- Joined
- Aug 13, 2020
- Messages
- 5
I’m just getting into machining and I found a nice old 1946 Southbend 9A with a 4 1/2 bed last month. The lathe is in great shape. I’m in the middle of a restore on it and having a ton of fun. So I knew I wanted to get an old Bridgeport style knee mill also, but I wasn’t in any kind of hurry. I figured I’d get good with the lathe and then start looking for a mill maybe next year or something.
That was the original plan....but then a really nice 1969 Bridgeport mill fell into the back of my truck yesterday! The story with this mill is that it spent the first part of it’s life in a high school. When the shop teacher retired, he was able to purchase the mill from the school. Fast forward some years, and when the shop teacher passed away, the guys I bought the mill from were able to purchase it from his estate sale. These guys have a custom hot rod and fab shop and they told me the mill didn’t get used heavily. It’s very apparent that the mill didn’t see any heavy production work based on the wear (or lack of) on the ways and the overall condition of it. Everything on the machine is super tight and in good shape. These guys upgraded to a big fancy computerized CNC machine and have a serious space problem in their shop. When I went to use their bathroom I felt like I was on a submarine - don’t think you could squeeze a mouse fart into their shop! This is why they were so eager to sell the mill, and why I was able to get it at such a disgustingly low price. The only downside is that it didn’t come with any tooling, but considering what I paid, its not a problem at all.
So I guess I’ve got plenty to keep me busy in the shop now and the wife is super thrilled that I‘m done bringing home really heavy metal thingys for a while! Attached are some photos of my recently found American treasures.
That was the original plan....but then a really nice 1969 Bridgeport mill fell into the back of my truck yesterday! The story with this mill is that it spent the first part of it’s life in a high school. When the shop teacher retired, he was able to purchase the mill from the school. Fast forward some years, and when the shop teacher passed away, the guys I bought the mill from were able to purchase it from his estate sale. These guys have a custom hot rod and fab shop and they told me the mill didn’t get used heavily. It’s very apparent that the mill didn’t see any heavy production work based on the wear (or lack of) on the ways and the overall condition of it. Everything on the machine is super tight and in good shape. These guys upgraded to a big fancy computerized CNC machine and have a serious space problem in their shop. When I went to use their bathroom I felt like I was on a submarine - don’t think you could squeeze a mouse fart into their shop! This is why they were so eager to sell the mill, and why I was able to get it at such a disgustingly low price. The only downside is that it didn’t come with any tooling, but considering what I paid, its not a problem at all.
So I guess I’ve got plenty to keep me busy in the shop now and the wife is super thrilled that I‘m done bringing home really heavy metal thingys for a while! Attached are some photos of my recently found American treasures.
