So my Dad just called me and told me he met with his acountant and that he "needs" to spend some $$ for shop equipment before the end of the year. We've been thinking about buying an older but capable Bridgeport or similar mill for light shop duty for some time. We're just getting our South Bend lathe up and running, and this would be a nice complement. We would use it mostly for hobby use in hot rod and engine building, as well as for some other light machining projects. Since buying a lathe was always thought of as a future purchase, I've not gotten into too much research on the best models/components to get for our needs. Now my time table is a bit accelerated. My inital thoughts are an older working Bridgeport with some tooling included. 3 phase is not an issue as we can wire either way. Any thoughts on good american machine that a novice can start work on, not break the bank, and yet not need to be upgraded down the line? DRO is not necessary, but would be nice.
There is a local auction (closed machine shop) tomorrow with the Bridgeport you see below. I haven't looked at it in person yet, but we may head down there in the morning and check it out. If it is is good running condition, any thought on the value of it? Anything specific or in general to look for when inspecting it?
Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thanks in advance!
There is a local auction (closed machine shop) tomorrow with the Bridgeport you see below. I haven't looked at it in person yet, but we may head down there in the morning and check it out. If it is is good running condition, any thought on the value of it? Anything specific or in general to look for when inspecting it?
Any and all thoughts are welcome! Thanks in advance!