Bridgeport model M w/round over arm

[QSIMDO]

....1/2 hp.

Were these any good even when new?

[rockrat]

....1/2 hp.

Were these any good even when new?

It all depends on what your going to do with it. Will you cut a 12" slab of Inconel at 200 ipm? No. Will you be cutting aluminum and small home shop projects to medium shop work, most likely, yes.

I think, as with any machine tool, you have to understand its limits.

I would love to have the over arm and head off of one. Now if i can only locate one in Ohio.

rock-

[Nutter]

My first veritical mill was a round arm Bridgeport with an M head. It was a good machine, but max size for the MT2 collets was 1/2", it lacked back gears and it lacked a power quill feed. The table was also on the small side, but that varied and you might find one with a decent sized table.

Overall, it wasn't a bad machine and with a J-head upgrade I might have kept it but I would have always wanted a machine that was bigger. About a year ago I found a Gorton Mastermil 1-22 for less than I had paid for the Bridgeport and decided it was time to upgrade.

[Rich Carlstedt]

Were these any good even when new?

Well a lot of good parts for the Second World War were made on them!
The drawback was spindle "POWER" and auto feed boring...but
They had the versatility that every Tool Designer dreams of.
When a lot of mills relied on custom cutters for angle work, the BP did it hands down cheaper and faster.
It could do a lot with little.
As far as quality? much better than anything from China or Tiwain today.
Rich

Many ! --Years ago, I won kudo's from my boss, when we had a production machine that could not be down ...period
It had a bad mounting area, that was washed out from hammering. sort of like a punch press bolster plate.
It would cost 40K to pull it out , take it apart and send it to a shop with a Bar. But worse, loose 3 to 4 weeks
During a holiday period, I cut the top off a M head belt guard, mounted it to a Troyke table, slide it into the bolster area, with absolutely no room to spare ( compare it to putting all this under the kitchen sink..thats how little room i had.
Then i fly cut a new mounting area, a quarter inch deep and 6 by 6 in size.
In essense it was a portable milling unit, but there was no such animal back then.
Only a M head could have done it !

[QSIMDO]

The Lunkenheimer oiler intrigues me.