Milling Machine Incoming!

David Schott

David Schott

Joined
Sep 27, 2004
Messages
3,041
Craigslist is my friend!

As of Saturday I will have a nice shiny 50-year old Bridgeport milling machine in my shop! I found someone selling an older M-head with two full collet sets, a bridgeport vice and some other tooling. It wasn't going to happen until he said he'd deliver it and install it! SOLD.

Went to see it. Much cleaner and better shape than I expected. Table looks great, runs quiet, and the owner was a very nice guy who seemed to take care of his stuff. He has a box of various parts to go with it, a handwheel he took off, etc.

I think this is a very old model, round ram M-Head. From the 40's I think?

Its considered a "baby" bridgeport soo its a much more "manageable" 1500 pounds.

It uses B&S#7 collets which have some limitations but I'll be using this for all small work, mainly folders. I think they max out at 1/2"

Considering the entire machine, delivered and installed cost me about as much as a mini-mill, I think I did good!

Here are a few teaser pics:
1.jpg

2.jpg
 
That is one heck of a deal!!!
It looks Very clean. From what I can see even the ways look good.
A knee type machine has it advantages over one that works off the quill.
Garage or basement?
 
Just noticed the quill adjustable stop nut. They make a quick acting push button stop nut that will save you a lot of time twisting the original type.
 
Yeah it seemed like a deal! Everything turned very smooth. The owner said he'd help me tram it up once we put it in place. Bonus!

Basement, but luckily, my shop door opens flat with the driveway. We should be able to engine hoist it off the truck, into the doorway, then hoist it through from inside, then about 8 feet over to the wall.

He is going to take the head off and since its a smaller base, it will go right through a standard door. The table is only about 36" wide but we will probably take it off to get it in the door. He has moved the machine before.
 
Congrats David! Looks like a great M-head!
Looks like it might have seen a rebuild at some point judging by the condition of the paint..But then again, judging a machine by the paint is not a good idea.

I am a bit envious, I like the looks of the m heads. My bp still needs power supplied to it. I have tried the VFD route..Pretty much worthless (2hp vfd for 2hp doesn't work well at all). Working on getting a panel for a RPC as I have the 10hp 3 phase motor waiting for it.
 
looks like a great machine. The old bridgeport vices are great and they bring a 200.00 to 500.00 bucks. So you got a hell of a deal.
 
I'm glad for you (jealous as all heck) but glad...
That's a sweet looking machine that would have looked great in my shop.

Dean
 
Congratulations David! I saw IG's pointer to this and thought it was a really sweet deal but have absolutely no place to put it and MUCH more difficult access to my shop to boot. I'm glad it went to a fellow knife maker.
 
Nice looking machine! The old ones have a lot of character. I would love to have something like that one of these days.

Hope you enjoy it!!:thumbup:
 
Now that's a mill. Great score. What kind of power do you have? If it is 3 phase get yourself a vfd and set it on the highest speed. That way the vfd will control the speed and you won't have to mess with the step pulleys.
 
Dan Pierson said:
Congratulations David! I saw IG's pointer to this and thought it was a really sweet deal but have absolutely no place to put it and MUCH more difficult access to my shop to boot. I'm glad it went to a fellow knife maker.
Click to expand...

This is actually a different one but I did look into that one, as well! Lotsa bridgeports floating around these days!
 
A C Richards said:
Now that's a mill. Great score. What kind of power do you have? If it is 3 phase get yourself a vfd and set it on the highest speed. That way the vfd will control the speed and you won't have to mess with the step pulleys.
Click to expand...

The previous owner converted it to 220 so it'll run on a dryer outlet.
 
Now that is solid hunk of metal! I sure would like to have that. Hoping to see some amazing folders coming from you with that thing. Good buy.

Kaleb
 
Very nice! I am eyeballing one now I wonder if the m head is good for integral style knives?
 
Very jealous. Nice score David. Looks like more pocketknives forthcoming.
 
Nothing beats getting a new machine in the shop. One with this much girth is one to be celebrated.

Enjoy, Fred
 
Nice score!!!

You'll never know just how much happier you are going with a full sized mill versus what you would have been with a bench top mill. Bench tops are capable of a lot... and many guys can do a lot of amazing work on them... but you simply CANNOT get the same rigidity and potential out of a bench top.

It's like back when I was pretty hardcore into 4wheelers. A lot of guys would buy the Honda 4-stroke, then spend $10,000 into mods (bore/stroke, high compression pistons, etc.... or you could buy the 2 stroke that was still faster right from the factory!!!)

VERY good decision!!! :thumbup: :) :cool: This is coming from a guy who DID buy the bench top and used it for over 10 years (often cussing it! lol). :foot: :grumpy: :D

The tooling will be a little bit of a head-ache for you, but as a knife maker you'll really only want/need a tiny fraction of the tooling that you'd need in a job shop. :)

BTW- I'd wager a large sum that beauty has been repainted.... even one babied in a hobby or plastics shop will get dinged up over the years. :)
 
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