I posted a while back that I took advantage of a deal Shoptask was running on "new" Tri-Power Bridgemills with the DRO and 3-axis CNC. This is a new machine, but is produced at their old factory in China. Not the new ISO facility the patriots are done in.

I took delivery a few weeks ago and got it somewhat uncrated. A serious injury (shattered femur) has kept me from really getting into it, but I can already see some updates have been done to the machine as compared to the posts, descriptions and pictures I have found of the "old" machines. The first thing I noticed was a lack of the old black plastic caps on the handles and levers. All of the handles are one piece, chromed with knurled ends instead of those caps everyone seems to hate. There is a spindle indexer on the lathe. The drawbar seem to be centered when it is tightened and the milling vice seems to be of much better quality than what I've seen previously. I can't wait to really tear into it and see if I'm gonna regret my purchase or if I'm gonna be pleasantly surprised as I have been thus far.

The only complaints I have so far are that I was supposed to get a compound tool post and I did not. I got a 4-tool turret type which may be a blessing if the compound is as useless as some have claimed it to be. There were also a few of the tools missing. John at Shoptask has assured me that this will be corrected. I will post updates as I get into the machine, but I'm a long way off from that. At least 2 months before I'll be able to start walking again. Its been 5 months already. I'm losing my mind!

I thank everyone in advance for your anticipated help and patience with all of the posts and questions I'm sure I will be posting as soon as I get into the thick of things!