Variable speed is nice, but other than that I think you could do better. That's an old DRO on there that probably isn't supported anymore. I would want powerfeed on the X axis as well. Backlash and wear on the ways would be another consideration. The substantial rust is another red flag . Personally I would also want one with a 4" riser, although that, the powerfeed or DRO could be added. My Bridgeport Mill is a 1.5 hp step pulley that I run off a rotary converter and I really don't see a real need personally for a VS spindle, it would be nice in certain situations

 

Probably going to be hard to beat that deal

 

Check on cutting edge engineering on YouTube. He does a ton log lathe work and some mill work on mostly heavy duty equipment. Fun to watch his channel. He’s on Facebook too

 

I will say, with the machines I have seen you post, I think a Rockwell/Clausing 8520 series, if you can get the power feed, all the better. This is probably better suited for the work you do.



BTW, who is this guy? I don't use YT since Liberation Day...I know, it's a surprise...LOL Getting to where I don't like Rumble either. Abom is a good guy to follow, or the Bar Z Bash crowd, or some of the Yahoo Group Mailing Lists, etc...there's so much info you will get overloaded.

 

Its an OK price, but where are you going to put it?
Are you willing to spend at least $1000 more on tooling and everything else you will need?

 

Well, I am not sure the machine is worth it, but it may depends on how it cleans up. This is the type of machine I would buy for about 1/3rd the price, and hope that nothing is broken. I know nothing about it, other than Sacramento is 2 hours away, and if you need to pay a rigger, forget it. I would move it by myself, on a tilt trailer of some type, preferably one with electric brakes, but these are probably 1500 lbs. Have you moved such a machine before? Bridgeports are notorious for falling over when moving them, as they're very top heavy. Easier to disassembler the head from the pedestal, and move them separate, but it's easier on a tilt trailer, like a car hauler, and keeping it whole. Just know what you're getting into, that's not one of the easier machines to move, and arguably the most popular. The Series II is more desirable, but bigger.

moto seems strong on it, but I say 1) find something closer (and I hope that makes sense, after our PMs), 2) understand the bridgies so that you know what you're buying, know how to take the proper measuring tools to see if it is in good shape, and make sure you run it through all of the gears, in this case making sure it goes from top to bottom of the VS. Pulleys are better in that regard. I have a lever gearbox on my Deckel FP1, and it's in need of a cleanup, when I get it up to my property. I have a lot of machines, tooling, granite plates, etc...I'm sure I have more equipment than you. I would definitely buy a machine like this, even at auction (auction fees are 20% in this area, and they also get a percentage higher on tax in Livermore.

I have the granite plates and scraping equipment, even with electronic DTIs from the 50s/60s/70s.

I just wouldn't over pay for a bridgie. They are useful, but look at what real machinists use, like Tom Lipton of Ox Tools, you don't see him with machines like this, unless he restores it. Speaking from someone that spent most of his extra money on tooling and machines over the past 25 years, this is a money pit that you can't escape from. You'll end up like me, with a 1500 sq.ft. shop, if you don't believe me. Tooling is the king of sports...I would say worse than sailboat racing, which is equivilant to taking a cold shower with your clothes on, tearing up $100 bills. I have been there, and may go back to sailing one day...just want it simpler, like a Melges 24, and dry store/trailer it.

 

Is it 3 phase power?

 

Yes, but it only needs 5.6 amps at 230/60, I was going to mention that. You can easily solve this with a VFD, but some people don't like VFDs, or have RPCs, or even like me...I have an 7-1/2HP RPC in my current shop, and will have it and a 55amp of pure 3 phase This means all 3 legs are the same voltage. Static would be another way, losing about 1/3rd of the power. RPC, actually use a static of some type, even if just a big bank of capacitors.

If you don't have 3 phase, I would add about $200 for a decent VFD, maybe $400-$500 for an RPC...I look for 3 phase machines mostly, because most home shop guys don't have 3 phase and will do anything to buy single phase machines. BTW, those 8520 series mills run on 120v, as I recall. I don't have too much that uses single phase, only a few of the smaller machines and chop saws, porta potty planer, drill press, et al Most of the motors are crap in comparison, but sometimes can be replaced with a similar frame, or build a platform. The answers are out there...

 

I agree with Mike, 100%, and Mike's bridgie is pretty nice in comparison, but it's hard to tell how this one will clean up. Mike's doesn't have that frosty flaking on it, but it's clean. I wouldn't want any machine in my shop looking like that (which many do), unless it's waiting to be refurbed. I haven't scraped any to date, but that was my plan for one of the South Bend 10Ls.

In fact, I have a 1955 South Bend 10L with a single phase new motor from Grainger, can you imagine how much the previous owner paid for that? That's like shopping at Snap-On. You get good stuff, but sticker shock may kick in...anyway, I have the head apart, and can explain, but I would sell that lathe if you want, very reasonable. Otherwise it's going to new shop with all the other machines and will be refurbed, possibly restored/re-scraped, and sold. These are easy $3k in good condition. If anyone wants it, $1000 FOB (head and carriage are in San Jose, cabinet is in Morgan Hill. It's a toolroom model, with a threaded spindle. Has the star style clutch on the apron, newer has lever. I can get the lathe and pieces all in Morgan Hill, if anyone is interested. It has a 4-1/2' bed. You can see pics here. It doesn't have all of the tooling, as I needed it for my 10L I have in my shop now. It's a '58 with metric transposition gears. I'll let people that know and/or have done their homework for this impulse buy, but it requires some time, not too much skill, to put the 3 pieces back together.

Here's the story on this machine. I bought it from a guy's nephew who inheritted his uncle's shop in Gilroy. He sold it to me for $200, and he listed it on craigslist to the first person that could get over there and get it out of the shop. saw it, almost immediately, and called and told him I was going to get my flatbed and would be there ASAP, and 45 minutes later I was there with $200.

His uncle was a famous car restorer, and I had never seen so many cars, the nephew told me he had sold some of the oringinal Chevys from the '30s for $200k+, and some were hot rods, that was his uncle's specialty, but I have no idea what the shop was called.

His uncle bought this from a school, and planned to restore it and use it for the auto restorations, so he bought a new single phase motor for it and the tag is still on it, it was like a $900 motor from Grainger. I didn't want the motor, and have a 2 phase I was going to use with a VFD, but I think the single phase will be an attraction to many. Not me, but many.

I don't know the history at the school, but I had a really hard time getting the cheese head screws out of the top of the apron,and those may need to be gotten/made. I was going to make them out of bronze, I love the color and how it patinas...but it is a nice lathe, and it's well worth the price, but you need to get here in South Bay to get it before next Monday, cause if I move it to the lake, I'm keeping it with all the other lathes I own.

You don't find many deals like this anymore, craigslist has wised up some...

I also have this '46 South Bend 9A w/4' bed, and this wouldn't be cheap as I don't really want to sell it, or the other 10L. It came out of the Levi Stauss factory in '98, and lived in an auto shop, until a friend of mine bought it and sold it to me with sparse original lantern tooling. Now it's all upgraded with an Aloris toolpost, carbide tooling, bed turret, I don't think I have the lever parting tool, but do have one for my 10L, along with the bed turret. it's 100% original with original paint, and the Levi Strauss inventory tag on the gearbox.

 

Budget for riggers and professional machinery movers if you lack the experience or equipment to move it safely.

This isn’t something you buy pizzas and beer for your buddies to help you move.

This is my Taiwanese Bridgeport clone I moved myself. $1250cdn 15 years ago. ( no tooling)

 

View attachment 1816080
Budget for riggers and professional machinery movers if you lack the experience or equipment to move it safely.

This isn’t something you buy pizzas and beer for your buddies to help you move.

This is my Taiwanese Bridgeport clone I moved myself. $1250cdn 15 years ago. ( no tooling)

I'd rather have that machine than the first Bridgeport in this thread. Probably has R-8 in the spindle? Looks like it has a face mill with inserts in it. I have a few pieces of tooling with straight shanks that fit in the collet, so you can use a face mill with a straight shank arbor to lock in the collet. Since you only need one collet to hold it, you can get an ER-40 collet chuck which will save you a bunch of dough on a number of tools. For this reason, ER-40 is probably the most common on mills, but for lathes 5C is king. It takes time to learn some of this stuff. This is not even to mention the Machinery's Handbook, and that print is so damn small, it's mostly formulas and calculations listed in charts.

 

Wow I make a post about an old rusty machine figuring y'all would tell me to pass because the rust on the table will take more In tooling and effort than what it's worth to clean up to acceptable tolerances. I have no idea what I'd be looking for with measuring in/out n left n right. I've never even tram'd a machine before so I have a lot of learning to do.

Ideally I'd pay close to or a little more than this and get tooling with a power feed on the knee as well. I rarely see a Bridgeport with variable speed, power feed and drop for this price. I thought it said $1800 OBO but that was a diff machine.

Played around with the lathe tonight and the feed is not working :/

 

Clutch on the lathe not engaging?

 

Tony, if I was in your shoes, I would at least go talk to these guys and get an idea what would fit your needs, and how much it would cost to move, or hire a rigger to do that.

Bridgeport style knee milling machine, 2 available, vertical mill - tools - by owner - sale - craigslist

2 Bridgeport style vertical knee mills If you are looking for a vertical mill, this is a great opportunity to get one. Milling is an essential part of basic machining and it's hard to imagine a shop...

sacramento.craigslist.org

They will at least be able to show you that you're getting a decent machine. They had a nice one listed for $3200, so that's pretty high for a bridgie, IMO.

 

You can see the lathe here https://www.weldingweb.com/threads/pratt-and-whitney-model-b-12x30-lathe-any-good.717647/#replies

 

Yes Pratt & Whitney made the engines in the SR71 Blackbird.

 

What are you going to do with it? Do you even need a mill this large? I have a Rong-Fu round column mill. It weighs 660 lbs. It was loaded in my truck with a forklift and I got it out with an engine hoist. It's mounted on a stand made of welded 2" square tubing. It's been plenty big enough for my serious DIY'er needs so far.

I say $1800 is a bit high for that lathe. The DRO looks outdated, so keep that in mind. Parts will not be easy to find for the DRO if anything breaks. Tooling will cost you at least as much or more than the machine. Moving it will be a b!+ch and not cheap. Just my 2¢.

 

I can rent a 3/4 ton truck and a drop trailer for about $400 or so. Moving it is not the problem. That's how I got the lathe moved. Making sure all is good with the mill is the most important.. I figure with a manual mill the same token is said with welders, buy once cry once and not need to upgrade in the future.

 

I figure with a manual mill the same token is said with welders, buy once cry once and not need to upgrade in the future.

That may be so, but that would imply buy blue or if you're a poor boy, buy red. Poorer, buy HTP...but I bought Primeweld and ESAB, both made in China, but both XLNT machines for my needs.

I would love to have a Dynasty though, the 280 would be all I would want. Compare that to a PrimeWeld Tig325x, at about 1/6th the price. This is a different world we live in these days. We almost gave the nest eggs to China...so close to letting them kick our @$$, but my @$$ is red, white, and blue, when it makes sense. I don't want Chinese machines, if I can help it. Just not a pro, and not willing to part with that much cash.

 

Tony have you considered getting a mill drill?

Plug it into your 220v and save space.

 

I hadn't thought to get a smaller combo machine. I did see a smaller German made one a few days ago when I got a granite surface plate. It was cute but looked like it was very limited.

 

I'm not going to get this one.

 

IF you do find one and decide to move it yourself, rotate the head 180° if possible and make sure the knee is fully lowered.

 

I'm not interested in tramming the mill head every time I need to make room for a new bigger/smaller project.

Yes they are cute and can get a lot of stuff done but if/when I want to hog off some material there is no replacement for some heavy duty " AMERICAN IRON "

 

Couldn't agree more, though my iron was Spanish and Bulgarian! I started out on small machines( a Rockwell 21-100 mill and Atlas 12x36 lathe ) and while fine to learn on/hobby stuff, they're just too slow and flimsy to work quickly and efficiently. After stepping up to a Lagun FTV1 mill and a Summit 14x40 lathe, I realized that you can do small parts on larger/rigid machines, but you can't do bigger parts on small/flimsy machines. Time is also a factor. If you're just dinking around in the shop, doing home repair, or just "making stuff", then some of the smaller machines may be fine. I took on some paying side work, so taking hours making umpteen passes on light machines drove me up the wall, and was a big time suck. Everyone's needs are different, there is no one size fits all. To me, investing in industrial quality machine tools is never a bad idea, as long as you have the space, and a way to power them.

 

not going to be hogging off any material on that size mill u posted. Especially on steel. It’s a slow go on the mill that size. I use one similar size. A 3 hp jet and it takes a while to takes stuff down. Aluminum is pretty easy but steel takes a while. Small cuts .010 .020 cuts lol

 

[/QUOTE]

So Is you argument a smaller mill is better? LOL

It all depends on the set up and how deep of cuts you take in all directions. Accuracy comes into play as well. I've watched many plastic injection molds get repairs on a Bridgeport.

How many times have you trammed a pole mill because you had to make adjustments?

Stop pretending you know it all. Yes your BBQ is good as is your weldinding on ships in the northern ship yard. Don't let that cloud your judgment. I appreciate your input and no disrespect but it just feels out of place.

 

Hogging typically means taking a lot of material out fast. My statement was you will not be doing that with that mill on mild steel and I’ve been running a mill and lathe for 10 years

no need to go out of you’re way to throw me under the bus just letting you know realistic ways that mill will work

 

This will be my last comment tonight. Time is relative.

Take it slow and hog a little at a time...you'll get there, just be patient. Aluminum is great to work with, both on the mill and lathe. I like 7075 over 6061, but you can't weld 7075. It is stronger, so for milling it's ideal. How To Run A Lathe would be a good book to go through on your P&W, only you'll need to learn how to grind your own tool bit in order to do that...

 

I'm not interested in tramming the mill head every time I need to make room for a new bigger/smaller project.

You should find another hobby, then. Just my opinion.

Yes they are cute and can get a lot of stuff done but if/when I want to hog off some material there is no replacement for some heavy duty " AMERICAN IRON "

I understand, just saying you might consider learning on a smaller mill that won't hog off your arm, before you know how to actually tram it. If you knew how to tram your mill, it should only take a minute or two, just like calibrating a vise, if you are afraid of taking your vise off because you'll have to re-calibrate it, then that's the time to consider learning how to dial it in faster, and not be afraid to do it.

I encourage everyone to get as much old iron as they can, just that it was a different type of machinist back then, who did spend the time to learn the basics of machining, often on smaller machines at their homes. The South Bend 9A allowed machinists to make product in their home shops for the Government ammunitions during WWII.

 

Would love a small mill in the shop, a small lathe think they would make great additions

 

I was taught the lathe or mill should be cry if you are making money. Hobby shop and hobby machines may baby it.

But turn too shallow and you might consider using a quality file.

 

Seems like mighty big talk MJD. Got pics or it dodnt happen. Seems like you be confused no? Common really , fuzzy math tells me you be sayin 0.250" deep cut in 0.500" keyway? You dont have pics do you?

edit : ah never mind

 

Apparently you never cut a keway with anything. Bridgeport or a climax portable always did 1/2" key seats in one pass. 5/8" I would typically do in 2 and 3/4" in 3 or 4. As for pictures it's a keway ,why would I take pictures? As for depth of cut, depending on shaft size it's more than 1/4" as the depth of cut starts once you have a 1/2" flat established.

 

Adam Savage has this mini mill and seems to like it for precision miniature parts making. he also has full size mills.

PM-728VT Ultra Precision Variable Speed Milling Machine

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www.precisionmatthews.com

 

I would take those over a round column mill for precision but the round column mills are usually quite a bit more powerful. No matter the style of mill a dro, even the low cost import ones, make everything so much easier. A typical 6 hole bolt circle can be setup in no time compared to using a rotary table or elaborate math calculations and dealing with backlash and the dials.