So I inherited a 54" Bridgeport...

[bogiestl]

And it seems pretty decent. My best friend bought it from a local outfit that refurbs industrial equipment after he admired my dinky garage shop (with a little benchtop), had it moved in, and then one morning discovered why the doctors tell you to always wear your damn CPAP mask... Sigh...

Anywho, stuff, stuff, stuff, and got it moved from his basement into my garage. It is three-phase with a VFD (do not anticipate problems other than figuring out actual RPM), X/Y power feeds, and an X/Y DRO.

I started out running coolant, I run coolant on my little benchtop, I want to run coolant on this (I do some manual production - it can be done...) and the scale for the DRO covers both "exhaust" holes in this thing's table - any hints? I'm figuring I'll pound in a couple of rubber stoppers, while drilling a hole somewhere else in the table. Where should I put it?

Thanks.

 

[JimDawson]

You could just put the hole(s) in the front of the table, in line with the one(s) in the back.

 

[Karl_T]

My vote would be directly opposite the originals in the front. Tap them 1/2 or 3/4 npt, put in a street elbow and a barb then hose to a bucket.

many other ways to skin this cat

 

[ChipsAhoy]

Me thinks you should just junk the whole mess.... I have an empty dumpster.

:talktogod:

 

[GA Gyro]

Sorry about your friend... guess it is better to go in one's sleep than in a hospital bed... :sorry2:

If it were me... I would look over the machine and just ponder it for a bit... the obvious answer will come to you.
When I have a decision to make... I usually let time be the decider. Getting in a rush... usually costs me more time... :whistle:

Pictures.... we LOVE pictures...

 

[bogiestl]

Just did a walkaround and stare session... And plugged it in...

No wonder my bud was breaking end mills - he had the feed drives sent pretty darn fast...

Still puzzling over where to punch a hole. If I do it too low on the front, I'll either be below the reservoir on the side of the table (so, uh... why bother?), or I'll be into the slot that the stops for the power feed live in... I don't have a magnet drill here, so I'm going to have to freehand this, so no "drilling with an end mill" to nuke that part... If I go above that slot, I'm going to leave a lot of coolant in the thing when it drains... Decisions... If I go from the end opposite the power feed, that's a lot of material to drill through... Decisions...