Finding or Fixing a good bridgeport vs buying a clone

[Janderso]

I recently met on the net Tim B on the internet and talked to him on the phone. He knows Bridgeport mechanical repair. He isn't a scraper as he asked me to teach a 2 day scraping class in the spring in his shop in TN. He is going to teach 3 days of Bridgeport Head rebuilding.

Bridgeport Company is now owned by Hardinge and I have heard the new Bridgeport's are now made in Spain. For years they were made in Taiwan and they shipped them to the USA and "assembled" them in the USA so they could say made in the USA. Hurco and Milltronics does or did this too. The old Grease machines and were made in the USA. Bridgeport had a lot of issues and Textron bought Bridgeport in 1968 (google when did Textron buy Bridgeport) and I know then the mills were lightened and the machine was not the same after that. I like H&W and they have a lot of great you tube shows. It seems many rebuilders don't like others as the consider them a competitor. I like both. I also used to buy parts from Quality Machine.

My former foreman Craig Laurich back when I was rebuilding machines full time now owns a company called "Shop Services" in Northern MN and he say's he can't rebuild a Bridgeport and get a better machine then a Acer Mill. He started to sell Acer's. I know many of our members own Bridgeport's and if they were going to pay someone to rebuild one, I would consider buying an Acer or a Sharp. Those machines are made in Taiwan. I am not a fan of Chinese made machines as I have seen many and the scraping is terrible.. You should check before you buy.

I get requests from hobbyists to sell them the tools so they can rebuild their Bridgeports. I ask them are they only going to do 1 machine and if they say yes, I tell them to buy another mill. Many times one can repair their mills by replacing parts and cleaning and stoning the worn ways. If you think you can scrape it, your going to have to buy scraping tools and test equipment and that's not cheap.

Good to hear Richard.
My Sharp TMV is a beast. I love it. 3hp. 3,300# of beautiful Taiwan production.

 

[BGHansen]

If hunting for a used mill, I'd start with the website "www.searchtempest.com". It searches Craig's List, eBay and Facebook Marketplace. You enter your search text (milling machine or Bridgeport, etc.), your zip code, the max distance, etc. As mentioned above, there are MANY options within 200 miles of your location.

Bruce

 

[Dabbler]

If your interested in another BP I could see if my wife’s uncle would want to sell his . He was a Tool &Die and bought one for his own use . If I remember, he picked it up at the factory, used it for a side business in his garage . I never asked if would sell it though he sold a lathe he had and some of his tools . I forgot he lives in Phillipsburg

A unicorn!

 

[Illinoyance]

Several years ago I was looking for a vertical mill. After looking at many used BP mills and their prices I decided on a brand new Sharp. I never regretted that decision.

 

[bikesandcars]

Thanks everyone for your replies and insight. I'm considering all of this advice. This purchase is a back burner item and can wait until a good deal / opportunity crosses my path.