Bridgeport Mill Condition

[middle.road]

Hi all, how does the saying go? - a picture is worth a thousand words, but a hands on inspection is priceless...

This is in an upcoming auction, and I'd like to gather some thoughts & observations before I go after it.
- Rust seems mild to moderate.
- All the crank handles appear to be missing? (parts donor?)
- Please jump in with more...

Thanks,
_Dan

 

[chuckorlando]

Your biggest concern is wear in the ways. You can buy every part you could need except new way's. Mine had a fair amount of play which I expected for the price. I cut some shims and she works fine. But shims is a bandaid not a fix. It will get scraped in at some point.

If that scares you at all then mae sure you have gib adjustment left in her. If you can run it through all the rpm ranges and check back gears in both directions.

Keep in mind, you can get nickeled and dimed to death. If it takes alot of little things just to use it, factor that into the price.

 

[middle.road]

Re: Yikes!

Got a reply from the Auction Co.

"This mill was in a storage trailer in the back of the building. We do not know anything about it."

oh my....

 

[sd624]

It would have to be really cheap. From the pic you can see the hand crank is bent and the bearing plate is busted which means the lead screw is probably bent. It that damage was caused from it tipping over who know what's else you may find.

 

[sidecar580]

It looks like the quill clock spring, and a few associated parts are missing also.

 

[chuckorlando]

Yea them nickles and dimes will kill ya

 

[sidecar580]

MOST hobby machinists will buy only one Bridgeport for life, and MOST hobby machinists do not have the tools or skills to rescrape their machines, MOST hobby machinists wont invest the cost of having their Bridgeport professionally rescraped. The condition of the ways should be a major issue then. On most used Bridgeports the top of the knee shows the most wear. If it is loose in the middle and tight on the ends....shimming the gib will not help that.
I recommend purchasing a better condition Bridgeport than you think you will ever need.....as your skills and knowledge will increase.....but the condition of your machine will not.

 

[middle.road]

It would have to be really cheap. From the pic you can see the hand crank is bent and the bearing plate is busted which means the lead screw is probably bent. It that damage was caused from it tipping over who know what's else you may find.

Went to the preview today. It was dropped - HARD. It is/was a variable drive head, motor is missing.
The table feed drive unit was jammed up under the table and lead screw. Gashes and dings all over. 'twas a shame.

_Dan

 

[Marco Bernardini]

My 0.02 euro…
We "noobs" machinists (I include myself) often fall in the temptation of a Big Brand machine, because we see all the skilled machinists use it (like the BP), because it has a cool design (like the Monarch EE 10) and so on.
Of course there is people knowing this, and trying to make the most profit from us.
Cheating? Well, it's like to buy an used car: we have to be careful.
To buy an used Bridgeport from a known skilled machinist, who take care of her, is far different from buying a ton of cast iron from a junk mover. A machinist can tell you honestly all the defects of the machine, what you have to repair (but generally machinists machines have nothing to be repaired!), the issues due to the machine age and so on.
As you can imagine, this has a price: but will be this price higher than the cost needed to almost completely rebuild a machine ready to be scrapped?
A worn (and maybe broken) Bridgeport, IMHO, is not very different from a Chinese machine: you can't have all the precision you imagined to have, you must rebuild some pieces, and so on.
So don't be tempted just by the prestigious brand: what's in a name? A turd by any other name would smell the same!

 

[middle.road]

It went for $375.00 to a buyer participating from the Net. There's a 17% buyers premium on net buys.

_D.