Looks like I have a decision to make...

Yeah, it may be overkill, but if you have the space, and it's in good order, you won't be disappointed.
 
My ten cents Jesse, its the case when the opportunity knocks or you may be searching a long time. I am a bigger is better guy, and for that price
we will expect wear somewhere because whoever bought the mill new, was not just to look at it, it was to put it to work. Myself old school, I
live with wear or worn out things even my shoes, my back, worn bones, machine backlash and all the worn things in life. Myself I wouldnt be
afraid as long as nothing is broken. So you may be machining small parts today but it may change in the future I mean a little outside work for it.
At least you will have a mill, that I suppose you could trade up or down if need be. Like a lathe they all have wear in the middle where they get
used a lot, so you just work around the fact. Like the old timers running totally worn out machines, backlash measured with a yard stick, but they
machined perfect parts...

sam
 
GK1918 said:
My ten cents Jesse, its the case when the opportunity knocks or you may be searching a long time. I am a bigger is better guy, and for that price
we will expect wear somewhere because whoever bought the mill new, was not just to look at it, it was to put it to work. Myself old school, I
live with wear or worn out things even my shoes, my back, worn bones, machine backlash and all the worn things in life. Myself I wouldnt be
afraid as long as nothing is broken. So you may be machining small parts today but it may change in the future I mean a little outside work for it.
At least you will have a mill, that I suppose you could trade up or down if need be. Like a lathe they all have wear in the middle where they get
used a lot, so you just work around the fact. Like the old timers running totally worn out machines, backlash measured with a yard stick, but they
machined perfect parts...

sam
Click to expand...

I tend to agree with this. My bridgeport needed shims. But I intended to learn to scrap before I got it so I did not care one bit. With shims in it it does get tight right at the end of the travel, but if I need it, I can still use it. I will tell ya right now, even shimmed up, I have more travel in every direction, more versatility, and just as tight as a china machine. And for the cost of a smaller import at that. I was a bit worried at first. But after some months using it, I would not change a dang thing.

That being said, you could get a small import and do al you want to do now.

What really sold me on the BP over the import.... I can sale this BP in 30yrs, likely for what I payed for it. And still be able to get parts for it in that same 30

Now if I could find an old iron lathe
 
I had considered getting a bench top mill for my transmission conversions. It's big enough to do the job........barely. My idea is buy a machine you can grow into, not out of. You can put a small part on a big machine, but not a big part on a small machine. You will always find something you want to do that won't fit on the little machine.

Another reason I got a knee mill is that I'm always raising and lowering the knee to use my co-ax indicator. Drop it down to get my hole location, then raise the knee to get the part up high enough that the quill isn't at full extension for a more rigid cutting. But one problem with a round column bench mill, the column is round and when you raise and lower the head you lose your position. There is no way to keep the head from rotating on the round column.

And by the time I outfit a bench mill do do most of the things a knee mill will do, I've got as much in a Taiwan mill that's never worth what you put into it. I know I can least get my money back I've put into my Bridgeport, and like chuckorlando said, 30 years from now I can still get my money back from it even when it's 82 years old. It's 52 now.
 
Last edited:
GK1918 said:
My ten cents Jesse, its the case when the opportunity knocks or you may be searching a long time. I am a bigger is better guy, and for that price
we will expect wear somewhere because whoever bought the mill new, was not just to look at it, it was to put it to work. Myself old school, I
live with wear or worn out things even my shoes, my back, worn bones, machine backlash and all the worn things in life. Myself I wouldnt be
afraid as long as nothing is broken. So you may be machining small parts today but it may change in the future I mean a little outside work for it.
At least you will have a mill, that I suppose you could trade up or down if need be. Like a lathe they all have wear in the middle where they get
used a lot, so you just work around the fact. Like the old timers running totally worn out machines, backlash measured with a yard stick, but they
machined perfect parts...

sam
Click to expand...

chuckorlando said:
I tend to agree with this. My bridgeport needed shims. But I intended to learn to scrap before I got it so I did not care one bit. With shims in it it does get tight right at the end of the travel, but if I need it, I can still use it. I will tell ya right now, even shimmed up, I have more travel in every direction, more versatility, and just as tight as a china machine. And for the cost of a smaller import at that. I was a bit worried at first. But after some months using it, I would not change a dang thing.

That being said, you could get a small import and do al you want to do now.

What really sold me on the BP over the import.... I can sale this BP in 30yrs, likely for what I payed for it. And still be able to get parts for it in that same 30

Now if I could find an old iron lathe
Click to expand...

Did some measuring today at the shop and it looks like I won't have enough space to put the full sized bridgeport... The dimensions just won't let me do it...insert thumbs down and sad face lol. I'm still gonna go check her out and talk to the guy at the shop about finding me a smaller well made knee mill. He's got the connections around here, so we will see. Thank you guys for the input and I will keep you all updated. Looks like the PM-932 will fit just fine, and maybe even the bigger knee type PM-935, which looks really nice to me or a similar sized knee mill ( Clausing, Rockwell, etc. or their clones). Either way, one of these two machines will suit my needs fine I believe. Still going to do my research.

Jesse
 
Too bad, but at least you found it out before you pulled it off the truck ;)
 
With this small suggestion your door problem will not be a problem anyway:

[video=youtube;7_QzqPI2Dn8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_QzqPI2Dn8[/video]

:biggrin:
 
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