Re: Tool up

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., <info.host@b...> wrote:

>
> > I have a Bridgeport that I got very cheaply but to
> > be honest If I had to go out and buy a machine like this again I
> > wouldn't touch another one.
>
> An unsual statement, all I've ever heard is that Bridgeports are

the be all

> and end all of mills, they do look a lot skinnier than the Beaver I

saw.

>
> > The feed gearbox on a Bridgy is a joke. I've got bigger
> > gears in my wrist watch. The book even says "Don't use quill feed
> > with a tool greater than 3/8"
> > 3/8" ?? On a one ton machine?? what a hoot.
>
> There's something wrong there, our Boxford Union drill presses in

school

> will do 12mm with no problems at all and they're relatively small.

I thought

> I'd humor you a bit, when you say 3/8" I have absolutely NO idea in

terms of

> reality how big that is. I have to put it throught the calculator

to see it

> in mm. Imperial, the new anthrax.
>

OK so 10mm.
It's not the machine drive that's at fault it's the feed gearbox
being overloaded. Your Boxford drill press will do 12 mm Ok so will a
Bridgy, a Bridgy will do about 30mm but only on manual down feed like
a drill press. Use the feed box and it's a different story. The shear
pin for the worm feed shaft is a 1/16" dia pin in a 3/8 shaft.
[ 1.5mm in a 10mm shaft to you <g> ]
As regards being the end all of machines yes they are very versatile,
there is not doubt about this. Like the Myford they have a good name
and more importantly plenty of accesories but other than a change in
1985 from the old round ram to the vee ram and a change from the M
head to the J head they have stood still. The only move forward was
the series 1 CNC Et al.
Just as people moaned at Myfords for years to increase the spindle
size people have moaned at bridgeport to produce a square way bigger
machine. Myfords finally came out with a big spindle machine 25 years
too late. All that has happened is the imports and opposition have
eroded their sales. What would it have taken? One new casting,
spindle and a set of bearings. Real rocket science, at the time they
even owned the Raglan / Little John lathe.
With Bridgeport this has happened as well. The Bridgeport factory in
Bridlington closed because the UK produced machines Beaver, Elliot,
Ajax were all not so much better but better suited to the users.
Ask any machine importer in the Uk if you can have a Turret mill with
square ways 10 x 48 table big spindle motor and a decent spindle
taper.
His first question will be, Where do you want it delivered?.

Sorry if I sound cynical but it's all true.

> anyway, I'll have to use it manually
> whether I want to or not. It looks like it'd be quite a physical

work out

> since the handles are an arms length apart. Am I going to look like

a

> dancing chimp using a bigger mill?
>

Think of it as a work out machine and you will be able to spend the
health club money on tooling <bg>