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Machine tools fab

BadDog

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This is the project that messed up the end of my finger. It's a swing arm to mount a tooling rack on my Bridgeport. Bushings (bronze bearings actually) were made from 1” sched 80 pipe with the ID bored out on my lathe to a slight press fit for some centered bronze std bearings with 3/4” ID. These were welded into the fish mouthed ends of some 1.5 x 0.188 square tube with one mount offset to allow it to fold flat. That offset bracket was being band cut previous to machining when I fed my finger into the saw by mistake. Well, it was so black it LOOKED like the steel I was cutting anyway... :D

Next I have to make the rack to mount my DRO and R8 tooling and other mill related tooling (chucks, collets, etc.). Neat thing is, it should slide in and out to whatever position is convenient with only light hand pressure due to those nice bearings, even though the tool rack will likely weigh around 200 lbs. When not in use, the arm and rack will fold back on itself out of the way so that the tray is along side and parallel to the ram, but still easily and fully accessible from the side should I need in it. It’ll also have a light (plastic?) lid to keep dust and chips out.

bushings.jpg

arm.jpg
 
looks good russ. post pics when its all done too.
 
Definetly pics of the finished product. Sounds like a great Idea!

Tough break on the finger, at least it wasn't your head.

If you do not mnd my asking, what did you pay for your BP and for that price what is its condition? I am looking for one and am tryng to see what others have had to spend ,you know what a decent market value. PM me if you don't want to talk numbers in the forum, and if you prefer not to disclose anything, I fully understand.
 
I paid a lot more than many, but I got a lot more that needed no work to put to use. Mine is a 71 (or 74) 2J with Varispeed. The head was professionally "remanufactured" a year before with all new bearings, bushings, seals, etc. It’s the quietest and smoothest Varispeed I’ve seen. The motor was also reworked at the same time, both by a specialist Bridgeport service shop. It came with new high res Acurite scales and Servo power feed. Everything works VERY well with less wear and tear than many 10 year old machines. My total cost was right at $3k delivered. The shop forman (this was his personal “tool room” machine) paid almost as much for the head rebuild as I paid for the machine, plus the x scake ($600 for that one scale!) and power feed ($300+ IIRC?) were brand new.

But, it came with no tooling, so gathering everything from a vise and basic collets on down has been expensive too...
 
It sounds like you got a killer deal to me. I hope i can find a machine like your for a similar deal. I was expecting a decent mill like you described to run me around 7K-9K, so its really good to hear that there are better deals out there. Where would you suggest I look to find a machine, I am a little scared of Ebay and Craigslist as someone could easily pull the wool over my eyes at a distance. anyone have luckwith these type sales sources? Any other suggestions?
Thanks
Doug
 
Auctions.
Here we have one auction company that usually gets the machine shops going out of business.
Bridgeports, 2hp, with DRO's are going for 900-1300. Dirt cheap.
 

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