Really shiny

When I lived in CT Bridgeport Machine was one of the customers Id visit. As a result I got a couple shop floor tours. It was all very very interesting...Bridgeport machines making Bridgeport machines.
 
Nice to see a new bridgeport. But,it's really too bad they have completely degraded the formerly beautiful Bal-crank handles into what they now are. No taper to the shaft,and the handle is just a tapered cylinder. I see no need for that since everything is done CNC anyway,and they certainly still have drawings for those handles. Guess they don't teach the art of machine design in Singapore any more.

If I had that machine,the first thing I'd do is throw them away and make new,artistic Bal-cranks for it. I see they did,at least, retain decent handle shapes for the table locks.
 
That looks really nice, but since they eliminated the door/storage area in the column, I would just keep the old one that is in the background of your photos! :))

Jack
 
Yes, really nice & shiny. I was going to ask but George answered my question already as to where they're make now. Those Singaporeisiens sure build a pretty machine.

Nice machine!
 
jmhoying said:
That looks really nice, but since they eliminated the door/storage area in the column, I would just keep the old one that is in the background of your photos! :))

Jack
Click to expand...

Well, my 1984 didn't have that either.... btw, what exactly does one keep back there ?????
 
3 of my students have competed in the SkillsUSA contest in each of the last three years. I thought I recognized the picture in the first post. Folks this is seriously one of the 2 nicest shops I've ever been in in my 42 years in this business. I'm not sure how many staff members you have but I know how much work it takes to keep a shop looking that nice. You should be very proud of of it. If possible please post more pictures of the shop so we all can drool over it. Hopefully we'll be there again this summer. For those of you in the Kansas City area stop by the SkillsUSA contest. It's the first part of July. You'll see that there is serious hope for the youth of America. There are many vocations represented there. It is a REALLY big deal for vocational education. Check out the SkillsUSA website.
 
hvontres said:
Well, my 1984 didn't have that either.... btw, what exactly does one keep back there ?????
Click to expand...

It was a joke, as I had notice the lack of a door, as the older ones I'm used to all had them. When I bought my last one, the shop apparently used it for storage for all the extra parts for their mills. There were 4 quill fine feed hand-wheels, three complete sets of table feed ends from when they installed power feeds, hand cranks, DRO brackets, lots of bolts, etc.

Jack
 
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