Kind of a crazy idea

Piecing it out and lugging it down to the basement is pretty common albeit pita.
Drilling it full of holes to save even 200# is a cute idea and I dont fault ya for throwing the idea out- but no. It will still be over 1,000 lbs and roughly equal work getting it down. Plus you would have a butched machine.
My shop is in the basement and in my view well worth the effort to get things down. Cool in the summer, warm in the winter and very low/constant humidity. Granted some basements are humid but the temp swings and condensation are what really do things in in garages and sheds.

If you have enough physical clearance to get the pc's in and the floors/stairs are sturdy and momma wont kill you for banging up the floors doors and woodwork go for it. Hopefully you got a 30yr fixed mortgage not a 3 yr arm and
Btw who keeps letting you out of your box?

Look It can be done...
evumepyt.jpg

evumepyt.jpg
 
Bridgeports are pretty light as is. they are wimpy compared toa better machine of the same size. They really are not hard to move and Its not like you will move it around often.

You move heavy objects with your mind, not your back!
 
IMHO,
you have thew same problem i had.
you want a big mill but only have a small space for it.
you would do yourself a favor by getting a high quality table top mill. if you were to place a full size mill in the basement you would have a hard time getting any large items into the basement to be machined, then you'd still have to get them back out.
with a bench top job you can do moderate sized work and have no real issues moving parts up and down stairs.
you can cheaply rig very heavy items with suitable straps, or chains, rail road ties, and a suitable chain fall or comealong if you wanna do it the hard way.
BUT PLEASE DON"T BUTCHER THE MILL:bawling:
 
Thanks for your kind replies, of course I know conventional wisdom. The world is all to full of people who will tell you what you can't do.
In a world where everything that can be done already has, it's people who do what can't be done that make an impact.
Everyone would love to have mint condition Rockwell, or Clausing mill. But guess what? They don't exist in numbers to supply the demand. There is probably a ratio 100 bridgeports to every small Rockwell machine manufactured. And like it or not, eventually most if those old bridgeports will wind up as scrap iron. Maybe that's where they belong. I'm not a troll as someone suggested I might be, and I knew I was opening myself up to some derision when I started this thread. And I'm ok with that, I've learned that being taken seriously isn't always the most important thing in life. Sometimes you just have to do something and see what happens. Have a great Sunday.
 
Hmmmm --- Seems like a lot of people will be watching if you tackle this problem of lightening a Bridgeport. Here is a thought before you dig in. The mass of some parts is there to subdue outside force. That is to say it is there to keep that force from traveling to another part of the machine where that force cannot be controlled. This is not a good thing to change. Vibration is a funny animal, it doesn't like anybody. Rigidity is another thing. If you take it from one place something else will need to do double duty. Again, not a good thing.

With this said, I'm not against your thoughts. You may have stumbled onto a solution for many and then again, maybe not. The words above were not to discourage you but to make you think. You have chosen a path that many would never travel. I wish you good luck in this endeavor. Take nothing for granted think everything through to the last minute detail.

Please keep us in the loop on this, even if you decide not to go through with it.

"Billy G"
 
Levi said:
You guys are too serious,
Come on, lets fly by the seat of our pants, it'll be fun...
Think outside the XYZ coordinate box...
As far as cast iron stability? Why it's quite stable, It's practically like rock. Anyway if you want to stop a crack in a piece of cast iron you drill a hole at the start of the crack.
Imagine you built a model of a bridgeport out of a simple wire frame, and then proceeded to ad in only enough structural material to make it physically strong enough to do the job (assuming the job isn't to support a 500lb load at the end of the table). Research the weight's of Genuine Bridgeports vs. the clones- The clones always weigh more for a comparable machine, sometimes quit a bit. It takes more time and skill to create a casting with thinner more uniform cross sections.
I'm just trying to have a little fun....
Click to expand...
. Think first generation racing
cars ? But to be serious ------- vibration nodes lead to deadly cracks.......BLJHB.
 
Sorry to burst the bubble as it were but the weight of the machine is your friend.
You are only going to move it once......The shear mass helps the stability...... Lighten it up too much and you will be chasing it around in the shop every time you start it up .
*******Just Saying********G************
 
It seems the reason they are heavy is because they need to be to run as smoothly as they do. They didn't pour more cast iron because it was cheaper. As said above, it will still occupy the same footprint, and it just isn't that hard to move them. I'm all for innovation, if there is a potential for a positive outcome, but I don't see one. Of course I've been wrong before. Mike
 
I wonder how it worked out for him. According to his last post on the forum, he was still fretting a year later about whether or not he could move a Clausing into his basement. That was almost 2 years ago. Hope it didn't fall on him.

Tom
 
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