So i bought this old Bridgeport....

Now i just gottta figure out how to use it.....

Moved this old round ram (serial number makes it a 1955) bridgeport into my small 20' x 20' garage a couple weeks ago, got it hooked up and running. Came with collets and about 100 endmills and some other small stuff. Its a "M" head, 9" x 32" table seems to be in petty decent shape.

I never milled a thing in my life, Been reading some stuff online, watching some tutorial videos. My short term goal is just to make some aluminum and steel chunks smaller .

Machine fits well in the garage with the 1956 Champion 5HP compressor , and my '56 F100.

Any comments or advice from any machinists out there would be appreciated.

Mark

 

I have an 1957 model, they are so great and diverse but you have to carful with equipment that old. My suggestion is start out with solid chunks of plastic... And machine those, its just like steel only more forgiving....try a fabric store or a industrial warehouse.

I was lucky enough to enherit all of this for free from my great =grand father...anyway good luck

memphis

 

get a couple of water spray bottles and fill one up with cutting oil, and the other with a coolant. And as I mentioned before, an edge finder. (I'm still jealous, lol)

 

Dude you are going to love the thing and wonder how you got along with out it.

Practice and work smart, use eye protection and practice & read some more

 

i took a couple classes at comunity college -- learned alot in short time. very cool.

 

Here is one of the best pieces of advice I can offer- a little at a time. Don't try to just chomp into a part, go at it slow. Read a lot and vist some machine shops, preferably an old-timer. you can learn a lot from just talking to those guys. Also, make sure you have the part clamped down solid. I speak from years of experience as a prototype designer. I wish I still had access to a mill. lucky.

 

Is that a power feed on the X-axis? I need a Bridgeport.

 

if the ways are not warn and every thing is tight its should be nice little mill. as for advise I've been only doing it for five years but its all in practice and lot of it.

 

Check out little machine shop.com and other places likes that. You will need some aligment gauges to help you set up the mill. Every time you kick the head over you will have to zero it down again. get some calipers and mics

 

Fly me out and pay me 10 bucks an hour and I'll teach you how to use it...hehehe...congrats man...buy a vintage machinist's handbook and read up on speeds and feeds, call up a tool supply company and get some speed and feed charts and a decimal/fraction conversion chart...large references like those on your walls makes life easier when you're starting out...

 

u did good now just take it slow.... lsob...

 

I have access to one just like that at work, that my boss picked up for a song a few years ago. Nice and tight, but a little out of adjustment. if you make multiple passes on the x axis, there's a ridge where it cuts deeper at the front than the back. As a result, we've never really used it. He has always insisted that he wanted a variable speed machine, so he never took an interest in this one anyway, but I think it will be a perfect hot rod building machine once adjusted properly.

 

i buy http://www.homeshopmachinist.net/ all the time, i didnt know anything when i first started, i still dont know very much but enough to make what i want, if i dont know i ask someone, if the endmills your got with it are not new then the are most likely dull, i have a machinest friend who is giveing me lots of advice, i have a tool supplier comeing around now and he has been a machinest all his life as well, they both kinda laugh when i tell them i hand feed most things, the mill i have now has power feed on three axis but i still get freaked out and dont want to see parts flying past my head, i'm just mounting a set of digital caliper on my z axis for a dro, another machinest friend told me he had a dro setup for the x and y axis for sale, so i hope to pick that up as well, its all good fun, you will love it.

 

Here are some very good videos
I would sign up for some basic classes at your local community college. You'll more than pay for tuition in unbroken tooling. Buy a Machinery Handbook.
Like you I have a Bridgeport and am working on a 56 F100

 

number 1 square up the vise with the mill. you need a test indicator and holder. run the indicator along the edge of the front jaw of the vise, until you read 0 from one end to the other. now anything you make will be square. when you learn how to use a mill you will wonder how you got along with out one. feel free to email me anytime with any questions you have. I have been a machinist for 20 years.

 

nice find, great maching for your home shop. I have been running horizontal and veritical milling machines for a long time now, do you want me to drive up to Conn and show you the basic? I'll be up there for the lake compouce swap meet and maybe, stafford springs swap meet,
help's only a PM away
wayne

 

Always error on the slow side. If the tool is chattering then you will need to INCREASE your feed rate ( the speed at which you feed the tool into the part ) Or DECREASE your RPM (the speed that your tool is turning ) Unless your running carbide tools which I suspect your not, You should never really exceed 500 RPM for steel. You can run faster with Aluminium but remember to use some sort of coolant or the alum. will melt and build up on the cutting edge. Always listen to the machine, If it sounds like it's running too fast or sounds like the part is going to fly out of the vise chances are it WILL. Slow it down... Never climb mill on a manual machine, Climb milling is when the tool is turning clockwise you feed the edge of the part into the cutter and the cutter will take of like a tire rolling down the road. Feel free to PM me any question and I will help out anyway I can.. KEV.....

 

Lots of info here http://metalmeet.com/

 

Congrtulations. MSCDirect is your freind as is Mcmaster-Carr.

Don't try to work with dull worn out shit. It will discourage you. Ecconomy grade HHS mill cutters, end mills are all you need.

Traming the head is what you need to do first, That's squaring the head to the table. Then setting the vise and indicating the vise parallel to the table travel. For what we make for cars, .0001 isn't necessary. Get it to .001 and you'll be happy.

DON"T use end mills in the drill chuck. Use the right collet.

I got two M's, both early 50's. one short table and one long table. No power feeds on mine. Use the power after you've got a feel for how fast to run manual. this will save patching holes in the walls.

You WILL need a small lathe next. This is an addiction. And the metal gods have you hooked now

 

Great start,some good advice here also.If you dont take a coarse then find a local machine shop and offer your services for free.If they see a enthused person willing to work for free to educate themself you might get in.Even if its a hour or two a day,Nothing will beat hands on.
Next a boring head,a starrett last word and a rotary table,then its as limitless as your imagination.
I expect to see some parts posted when you get going,Good luck,Gary

 

Measure once... cut many many many times to get there. check your speeds and feeds. My instructor used to tell everyone to get this tattoo on their hand 4cs/d (four times the cutting speed divided by the diameter of the tool your using). Now if I had only tattood a cutting speed index on my forearm.....

Oh yeah... and all your friends will want you to work on something for them now. Don't do anything you feel you cant do yet

Congrats
Oz

 

try www.chaski.org/homemachinest Lots of good help there for the newby. I have a very simular BP mine was made in'45 but has a late 2J variable speed head. As said earlier square the spindle to the table and the vise to the table and things will come out nicer. I have probably as much invested it tooling as I do in the mill [I'm a tool freak] but for most things you don't need near as much.
My recomendations:
A set of paralles. Import $30
Boring head with boring bars import $75
edge finder
dial indicator on magnetic base import $25
hold down clamp set import $50
A last word style indicator and holder to find center of a hole for boring.
discountmachine on good old Ebay has good quality tooling, also there are several sellers of used end mills there. I buy mills from one guy there buy the pound they have always been good ones, mostly re-sharps.
Enco and Rutland also are good sorces.
Have fun making chips !!!

 

Nice score, gotta be one of the most usefull pieces you can own. See if you can find a real machinist to come and help you a couple times. It just makes me sick to think about the two nice old mills sitting in a shed up near my deer camp. the shed is about to fall down, the roof is separating from the walls. The hillbillies that own the place won't sell anything there, and it FULL of valuable stuff.

 

Nice Find,,, I have been looking for a mill like you found. Hard to come by up hear in the north country for a descent price. I just spent the hole morning on one post,,,,,,, I need to get a mill.

Artfrombama,,,, Thanks for posting the inspiration videos.

 

Thanks for all the tips and info, and links to forums and parts!! i knew about a few of these places. I have watched a lot of those MIT tech training videos, pretty good.

I would consider taking a tech school class, but i have a rotating 12 hr work schedule, which makes it almost impossible

i have purchased some stuff, like a dial indicator, hold down clamp set, etc.

The power feed is not hooked up, i was told it might have a gearbox problem, i havent looked into it yet, and probably wont until i get more familier.

Thanks again fellas, i'm sure ill have more questions. lol

Mark

 

make sure you do allthe above and more
this machine will hurt you if your not careful
first lesson i tell my guys it to keep your hands clear at all times
dont wear long sleeves
always wear safety glasses
i have been working in a shop almost all my life and i kept my fingers by thinking about a setup, leaving myself an out and always being focused on what i was doing
take a class at the college for a couple of hunderd bucks and that will make more than capable fo making cool shit for the cheap
be safe and have fun
tk

 

so here is a clamping system i had trouble with, there called miti-bites, now maybe there are guys who use these and do not have trouble, for me they were the most dangerous milling experance i have had, the idea is the excentric screw head acts like a cam to clamp up against the side of what your milling, well of the three times i tried no sooner did the end mill touch the part then it took off like being shot from a gun, maybe there a trick i dont know about.

 

I've never used any but have seen them before.
I think they're used for light stuff like flycutting, not milling.

 

Of course, I am very jealous.
Good luck and have fun!

 

I'm going to offer you this tip and this is the best tip out there.
NEVER and I mean NEVER use a rag to brush off the chips of what you are cutting. The end mill will suck the rag in and with it goes your FINGERS. learn to use a brush to wipe away chips, just keep the rags away from this machine.
When I was in trade school one of my classmates wipe the chips away while the machine was running and after the shit hit the fan, his figners and hand looked like chop meat and don't forget your safety glasses.

good luck
wayne