A BIG "thank you"

[Morgan_RedHawk]

I have been a lurker for some time now, and I wanted to tell everyone here "thank you". I just brought home a Bridgeport mill today. Thanks to all of you here and your information and experience, I was able to choose the right machine for me, know how to inspect it, and how to move it myself without damaging the machine or gettin myself killed. There is no way that I could have done it without yall. I follow the advice here and moving it was a cake walk. So thank you to all of you for your great posts and advice. I am looking forward to learning more from yall.




[This message has been edited by Morgan_RedHawk (edited 07-17-2005).]

[Milacron of PM]

Now all you have to do is figure out how to get it off the pallet

Looks like a nice late model one...mid 1990's at least...

[Michael Az]

Nice Bridgeport, looks like a good one. Many hours of fun there! Now the easy part is over and think about all the tooling you now need. Rotary table, indexing head, boring head, collet sets, well, I had better stop. Don't forget to buy a forklift for the next machines.
Congradulations!
Michael

[tattoomike68]

Now thats a picture of a happy man

best of luck.

[NiftyNev]

Nice mill.A bit worried about the pallet though.If the mill is slightly of centre then the weight will be on one side of the deck boards.If they start to bow more weight is transferred to the low side and eventually something has got to give and the machine may tip over.If transporting items such as this it's much better to use a pallet with two inboard bearers spaced as to still be able to use a pallet jack.It's also a 4 way pallet and some of the strength in the bearers are reduced with the cutouts.

Nev

[This message has been edited by NiftyNev (edited 07-17-2005).]

[Your Old Dog]

You ain't the young guy that was building them flamethrowers are you?

Nice looking machine you got there. By the time you're the age of some of the guys on this board you should have just about all the man toys avaiable! You got a good start!

[rockrat]

Nice iron. That looks like a Bridgeport power feed on the x, or am I mistaken?

You might want to take a photo of the floor now, because from here on out, I'm bettin' that there will be more chips on it than there has ever been.

Someone get that guy some steel to cut!
rock-

[wierdscience]

Yep,that machine isn't nearly dirty enough!

[Morgan_RedHawk]

Thanks yall for the words of encouragement! I think I have a way to get it off the pallet, but I have not completed the rotary converter I am building, so I have a little time to think about it. I decided that NiftyNev had a good point and went out today and used the pallet jack to releave the stress on the pallet long enough to slide a couple of 2x4s stacked sideways on each other for the length of the base right underneath either side. The edges of the base are now both supported with them. Thanks for that advice, NiftyNev! Fortunately I only had to move it about 4 feet on the pallet. We only used it once it was off the trailer. Carried it back on a 2 axle trailer behind my buddies F250 powerstroke diesel. It handled it like it wasnt even there. Once back, we had a wrecker come out and lift her up, drove the trailer out from underneath and set her down on the pallet. Then I just rolled her on in. We had the head inverted and the knee cranked down all the way and I think that really helped make the whole thing more stable. From the serial number it is a 90 - 91 model. She came out of an R&D shop that this old guy was closing down. He also had a Lagun in there for sale..dang those suckers are a lot bigger than they look in pictures! It is a Bridgeport power feed that you see, and it came with a one shot oiler and a coolant system with a little magnetic coolant hose thingy. Picked it up for about $4000. Here is a nice shot of the ways on her.
Thanks again yall, I am looking forward to becoming a contributing member of this board...just as soon as I know what I am talking about!

[Your Old Dog]

Sounds like you don't need any suggestions from me, you're doing pretty well on your own! But, if you were going to set your mill on a concrete pedestal the same height as the pallet, you could likely slide it of using a come-a-long tied around both. Just an idea while your figureing out how your going to do it. Good luck and she's got nice legs..........I mean ways

[NiftyNev]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">I decided that NiftyNev had a good point and went out today and used the pallet jack to releave the stress on the pallet long enough to slide a couple of 2x4s stacked sideways on each other for the length of the base right underneath either side. The edges of the base are now both supported with them. Thanks for that advice, NiftyNev!</font>

No worries.I've seen the timber some pallets are made of (made 1000s of them some weiging up to a couple of tonnes} and wouldn't want your mill to end up on the floor or worse, on top of you.Enjoy the new toy.

Nev

[SJorgensen]

So you have no mistakes to share with us? You will never become an expert that way.
Good luck with your new mill and have fun.

[JRouche]

Very nice, you look happy!

Dont become too concerned with the pallet breaking. Is it an oak pallet or other hardwood?

Good luck placing twice as much weight on it to try and snap the members.

Think about the mill being some what centered on the center rib. Even if it was shifted off to one side or the other 2 or 3 inches, the amount of weight actually applied per square inch is slim.
JRouche

[Ed Wilson]

Very nice mill..I personally inspected and ran this mill while it was up for auction. You got the mill at a good price..I believe if the person selling the mill had shown some better close up photos and a better description of it including the right serial number it would have gone much higher.

From the same auction I won a very nice heavy duty workbench for my shop..Just what I was looking for but couldn't pay the price of a new one.

Best of luck with your mill..But a word of warning, that old heavy American iron can become addictive. I was just thinking the other day, surely I have room for just one more lathe, or mill, or saw, or drill press..

Ed

[gizmo2]

Only one issue I see... and that's yur last line, about waiting until you know something before you start posting. Hell, that don't stop the rest of us, so it shouldn't apply to you either. Bomb away!VEry nice machine tool. Like they say, buy the best and cry once. Don't think you can do much better'n you did, nice find.