Making use of a Mill Head

W

Wapiti

Joined
Sep 25, 1999
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483
A very good friend has given me a Bridgeport Series 1 2J Mill head that was replaced on a machine where he works. He got it at a scrap metal price ($3). It is has a 2hp 3ph motor and though cosmetically used the head is in very solid shape and works fine.

I was wondering if anyone on these forums might own a similar machine and be willing to photocopy the parts lists and diagrams and maybe the basic users instructions for the mill head for me. I would be happy to compensate you.

I am still working on designing some way to make this head useful and would welcome any ideas from anyone. I am pretty much planning to use it mainly as a very nice drill press, with only basic mill abilities for small things, nothing to large. I have to design a way to attach it to a column and design a table and how to attach the table to the column. I am considering using the basic designs of a large drill press (round column, rack and pinion table, etc. Have anyone of you tried this or known of someone who has?
The same friend has a full machine shop and has offered to help out with the fabrication. Should be a fun project.
Brome
 
I have an idea. Find an old Bridgeport with a worn out head and build yourself a serious mill! You can probably find a worked old BP for not much more than you'd spend trying to fab a meaningful mount for the head. You could always adapt it to a drill press or something but that would be such a waste.

Congrats on the score. At the very least it's worth a couple hundred bucks on ebay, but to me there's so much more potential. Of course I'm biased, I just got an old Bridgeport last week, even if it is only a series 1 step pulley model.

John
 
Thanks for the thoughts. I am considering what you suggested. So far I have found that most poeple replace the heads but keep the bases. A whole machine runs about $1300 and a head runs about $700 new. I think a base would run me more than I have budget for right now. I will keep thinking though.
Thanks,
Brome
 
Any idea as to why it was replaced? Is there too much run out in the spindle? Does the power feed work? Is the vari speed section buggered? It's unusual to replace a perfectly good Bridgeport head for no reason. If it requires three phase power (most do) that will add further complication to your endevors.

I'll save you all that hassle and give you three times what your friend paid for it....hehehe

Seriously though, if a nice drill press is what you're looking for, maybe we can work some sort of deal out. Drill press for head eh?

John
 
Originally posted by Wapiti
Thanks for the thoughts. I am considering what you suggested. So far I have found that most poeple replace the heads but keep the bases. A whole machine runs about $1300 and a head runs about $700 new. I think a base would run me more than I have budget for right now. I will keep thinking though.
Thanks,
Brome
Click to expand...

I'd like to know where you can find a new Bridgeport head for $700. Also, where can you find the base for $1300?

A Bridgeport mill head runs about 1/2 the cost of a whole machine, and that's about 5-7 thousand bucks.

To clarify, I'm referring to an actual Bridgeport mill,(USA made) not a Lagun-Republic, ENCO, JET, ect., which are referred to as Bridgeport STYLE knee mills.

I know you can find good used Bridgeport mills for around $3500 to $5000 (late 70's to early 80's manufacture), and the off brands even cheaper. I have a Lagun-Republic mill in my shop, and would love to find an actual Bridgeport brand mill for a decent price.

If you know where to find a Bridgeport brand base and head for a combined $2000, please let me know, so I can go buy them.
 
Hey Mike,

I just bought a nice old BP for less than $1500.00. The ways are in good shape and the head is quiet, although the power feed for the quill needs a bit of work, but I also got a bunch of extra tooling for it. It's real, it's not a clone and it's in my shop!

The deals are there if you look for them.

John
 
John;

How old is your machine, and do you know if the spindle bearings have been replaced? The power quill shouldn't be a problem to repair.

Sounds like you got a great deal!

The Bridgeport mills I'm referring to are the ones made in the late 70's and early 80's. I have no problem finding them, but I'm not interested in paying upwards of $3500 for one. The newer ones are ok too, but they want some serious cash for them.

The Lagun-Republic that I use works just fine for my fixturing projects, so I'm really not in the market for one. If I were doing any type of daily work on a mill, I'd bite the bullet and go buy a newer Bridgeport.
 
Hey Mike,

Mine's an old dog. Vintage 1954 from the serial number charts I've seen on the web. I have no service records so I don't know if the head's had new bearings installed, but judging from the ways, I'd be surprised if the head had been rebuilt. Of course if it was a dedicated tapping machine or something, then the head could have a lot of hours on it, yet the ways would still look good. Who knows?

I know what you mean about the $3500.00 machines. They're everywhere. That seems like what the current market will bear for a working manual machine with an old DRO in decent shape. The good news is that in a market with plenty of $3500.00 work horses, there's the occasional $1500.00 deal on a good machine.

John
 
Oops my mistake.
I meant to type $13000(From MSC)for the machine! Sorry to get your hopes up.
I don't know much about mills so this is new territory to me.
I also miss-read their price in the catalog for what I thought was a head, it was actually just the motor assembly for $779 (That did seem a little low to me....).
Sorry about that.
Anyway, thanks for the thoughts, and the offers to take it off my hands. I think I will keep it; it was a gift from a good friend.
My friend checked it out and said it works fine and has some slight wear in the spindle, but he said it probably would be fine for most of what I would do with it. The place he works at is notorious for replacing things that aren't really worn out or broken, "it's just time to replace it" according to some schedule somewhere. He packs home dc motors, phase converters, etc, that just get round filled and end up in the bone yard and anyone who works there can have anything for scrap metal prices.
I guess it's the plant were Charmin comes from, so they must just pass the cost on to those Charmin customers. I guess it is probably cheaper for the plant in the long run to replace things on a schedule then have the break down sometime and then have to deal with it and lose production because of it.
Hey John (jmxcpter), do you happen to have a link to that list of serial numbers on the web? It would be nice to find out how old this head is.
Thanks,
Brome
 
Wish I could help.

I haven't found a list of dates for the heads yet, only for the mills themselves which have a serial number on the knee which does not seem to correlate to the Serial number on the head.

John
 
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