# looking at buying a bridgeport......help me



## chevydyl (Jan 1, 2014)

So I befriended a machinist by my house..stopped by his shop one day and questioned about some parts....he asked if I was interested in a lathe...I said yes and he gave me a guys number and I went and bought a 12x36 atlas. A friendship was started with the guy from the machine shop. He is just tickled that a young man like myself is interested in what he calls a dying art. The manual machinist. His lathe and mill are both cnc but not run off a laptop. Over a few months hes had me come over to learn and also milled a t nut for the atlas qctp b size. I asked him about milling some holes in some 5/8 plate steel in a 2x2 grid pattern. He said bring it over and he would teach me how to write the program and I would do the work.over 500 holes at no charge.... so anyway enough of the back story lol....in the corner of his shop he has a bridgeport series 1 with chrome ways power feed not sure what axis but it also has a newall dro. As well as a varispeed head. He hasnt used it in years....hes not really pushin to sell. Its not advertised or anything like that. I will tell you that on the z axis on the table there is almost ZERO backlash. The paint is pristine as well. Not repainted....he said he paid 6500 for it about 10 or more years ago..he wss throwin around some numbers in the 8s.  Based on what im telling you what do you think its worth? I think it has a vise with it and he did say he has a set of r8 collets to go with it....ive looked around ebay and to find one in that condition they are asking around 3500 to 6500. Plus to ship it to alaska your looking at over 1000 bux


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## Senna (Jan 1, 2014)

Nice machine or not if by the 8's you mean $8,000 then I think that is an awful lot to pay for a used manual B'port.

If you meant in the $800 range then you should be loading it up right now!

Even if shipping to Alaska cost $2000 then you could still stay well under $8k with many machines out there.

Check out some of the mills available from these guys.

www.hgrinc.com

Heck, I see a lot of CNC knee mills for well under $8k.


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## chevydyl (Jan 1, 2014)

Yeah I meant 8k lol. I think its way high based on ebay prices.....I think I can get him to reality maybe pay6 for it. Maybe less but it is very very nice well taken care of. I toohave seen cnc knees go for 8k....


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## Senna (Jan 1, 2014)

chevydyl said:


> Yeah I meant 8k lol. I think its way high based on ebay prices.....I think I can get him to reality maybe pay6 for it. Maybe less but it is very very nice well taken care of. I toohave seen cnc knees go for 8k....



That's what I suspected.

From time to time you find a good deal on eBay but often the prices you see there are mere dreamers prices and the seller will own that machine forever. Don't be afraid to make offers of half or less of asking price on eBay even if they don't offer the "Best Offer" option. I've found that many times a seller will accept your offer or at least come back with a counteroffer.

In the meantime, do yourself a favor and check out the mills offered by HGR. Their prices are good, they'll listen to lower offers, and they have sweetheart deals with many freight companies which can make shipping much more affordable.


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## stevecmo (Jan 1, 2014)

I agree with Senna, he's asking way too much.  If he paid $6,500 ten years ago what makes him think it's worth $2,000 more now?  And the only tooling is a vise (maybe) and a set of collets?

I know machines are scarce in AK, but you can do better.


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## The_Crusher (Jan 2, 2014)

I just paid 800 for this one and it has a J2 head on it (variable speed) all new bearings in the nead as well as new belts and plastic bushings for the pulleys, everything came with it except the bearings and the head was torn apart. I bought the bearings for the head and 2 for the motor too for 97.00 and installed and assembled the entire thing in about 2 hours and had it up and running. It also has an oiler system and chrome ways and was built in 1977. .020 backlash in the X and Y axis as well. The ways and table both have the original scrape marks and one #25 drill bit hole in the table. NO cutter marks or anything. no DRO, but I can buy brand new ones shipped to my door for 350-400 with everything to mount wire and the covers for the glass and even the arm to mount the read out. So, what I am getting at is, you can buy a killer Bridgeport used that may need a little bit of work for 2K or under.


This is before I cleaned it up!


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## chevydyl (Jan 2, 2014)

That was a good score crusher....I think I may offer the guy 4000. Comparing it to ones on ebay I think its worth 4000.if he said 4500 id pay it. Considering the shipping costs included in an ebay mill or even one from the website listed below. Its well above any will I see listed on ebay for 3000.i will get pictures when I get home from work next week


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## jmhoying (Jan 3, 2014)

The_Crusher said:


> I just paid 800 for this one and it has a J2 head on it (variable speed) all new bearings in the nead as well as new belts and plastic bushings for the pulleys, everything came with it except the bearings and the head was torn apart. I bought the bearings for the head and 2 for the motor too for 97.00 and installed and assembled the entire thing in about 2 hours and had it up and running.



That's a great deal for a variable speed!  My only worry is that you put standard bearings in the spindle, rather than precision bearings.  I don't think typical bearings for a Bridgeport head can be purchased for much under $300.00.

Jack


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## chevydyl (Jan 7, 2014)

So I got a close look at the bridgeport yesterday. The serial on the knee puts it at a 1986 model. It has a kurt power drawbar. A kurt vise. Set of collets. Its got two work lights on it. Servo 150 table feed. And a newall topaz mill dro. He wont budge on the price...he said he bought it as his second mill for a specific job and hasnt used it since. As his cnc mill iss only a 2axis and the head doesnt nod or tilt. He had the head gone through after he bought it.about a 1000 into that. So hes basically trying to get everything hes got into it back out of it.....so......he also says hes got someone else thats interested...and looking at it id rather buy a brand new vectrax BP clone brand new for 1000 more...


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## DanLins (Jan 10, 2014)

I agree, that sounds steep. I'd think maybe $6K if it is excellent condition with the DRO, X & Y feeds and some tooling would be fair.

Dan L


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