you can run a 575V anything at your house on 220 I'd like to see that. I'd be keeping a fire extinguisher handy.
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GG's is on the right track, just the implementation is off a little.

Household electrical services are generally 240 Volt Single Phase, or 208 Volt Single Phase in a multi-unit building. You can operate a 3 Phase Motor from a Single Phase source by using a Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) as GG suggests. Often these drives will accept a Single Phase source to drive a 3 Phase load. The drive will (usually) need to be oversized, something like a 5 HP drive for a 3 HP motor. VFD's have a wide input Voltage allowance, but driving a 575 Volt load from a 240 Volt is a bit much. A 208 Volt 3 Phase load from a 240 or 208 Volt source is quite acceptable. (A step up transformer on either in input or output of the VFD would make a 575 Volt load on a 240 Volt source quite possible). Setting the Drive to 60 Hz will cause the motor to run as thought it was connected to utility power. However, the VFD will also provide the ability to vary the speed of the motor, no gearing required. Having a fire extinguisher handy is always a good idea, but no special requirement in this case.

I have seen these configurations using an inexpensive VFD be quite a bit less expensive than adapting a Single Phase Motor to the job.
 
VFR-CBR, thanks for that. That's actually a real explaination of how that could work. From a guy that knows how this stuff works. I learned something on the interweb today!
 
I have a Busy Bee milling drill and the quality isn't all that great but neither are my skills so it balances out.

re the voltage, isn't it illegal to run more than 300 volts in a residence? I assume this is to be run in a home shop. The Bridge will weigh a ton so I'll pass on helping you carry it down the stairs.
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