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Bridgeport Mills


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I have been talking about learning how to run a Vertical mill for at least two years now. I finally signed up for a community college course and started 1/7. The setup, reading, homework, written quizes, prep, etc. is a pain in the ass, but cutting metal is a blast. I love it. I may have missed my calling in life.

Here is a picture of my first milling project- Block of steel 1.125" X 1.125" X 2.5" with a 1.5" by .375" notch cut into it. The hole was already there, but I think after it was done it kind of looks like the letter P.

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I really enjoy it too. Set up is EVERYTHING, set it up right and it will come out great. Get even a tiny bit sloppy and it will show when you are done. Keep up the hard work, being able to make what you want is a great feeling!!

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Hello: I grew up in a tool and die shop. I started when I was just 6 years old on a Monarch EE lathe. I then moved on to the mill etc. I would learn to read micrometers,vernier calipers very well if I was you. I see more mistakes from measuring than you can believe. I have my own machine shop and get alot of pleasure from making parts when I want in my garage. I am in the process of teaching my 9 year old son. He has been using the mill for 2 years and will soon use the lathe. He has milled his pinewood derby car for Cub Scouts for 3 years now. So I guess I have been doing this for 38 years now and still enjoy it. Good luck and it is never to late to learn. Thanks, Eric

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I don't know what your community college's position on firearms and/or parts on campus is, but I can guess.... Make sure you check before you bring your slide into the machine shop to add a few cuts only to find yourself on the floor with your hands cuffed behind your back....

On a happier note, look on Brownell's website or the NRA's site for the NRA's summer gunsmithing courses to see if one of their community colleges is reasonable close to you. For my summer vacation last year I went to Lassen Community College in Susanville, CA and took several of their courses including "Machining for Gunsmiths" which was a week on the lathe and a week on the mill! Great fun. Maybe there's one in your neck of the woods.

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Just think how fast you could take out an apendix with that mill :lol:

I imagine I could lop off a finger in no time at all.

Thanks for all the encouragement. A lot of people think I'm nuts for wanting to do this.

I won't be taking any gun parts into the machine shop until I get the OK first. I have a mill project at the end of the course that I may have some input on. I'd like to do some machine work on one of my slides. It's the gun I'm planning to either hardchrome or Ionbond so cutting it up is no big deal.

I have found a small Chinese made knee mill that has been in a humidity and temperature controlled shop for the last fifteen years. The guy that owns it is going to retire soon, and he claims that he hasn't used it very much. He builds custom rifles and claims that he primarily uses his lathe. I spent four hours with him in his shop one day so I got the feeling that he wasn't giving me the BS, but I"m not sure about this Chinese made stuff. In the end, I think I'd rather spend a couple thousand extra and get a Bridgeport. What would you guys do?

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If you've got the space, get the big iron. Used, it doesn't cost much more and it's a lot nicer to use. If you haven't got the space, the little 6x26 Chinese knee mills are OK (they're copies of an old Clausing design I think), though they could use some tuning (like everything, there are yahoogroups for each of the various machines-- find the right one and check it out-- you can learn the issues real fast)

I've been dinking around with hobby metalworking for a while and it's a ton of fun to realize you can make almost anything should you want to, though I'm not so sure about doing it for a living.

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Bridgeport... Variable speed J-head with R8 collets. IMHO

Thanks Matt.

I remember your post some time ago when you got your Bridgeport. At the time I thought to myself, someday that will be me. My time is coming.

As far as space goes, I have been entertaining the idea of having a two car garage built on my property. I just get so sick of my wife telling me to turn the music down, you can't smoke stogies in the house, etc.. I need my own space!!! I've got some ideas that have never been tried before. I'm either going to come up with something really cool or come to the realization that it has been tried and there is a reason we haven't heard about it.

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As far as space goes, I have been entertaining the idea of having a two car garage built on my property. I just get so sick of my wife telling me to turn the music down, you can't smoke stogies in the house, etc.. I need my own space!!! I've got some ideas that have never been tried before. I'm either going to come up with something really cool or come to the realization that it has been tried and there is a reason we haven't heard about it.

WTT - Wife for Bridgeport, will throw in nagging for R8 collets :cheers:

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As far as space goes, I have been entertaining the idea of having a two car garage built on my property. I just get so sick of my wife telling me to turn the music down, you can't smoke stogies in the house, etc.. I need my own space!!!

You need to talk to Merlin, he has the best reloading garage!! OOPS, that was at his old house, not sure about his new house. But at the old one, he built a "reloading room/garage/shed"!! :goof:

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Check out Craig's List in your area for machining tools.

What is Craig's List? I've never heard of it. Is it similar to this: http://www.locatoronline.com/machines/dealerbystate_MI.cfm (this was a link Matt Cheely sent me before I moved out to Iowa).

I would love to find a good used Bridgeport Series I with powerfeeds and a DRO. But my first problem is where to put it and how to power it when it gets here. At least I've solved the problem with how to move it. So I've got that going for me.......

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Here's a link for the Quad cities area (where-ever that is? :unsure: Davenport? Moline?) for tools:

http://quadcities.craigslist.org/tls/

Up there at the top, on the left hand side there is a search window. Type in "bridgeport" and see what comes up.

Here's like the main page to Craig's List:

http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites.html

From there, you can click on a state. It looks like you're real close to Peoria, so Click on Illinois, then a list of major cities in Illinois will pop up. Then click on Peoria. The Peoria page will open up. Look for "for sale" just about right in the middle of the screen, look a little lower now and look for "tools". Click on that, then again at the search window type in "bridgeport".

Then you can keep backing out to the "main page" I have linked above and look at other cities.

Besides used for real Bridgeports you can also look at new made by Grizzly and made by JET machines. Their quality control has gotten really good over the past 10 or 15 years. You might be able to buy one of their Taiwan/Chinese made machines for less than a well used (abused?) Bridgeport. Plus you might be able to get it in single phase.

Although there are converters out there that will take houseld 220 VAC and convert it 220 3 phase.

Edited by Chills1994
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but if all you're doing is little stuff, you should be fine.

Thanks Matt. I meant to ask how you wired your Bridgeport. Building a garage is one thing, having 3 phase electricity seems a little over the top. I don't know much about electricity, but for some reason the guy that built the house I currently rent from the bank put in 400 amp service. I should have plenty of power to run a mill. Who in the hell needs 400 amp service?? I've got enough juice here to kill everyone on death row in Texas.

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Face it, if you want a mill, you're going to want a lathe, then MIG/TIG, etc. Once you are settled put a rotary phase converter in to power the mill and lathe, outlets for the welder, etc. In 5 years plan to upgrade to add home CNC machines. ;)

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Hello: You may want to look at the original Bridgeport with the "M" head. It takes different collets and you can only hold end mills with a 1/2 shank. Bonus part is that it has a 110 volt motor and can usually be found for not much money. This is what I have and it works great. The one I have also has the shaper attachment. You can also look at the XLO mills as well. You can rebuild these old machines and make them better than any offshore brand. Good luck on your hunt. Thanks, Eric

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