Checking Out A Bridgeport: What To Watch Out For.

Yeah, for the life of me I cant imagine why you would want to feed upwards, maybe some kind of funky upwards slot cutting or something>

One last question: is there any real physical difference between the 1 -> 3 hp bridgeports? eg: if I need to could I get a higher power motor for this without having to replace a large portion of it?
 
the round ram BP is plenty rigid enough, I ran a m head many years ago and it took # 7 B&S collects (1/2 inch shank capacity). that machine will do most things and you can keep you eye out for a j head
 
Metal said:
One last question: is there any real physical difference between the 1 -> 3 hp bridgeports? eg: if I need to could I get a higher power motor for this without having to replace a large portion of it?
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Typically your 1hp is going to be a step pulley and the 1.5 to 3 hp will be vari speed. But I've seen all three on each.
 
Checked it out, as far as I can tell it looked pretty good
Everything functions as expected
Backlash is roughly 40 thou in x, 35thou in y and consistent as far as I could tell, so it might be the ballnut, but its not enough that I really think its an issue.
There is more resistance in the Y axis near the edges of its travel, for the last perhaps 2 inches, but not "binding" up, and the mill was nearly bone dry and resistance was still not very much at all.

soooo.. might be buying it, none of this is concerning me much for my uses (mostly 6061 aluminium)
 
Well I bought it :)

Anyone have any ideas on unloading it off a truck with a forklift since it won't be on a pallet (top heavy, I know)
I've seen pictures of backing the ram up, putting wood on forklift forks and lifting the mill by both sides of the ram, but it seems like its center of gravity would be farther forward than that and would make that really dicey
 
Here is a couple of different ways that I do it.

Wood on the forks method, I have moved a lot of mills this way. I normally use a 2x4 under the back, and 4x4 under the front. This helps compensate for the front heavy condition. This particular mill is about 3500#, your BP is about 2500# 8500# reach fork lift

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Lifting straps under the ram. Doubled up cardboard under the ram to protect the straps. Also a 2x4 under the ram on the front strap to adjust the length to balance the load. These are 6000# straps, 12,000# in this configuration. 5000# forklift.

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A drop deck trailer makes for easy unloading. We just pulled it off the trailer with a come-a-long.

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Unloaded and ready to be disassembled!

Looks like the easiest way of doing it due to the power feed is removing the table at the y axis saddle, going to give disassembly and move a shot on saturday!


2 questions!:

1. how paranoid should I be about snapping off any of these levers on the J head when removing it? it realy doesn't seem like there's a good way of supporting the front of it when removing it (with straps)

2. how do I not kill myself while removing the knee, I'm guessing once the saddle is off I wrap straps aroundeither side and "hope" to balance it that way?, the curved surface with no good way of gripping it is a head scratcher.
 
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What lifting equipment do you have available? I have normally disassembled/assembled the head in place. The last thing you do is remove the tilt bolts and pull the rest of the head, it's about 50# without the quill. If you have overhead lifting equipment, you could choker the head between the motor and the head to support it and then pull it off.

I would normally pull the table off, then the saddle. The power feed is not too hard to remove.

I have never pulled the knee, but there is some space between the knee and the column, you might be able to get a strap around it that way. Maybe other can help out there. I might be tempted to leave the saddle on and get straps around that to lift the assembly.
 
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