Bridgeport

Roland Friestad wrote:

> Jon,
>
> I would take issue with that statement - It's sort of like stating that the
> Wright Brothers first airplane was appalling junk because a 747 is so much
> better, or to hit closer to home that the ENIAC was appalling junk because
> the Pentium is so much better - Many hundreds or even thousands of machine
> shops, including mine, made a good living using those early Bridgeports
> which were the first really affordable CNC machines that a small shop could
> afford -

Yes, even though the BOSS-2 was a mess, it was pretty much a revolution that
a small shop could actually afford one, at a time when only Boeing, GM and
Lockheed could afford the Cincinnatti (or whatever) CNC machines. The BOSS
line slowly became more out of date, while other options opened up. Some
of those were just as clunky in a variety of ways. Some had tiny displays
that you needed a magnifying glass to read, some had so little MDI capability
that you couldn't do anything at the machine without creating a new program
tape, and some only accepted their own, proprietary NC programming language.

But, there are SO MANY people who say the BOSS is a great retrofit opportunity

because they are practically all in unused condition because they never
worked.
There has to be some truth behind that kind of statement, when I hear so many
different people saying it. I have also heard of a few people that had
reliable
machines, but they are in the great minority.

My Allen-Bradley 7320 was also quite unreliable, but then it was about 20
years old when I got it.

Jon