New mill time

[Guineafowl]

I’m moving to a new place next week, and will have a bigger workshop.

Looking to upgrade to a Bridgeport or BSO (Bridgeport-shaped object). My TS light vertical is great, but I struggle with chatter on the bigger jobs, and with the limited Y axis travel. No power feed, either.

No rush, just putting feelers out. Ideally under £2000. Any advice appreciated.

JD 2640 with Quicke loader comes with the house. Unloading might be comical, but doable.

 

[frank horton]

I bought my B/port nearly 20 years ago.....only used for plastic's.....
plus I also bought an as new Myford VMF......same tooling....
always handy to have two of everything.....hahaha.......
when u go for a mill make sure as much tooling is included at the price.....will ur's workonur new mill....?
I've spent more on tooling than the mill.......

 

[Guineafowl]

I bought my B/port nearly 20 years ago.....only used for plastic's.....
plus I also bought an as new Myford VMF......same tooling....
always handy to have two of everything.....hahaha.......
when u go for a mill make sure as much tooling is included at the price.....will ur's workonur new mill....?
I've spent more on tooling than the mill.......

Yes, the tooling for the TS cost the same as the mill! I could either adapt the MT2 to whatever the new mill has, or sell it.

 

[Wildefalcon]

I bought this for £750. Collected. Want me to ask if he's got more?

 

[jmp49]

Personally I would look see if theres anything that takes any 40 taper tooling as its really so much cheaper to get hold of.
I have a Arno universal manual mill that takes iso40 and has power on all axis and can be used horizontally or vertically and is rigid & has a really nice work envelope but is actually smaller than a bridgeport, and a bridgeport interact series1 cnc that only takes qc30 which is a royal pain to live with as a result. I regret having a surface grinder that the hubs are difficult to find for instead of something like a J&S for the same reason. I should have paid a bit more and got something better but things were tight at the time.
I find I will never have enough toolholders. Stubby ones, long ones to reach deep into workpieces, speed multipliers, holders for concentric gauges, holders with tramming tools setup, probes, boring heads etc. Even more so if you venture into cnc. As Frank says, you will pay more for tooling than you pay for the machine.

 

[Guineafowl]

I bought this for £750. Collected. Want me to ask if he's got more?

View attachment 463076 View attachment 463077

Yes please! Seems like you get more for your money when going beyond small hobby size.

Personally I would look see if theres anything that takes any 40 taper tooling as its really so much cheaper to get hold of.
I have a Arno universal manual mill that takes iso40 and has power on all axis and can be used horizontally or vertically and is rigid & has a really nice work envelope but is actually smaller than a bridgeport, and a bridgeport interact series1 cnc that only takes qc30 which is a royal pain to live with as a result. I regret having a surface grinder that the hubs are difficult to find for instead of something like a J&S for the same reason. I should have paid a bit more and got something better but things were tight at the time.
I find I will never have enough toolholders. Stubby ones, long ones to reach deep into workpieces, speed multipliers, holders for concentric gauges, holders with tramming tools setup, probes, boring heads etc. Even more so if you venture into cnc. As Frank says, you will pay more for tooling than you pay for the machine.

Iso40, ok. Yes, the tooling is the killer.

 

[jmp49]

It doesnt have to be iso40 if its not a machine using pull studs or a exotic thing like some deckel's that use 40 taper but external male threads I believe, just any of the 40 series holders and a couple of different drawbars. Do some research on what tooling a machine uses before arriving to inspect it is a useful thing to do as there are odd edges cases even in 40 taper usage.
I use iso40, int40, NMTB 40, bt40 on the Arno, I just swap between one of 3 drawbars for different holders as the pull thread is different between systems, and I have a couple of spacers to save winding the nuts up and down the drawbar thread to accomodate the different pull lengths. All of the 40 series tooling is the same taper, its just the pull section and face drive key arrangement that differs and I run without a drive key fulltime so if I have a crash it doesn't wreck the spindle or machine gearbox while I'm reaching for the clutch. I believe 30 series is similar apart from the oddball ericsson qc30 quick release ones so if its a 30 whatever but with a actual drawbar, you can probably do similar.

 

[Wildefalcon]

Yes please! Seems like you get more for your money when going beyond small hobby size.

No joy, he'll keep an eye out. He's near Leeds, lots come up.