Bridgeport mill

M

mf294-4

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As you may have read in a earlier post, I am trying to find a mill. I think I am in over my head. Went to look at a J head with a line tracer. I figured out the line tracer is old obsolete technology and useless in my opinion. I find out the head does not tilt or turn. Are all J heads stationary? The owner has it partially disassembled. He says the table has been rebuilt and has ball feed screws. Table was very tight and practically no backlash. Very smooth operation. It has what I will call intigrated motors on the x and y axis fed from a large cabinet filled with electronics from the line tracer. Would it be possible to run the motors from a homemade controller and do away with all the line tracer hardware? I took my camera and forgot to take any pictures. Four hour trip and I was more confused on what to do than when I went. Any thoughts will be appreciated.
 
I recommend looking at the pics around here and doing some reading. A regular bport turret mill head will nod back and forth and turn like a clock at the end of the arm that goes in and out sitting on the turret that turns left and right. It sounds like a lot of work to turn that mill into something manual you can use, but if the ways are in great shape and the price is low it's probably worthwhile. You would have to be willing to give yourself a crash course in bridgeport surgery though. It's good to know you don't have to jump on the first machine to come along.
 
You are doing it right. Asking us for help is what we are here for.

Here is what you need. This is old dependable. If you want simple and no hassles, get one like these. There is so much info and most important "parts" these are the type or style you should buy. The 2 J Variable speed mill is a bit more expensive to repair, but it's easy and faster to change speed. The older J head has a collet capacity of 3/4" (there is a special collet for 1" but U seldom use it) and 1 HP, The M head is 1/2" collet cap is 1/2 HP. These machine are up in MN. I would guess they will sell for 1500.00 to 2500.00. Those old tracer machines are a "project". and buying a Bridgeport that the head does not tilt both ways is a pain. The Vari Speed head machine is a Taiwanese machine called a First, but is also called a Sharp. I have taught scraping in that factory and it is a good company and I am 90% sure parts are available for them. I would be a bit leary, buying a Chinese machine. The Bridgeport mills made when Textron owned them took a hit in quality, so I would avoid those machines.
http://auctions.machinesused.com/li...tegory=838584039&subcategory=Milling+Machines

I found another auction house with Mills that were sold and the prices. You get what you pay for Buy a Project machine and you will send more time and money then the machine is worth. I know someone who now wishes he had done research and asked more questions before he bout a project and doubled his $1500.00 deal.


http://www.hoffonlineauctions.net/cgi-bin/mnlist.cgi?hoff34/category/MACHINERY-MILLS
 
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