Re: Jon Elson's comments on Bridgport

Jon,

A few more comments about the Bridgeport "Junque" in response to your
rationale for the number of used machines in good condition -

Roland

********************

>Message: 11 - Digest Number 1473
> Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2001 03:12:17 +0000
> From: Jon Elson <elson@...>
>Subject: 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 -
>

Jon - >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line slowly became more out of date, while other options opened up.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.

Roland - Granted - But virtually all of the NC and CNC machines of the same
vintage had the same problems so it wasn't that Bridgeport was any worse
than the others, just that that was the state of the art at that time

Jon - >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.

Roland - I've put new controls on nearly 100 of those old Bridgeports and my
experience is that the ones in good condition came from small shops where
they were typically the first CNC machine ever purchased and were treated
well as a matter of pride and because they were a significant investment,
not because they didn't ever run - When they got "flakey" (as they all did -
like your Allen-Bradley) they were replaced by new machines but the old ones
were set aside and kept (maybe some sort of emotional attachment) - The ones
used in volume production or in large factories were generally so beat up
that they were junked out and melted down long ago - So about all you can
find any more are the good ones (and they are getting harder to locate as
this list gets bigger)

Roland - No, I'm not an employee of Bridgeport, just don't like to see
anyone unfairly criticized - Most of Bridgport's problems appeared to come
when Textron took them over and it was no longer a family owned business -
That's when the electronics development appeared to become "stalled" as the
rest of the industry progressed - At that time they lost their market
position and have never really gotten it back