Crazy a$$ Bridgeport

There were several of those at a shop I used to work at in the early seventies.

They were two and three axis NC milling machines using paper tape. There were two or three heads bolted to the ram depending on what they were making.

The two axis machines were slow, having to stop to have the knee cranked up manually to whatever depth was needed. The quills was brought up and down with an air over hydraulic ram. One had a very unreliable rotary stop system on the quill that served as the third axis. Another had a stepper motor on the knee for the third axis.

The NC machines back then were pretty crude in comparison to today's technology. Paper tape with mechanical readers were a recipe for disaster. Every machine had it's scars on the tooling and clamps from when the machine decided to take an abrupt and unplanned left turn and the operator wasn't close by to catch it. I remember the first big upgrade was from plain paper tape to paper tape with a layer of mylar so it wouldn't tear or wear out as fast.
 
There is one of these ganged Bridgeports with a hydraulic CNC tracer unit at scrapyard in Bemidji, Minnesota. The head is a 1hp
step pulley unit 3 phase. It's a shame to see it go for scrap so maybe someone will be interested in it hopefully. I have a 9x42
mill already and don't need 2 mills......
 
That is a machine some one threw together with "Spare Parts". That ram is for gang milling and is on the tru-trace or other duplicator mills for multiple heads.

Here is my best guess.... looks like a newer style base that may have had a variable drive.. Some one took the ram and variable drive head and pit it on a machine with large table and duplicator on it and threw the ram and a step pully head on the small table machine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top