[daconfusion]

That looks really clean for $1500 seems like a steal..

Well the seller has never seen the machine work in his 10 years of ownership.

He has a VFD in his shop, so I do not see why he did not test his investment in that past decade. He wants over 2k for it, closer to his asking 3k.

:violin:

[skullworks]

I can understand, a machine will not "go bad" from proper long term storage.

Sure there will be some parts that fail over time like some of the Big Capacitors may dry out or need "reforming". Also there may be a bunch of rubber parts that either dry out and crumble or turn to jelly from long term contact with coolant or lube.

On the flip side - manufacturing culture has changed - between upper management, insurance and OSHA there are many shops that won't allow open machinery in the door these days.

The current owner is thinking back to what the machine was worth when he got a deal on it. - Problem is it really wasn't that great a deal if he bought it and just let it tie up space and capitol without ever being used to turn a profit. He would have been better off loosing his money in the stock market because at least then he would not be occupying the floor space he is continuing to pay rent on.

Some people can never emotionally let go and cut there losses.

[ichudov]

A less charitable explanation is that the seller knows that it does not work, just is not telling.

Those BSers, usually, want high prices for the machinery that they are selling.

If you see a CNC Bridgeport sold for $500, you can be damn sure that the seller is honest.

I would stay away from the deal. The seller is either strangely unable to run simple machines, or worse.

i

[daconfusion]

Lets not bad mouth the seller. I think he visits these forums.

Anyways, the seller is an expert in machinery and that worries me more. His job is to either design or acquire machinery for his company's needs.

This makes me think that he may have realized a bad machine and not touched it for a while. And now hes selling it.


I have 2 Boss machines spotted on ebay. Shipping is looking to be less than 800$...

Sigh... I may have to push for one of those instead.


I only care about getting something with good condition iron. It would be nice to have something with good metal and electronics, but if it comes down to either or, I would rather have good mechanical condition and never see it work with stock controls.

I will ask the ebay sellers to send me a few more detailed pictures and go from there.



The original seller never even replied with his lowest price after I offered the 1.5k, which means hes not really interested in selling.

[diyengineer]

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/want_b...l_%241500.html

Saw that for $1500 in wa state. I saw u mentioned "shipping" so just thought id help out.

[TarHeelTom]

Well the seller has never seen the machine work in his 10 years of ownership.

He has a VFD in his shop, so I do not see why he did not test his investment in that past decade. He wants over 2k for it, closer to his asking 3k.
:violin:

If the seller has a VFD in his basement, and has "never seen the machine work", then it's almost a sure bet that it DOESN'T work.

If he won't at least power up the spindle, then the spindle doesn't work. And a replacement motor IS available, for almost $1000 dollars.


Tom

[daconfusion]

http://www.cnczone.com/forums/want_b...l_%241500.html

Saw that for $1500 in wa state. I saw u mentioned "shipping" so just thought id help out.

Thanks for the link. I am trying to get a CNC mill and restore its controls.

[daconfusion]

If the seller has a VFD in his basement, and has "never seen the machine work", then it's almost a sure bet that it DOESN'T work.

If he won't at least power up the spindle, then the spindle doesn't work. And a replacement motor IS available, for almost $1000 dollars.


Tom

Yeah, I thought 1500 was generous, but was willing to pay since the metal condition looked good and hes located closer than any other deal.

He said he gets a couple calls a week so he thinks he can sell for nearly his asking price of 3k.


I am going to leave that one alone and pursue just shipping a mill from another state.

[diyengineer]

Thanks for the link. I am trying to get a CNC mill and restore its controls.

good luck!! Keep your eyes peeled!

[nataporn]

Hello Members,

I am a new comer, from Thailand, for this group.
Anybody have experience in Bridgeport Series I, 2 HP, CNC machine with
Bridgeport control ? I am considering to import one used machine into
Thailand for my own use, but have no experience about parts and reapair.
The seller said that it is used but in working condition.

Thank you so much for your kind help.

Nataporn.

This machine can be seen at the following link:-

Bridgeport Milling Machine Series 1 2HP Clean!! | eBay

[TarHeelTom]

I have a machine very similar to this one, but much older. That machine looks much better than mine.

My machine was (in theory) in working order when I bought it. But the old Bridgeport computer (mine was a boss 5) is expensive to keep running. My guru says at least $2000 per year.

The answer is to remove and discard the old Bridgeport computer and replace it with modern electronics, such as a PC driving Gecko drivers.

Since I got mine running with the PC, it's been a joy to work with. Only problem I have is that all the bearings in the head were shot. The spindle bearings are a bit expensive, but all the rest of the bearings are easy to get and inexpensive. But my machine was a much older machine, and looked it. In fact, it still looks it. But it runs fine.

Are you planning on shipping it to Thailand? That's go to be expensive.

Tom

[nataporn]

Hi Tom,

Thank you so much for your reply.

I am still continue my searching for the informations about which Bridgeport
Milling machine will suit me most. I think the Bridgeport Series I with DRO
on X Y Z plains, and also have manual turning system for the table and Quell
Should be best. In this way I can continue working with the Milling. But for
the total electronically controlling machine I can not do anything if the main
Control system failed.

Do you think it is possible to find this type of Bridgeport milling machine?

Best Regards,

Nataporn

P.S. The shipping charge from USA to Thailand is round about
US$ 2,590.- .

[TarHeelTom]

The nice thing about removing the Bridgeport computer and control system is that now you are dealing with easy to find, easy to replace, easy to repair, modern equipment. My Bridgeport was built around 1960 or so. The state of the art in computers was just marginal for what Bridgeport was asking it to do. But they did it. Basically, the old computers weren't worth much, but the hardware was excellent.

Whether to go manual or cnc is a decision that's up to you. But I've got both, and almost never use the manual.

Yes, there should be lots of old Bridgeport hardware available, but I wouldn't worry about the DRO. It's easy to add the DRO to an old machine.

But have you looked at just buying a new Chinese cnc machine? Seems like it would be a lot cheaper to buy a machine from China than to ship one from the US.

Tom

[thefu]

i would personally skip the knee mill cnc project and just save for a full blown vmc.

[nataporn]

Hello Tom,

Regarding the Chinese CNC which should be cheaper to import compared to
getting a used Bridgeport and ship it to Thailand, from my research and private
feeling I preferred to find a good used Bridgeport from USA. I just want to do
the right thing at the start, if I can :^) .

Please kind give me your comment on the following points :-
1. Do you think the Bridgeport milling CNC machine on eBay which I showed
you is worth its price ?
2. Do you think it is worth and safe to continue using the original Bridgeport
control and drive system which came with the machine ? Or it should be
replaced by the new PC control system as you mentioned ?
3. If I wanted to add the manual system to this machine, would it be possible ?
Or should I had better look for the manual Bridgeport and add the DRO and
PC control system to it ?
I am sorry for many questions asked above. Is it possible to see the pictures of
your Bridgeport milling machine?

Thanking you for your kind attention and helps.

Nataporn

[TarHeelTom]

Hello Tom,

Regarding the Chinese CNC which should be cheaper to import compared to
getting a used Bridgeport and ship it to Thailand, from my research and private
feeling I preferred to find a good used Bridgeport from USA. I just want to do
the right thing at the start, if I can :^) .

Please kind give me your comment on the following points :-
1. Do you think the Bridgeport milling CNC machine on eBay which I showed
you is worth its price ?
2. Do you think it is worth and safe to continue using the original Bridgeport
control and drive system which came with the machine ? Or it should be
replaced by the new PC control system as you mentioned ?
3. If I wanted to add the manual system to this machine, would it be possible ?
Or should I had better look for the manual Bridgeport and add the DRO and
PC control system to it ?
I am sorry for many questions asked above. Is it possible to see the pictures of
your Bridgeport milling machine?

Thanking you for your kind attention and helps.

Nataporn

1. Tough question. I paid about $3000 for my much older BP. So that price is reasonable in comparison. However, I've heard of Mazaks being offered at $1000 and not being sold. I've heard of Bridgeports sitting outside in the weather which you can have for just hauling them off.

Now that I own a Bridgeport mill, if I had the space and power available to run it, I'd prefer to have a vmc. I'm operating in a small one car garage, in a residential area, and there is no 3 phase electricity available in the area.

2. Run the Bridgeport control as long as it works. In the meantime, start studying on converting it to a PC using modern controls. This will cost you about $1000 or so, if done in the US. But that will give you time to start collecting the bits and pieces you're going to need. Understand that here in the US, it costs at least $2000 per year to maintain an old Bridgeport CNC. Your cost would vary.

As for the safety, I have no background knowledge to hazard an answer.

3. Possible? Anything is possible. Probably much easier to just buy a second, manual Bridgeport. But I would NOT attempt to add manual controls. One reason is simple. You are NOT going to ever use them. I have a second (smaller) mill with both cnc and handwheels. I've not used the handwheels since I added the cnc.

It's easy to add cnc to a manual mill. Much harder to add handwheels to a cnc mill. And dangerous.

DRO? Why add DRO? You'll have DRO on the computer screen. But it's easy (but a bit expensive) to add glass-scale DRO to the mill.

One thing you really need to consider. Replace the one-shot lubricator with a new automatic lubricator pump. The one key to keep a machine like this running for the long term is to keep pumping oil to the bearings and ways. The automatic pump is quite similar to the one-shot manual pump, just uses a clock motor to operate the "one-shot" every 30 minutes or so.

4. Tom Wade -- Machinist Section -- New CNC Mill

There's my mill. It's been up and running for more than a year now, but it's not "complete". There are lots of little things I need to finish on the wiring. For instance, when I start a program, I have to get up and start the spindle motor VFD by hand. The computer is capable of doing this for me, but I haven't wired it yet.

But there aren't any up-to-date pictures. But it runs fine, and we recently made a run of 1700 parts on it. Tom Wade -- Machinist Section -- Rail Joiners Now the club wants an additional 8000 parts, and we're going to do this in a friend's machine shop who has more recent, and much faster, machines. He'll set up the machines for me, and we'll go in at night, or on a weekend, and possibly do the entire run in a day or two. We spent about 10 days or so doing the 1700 parts on my ancient Bp.

But most of my parts I make are one-time parts, not production runs. The Bp does these very well.

Tom

[nataporn]

Hello Tom,

I had lost a chance to own a Bridgeport milling machine. The seller requested
me to terminate the contract, eventhough I had transferred my payment to
the seller already. The reason for this termination is that the seller was given
wrong informations about dimensions and weight of the crating, so the real
seafreight shipping cost have to be increased by US$ 1,450.00 more.
I decided to follow the seller request to terminate the contract because I
do not know what will be my final cost of buying this machine.

Bad luck this time.

Nataporn.

[TarHeelTom]

Hello Tom,

I had lost a chance to own a Bridgeport milling machine. The seller requested
me to terminate the contract, eventhough I had transferred my payment to
the seller already. The reason for this termination is that the seller was given
wrong informations about dimensions and weight of the crating, so the real
seafreight shipping cost have to be increased by US$ 1,450.00 more.
I decided to follow the seller request to terminate the contract because I
do not know what will be my final cost of buying this machine.

Bad luck this time.

Nataporn.

Sorry about your bad luck. And if it doesn't fit, don't force it. You'll find something else in the future.

Tom

[nataporn]

Thank you so much for your kind words, TOM.

Nataporn