Bridgeport Series 1 w/pics Need Help!

Considering buying this machine and fixing it up for my own use to build bike parts for my race bikes. I would also build those same parts to sell to others to support my habit.

The machine was removed from my friends fabrication shop and was put outside under a covered parking structure. As you can see there is no plenty of rust. The cover of the Heidenhain controller was left off and I see rust in various locations. Also the screen for the controller at the rear seems to have a broken bulb or something. When the machine was removed it was a working machine.

Any input is welcome as I do not know **** about these machines.

Whats it worth as it sits/ whats the most you would pay? He is trying to help me get my parts going, he offered it to me to use at no cost "just take it", but I do not want to put any money into it to get it running unless I own the machine.

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Anyone?

Wouldn't be a job I would take on. You sould cost all replacement components, labour and if the machine leadscrews etc are OK vs buying a working interact

As a sample

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Bridgeport-Int...item335f869d91

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Originally Posted by fidia

Wouldn't be a job I would take on. You sould cost all replacement components, labour and if the machine leadscrews etc are OK vs buying a working interact

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Thanks for the reply, don't really know much about it but I am eager to learn. I went to a local school to learn cad/cam and have purchased software to design my own parts, I just need a machine. Unfortunatley I am about out of money.

From what you can see do you have any ball park figures you can throw at me?

A thousand $$$ in U.S. funds will not go far here. If your buget is tight I'd search else where. Looks like a bunch of headachs to me. You will be plagued with electrical problems being it was left outside. Moisture kills these types of machines once it gets into the controls.

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Originally Posted by Boots

A thousand $$$ in U.S. funds will not go far here. If your buget is tight I'd search else where. Looks like a bunch of headachs to me. You will be plagued with electrical problems being it was left outside. Moisture kills these types of machines once it gets into the controls.

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Thank you for your reply.

Isiahstites,

Depending on the price of the machine. If the ball-screws, spindle and axis motors are still good I believe it would be a very good control retrofit candidate.

How much do they want for the old iron?

Jeff...

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Originally Posted by jalessi

Isiahstites,

Depending on the price of the machine. If the ball-screws, spindle and axis motors are still good I believe it would be a very good control retrofit candidate.

How much do they want for the old iron?

Jeff...

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Jeff - My friend who let his son use the machine at his son's shop. The son quit using the machine and it ended up outside. My friend said go get it and I could use it as long as I would like. I told him the machine needed some work and that I could not put money in the machine unless I owned the machine. I asked him to sell it to me, he said make me an offer. The son said the machine worked perfect prior to dis-connecting and moving outside.

After some research I found the machines going from 4-6K depending on goodies. I felt everything would be ok and was willing to put a little money into her to make it work good or give her a tune-up. I offered 2k and he said ok.

After getting her in the sunlight the rust was very apparent and I then saw the rust and the open cover on the back of the control and the broken screen bulb. I called my friend and said I needed to do more research first.

Now I am here posting, reading, and researching.

Thanks,
Scott

Scott, I own several of these machines.
My first one I bought in similar condition for $800 and I spent thousands getting it in decent order.

RUN AWAY FROM IT. It is a POS.

The control is shot.
Who knows what condition the head is in.
Mine, even though covered and outside 6 months, had some bad rust on the table ways.

This machine is worth scrape value.
Please look elsewhere before you get burned.

Scott

one does not leave a machine outside that one expects to get money for

2k is waaaaaaaaaaay overpaying for this machine

scrap value

If it would run under power it might be worth a grand if the water damage is not too great.

The control on this machine [and r2c3 it appears] is a 145 and no longer directly supported by heidenhain.

Thank you both for your replies, I appreciate your input.

Scott

There is approximately $1000 worth of parts and $100 worth of scrap metal.

If I was unemployed, I would offer your friend $200.

i

Hi If you are not going to use this machine for production. It most likley will do you fine looks like a $500.00 machine to me. **** can the Heidenhain controlls they are all obsolete garbage. Convert it over to operate on a PC with Mach 3 mill. save the servo's that are there use Gecko G320 servo controllers and a 80 Volt power supply. get 3 US Digital encoders they work the best with Geckos. the HEDS encoders do not work as well they need to have pull up resistors added. the ball screws usually have plenty of grease on them just check them for rust. I did this same conversion on the same machine a few years back against the advise of of a lot of people on this forum. the Thing works like a million bucks it is not an easy conversion you better understand a lot about wiring or you will be lost. it took me about 2 months in my spare time to do the conversion.

abheli

WOW! I don't know where you guys are coming from? That machine is scrap. The guy should pay you to take it away. The control is toast, the machine is full of rust. You can only imagine what shape the rest of the machine is in after being stored OUTSIDE.

Would it be possible to retrofit this machine? Sure; Throw thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours at it and anything is possible.

If you wanted to use it as a parts machine, the Bijur lube pump looked ok(nuts)

Dean

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Originally Posted by deanq

WOW! I don't know where you guys are coming from? That machine is scrap. The guy should pay you to take it away. The control is toast, the machine is full of rust. You can only imagine what shape the rest of the machine is in after being stored OUTSIDE.

Would it be possible to retrofit this machine? Sure; Throw thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours at it and anything is possible.

If you wanted to use it as a parts machine, the Bijur lube pump looked ok(nuts)

Dean

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I also suspect that it was stored outside for longer than 1/2 year, as the paint is gone on the rear guard.

Altogether, the control is crap even if it was in top working shape, which it probably is not.

Much damage to the machine could be prevented if outdoor storage spray was applied to the machine and it was covered.

I would not fully dismiss the possibility that it is workable, but would not buy without close inspection and not for much more than scrap value.

I've just gone through this thought process with a series 1. If the ways, screws and spindle are good (concerns me greatly that it was outside, who knows where the rust is), its a great candidate for a retrofit...but i don't anyone is promoting using them with the existing electronics. you're taking on a project that may give you the most cnc bang for the buck, but it is a project.

There are various options you can pursue on redoing the electronics, its like the cliche, you can have it fast, cheap and high quality - pick two. Drop ten or 12 for an AC servo system or whatever those packages are and you'll be running after a weekend (there may still be a value proposition over those light duty new cnc mills for 7 or 8k). Or drop a couple of thou on steppers and cheapo controllers and then start retrofitting it. Or what i did,l drop a couple of thou on used high AC servos and controllers.....a big box of Yaskawa controller and drives just arrived bought via ebay from Korea (used but tested). Heck they were so cheap i bought an extra axis just in case ...or maybe one day to be a fourth. The AC servo route produces the best performance; very fast compared to original, quiet and as they're brushless motors, low maintenance

I'm now facing the retrofitting part, but made it thought the what the heck do i do with it part. They are solid. Compared to electronics, the basic mechanics giving the rigidity and horsepower are the tough part - BUT if you not completely confident in them run away. you cannot afford to retro the electrical and rebuild the machine. Still, compared to build your own thinkers or a low end new cnc mills you could come out of this way ahead if the mechanical is sound...but i have my doubts given the outward apperance. You also wonder about the owner, would someone who'd store it outside bother to oil it or avoid beating the you know what out of it?

That machine should be between get it out of here and $500 imo. Maybe if you're in an area where you'll never see one again, pay a bit more than that; compared to waiting ten years for the right deal who cares if you overpay a bit....but certainly 2k is rude.

Mine was a trade for some tooling (and it came with a pile) that was extra to me and occasionally i hear of 'get it out of here deals"....that's when the controller doesn't work which wouldn't matter as the intent is to retrofit

let us know if you get it, remember the owner is going to have a problem getting anything for it - he's already started to wreck it by putting it outside; job shops don't (or shouldn't't) have the time to do this project , production wants bigger faster more throughput and there's only some many home shop guys to take on projects of that size

$2k sounds a bit steep for a machine which will probably require the controls replacing in the not too distant future even if they work at the moment.

If you have already bought it - it shouldn't cost too much to turn it in to a first class machine.

I have just converted my Mk1 Series 2 to Mach3, replacing the servo drives with 'Dugong' drives, SmoothStepper and a CNC4PC breakout board.

Si