The company I work for is looking to purchase a milling machine. Can
you guys give some advice, they probably wont go for a Bridgeport. One
company told us that Bridgeport was bought out and is not making
machines anymore but there may still be some around.
The people we will be dealing with sell Jet, Wilton, Vectrax. Which of
these are the better machine. MSC lists Vectrax as the highest quality
import. We are looking at 10"x54" table, variable speed, R-8 spindle,
digital readout, X Y power feed (maybe knee also) coolant system,
tooling package. Any input from you guys would be great.
Thanks,
Craig

"Craig" wrote in news:1102382123.046853.138060
@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com:

The company I work for is looking to purchase a milling machine. Can
you guys give some advice, they probably wont go for a Bridgeport. One
company told us that Bridgeport was bought out and is not making
machines anymore but there may still be some around.
The people we will be dealing with sell Jet, Wilton, Vectrax. Which of
these are the better machine. MSC lists Vectrax as the highest quality
import. We are looking at 10"x54" table, variable speed, R-8 spindle,
digital readout, X Y power feed (maybe knee also) coolant system,
tooling package. Any input from you guys would be great.
Thanks,
Craig



With that budget Craig, you could probably find a good used CNC machine.



--
Anthony

You can't 'idiot proof' anything....every time you try, they just make
better idiots.

Remove sp to reply via email

Hey Craig,

Always a good idea to indicate roughly in what part of the world you
are, especially on this newsgroup. Specific is even better. It can
make a difference in advice.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On 6 Dec 2004 17:15:23 -0800, "Craig" wrote:

The company I work for is looking to purchase a milling machine. Can
you guys give some advice, they probably wont go for a Bridgeport. One
company told us that Bridgeport was bought out and is not making
machines anymore but there may still be some around.
The people we will be dealing with sell Jet, Wilton, Vectrax. Which of
these are the better machine. MSC lists Vectrax as the highest quality
import. We are looking at 10"x54" table, variable speed, R-8 spindle,
digital readout, X Y power feed (maybe knee also) coolant system,
tooling package. Any input from you guys would be great.
Thanks,
Craig

we are not really in the market for CNC, we do a lot of one off parts,
a lot or repairing odd items etc... We are also keeping a lot of old
stuff operating. We do not do any ultra precise NASA type stuff, but we
do need a reasonable degree of accuracy.

You can get a decent CNC setup (Atrump.com) for less than $35K. Why
bother with one of those dinosaurs? With conversational programming you
can cut parts the day it's installed. IMO the proper place for old
bridgeports is the scrap yard.

Craig wrote:

The company I work for is looking to purchase a milling machine. Can
you guys give some advice, they probably wont go for a Bridgeport. One
company told us that Bridgeport was bought out and is not making
machines anymore but there may still be some around.
The people we will be dealing with sell Jet, Wilton, Vectrax. Which of
these are the better machine. MSC lists Vectrax as the highest quality
import. We are looking at 10"x54" table, variable speed, R-8 spindle,
digital readout, X Y power feed (maybe knee also) coolant system,
tooling package. Any input from you guys would be great.
Thanks,
Craig

IMO the proper place for old
bridgeports is the scrap yard.

Nah. If you don't need down and dirty milling, they make great drill press
machines. Sturdy and strong as a pair of oxen.

It's one of our favorite machines to fit many spindle heads onto because
some of the heads are 24" across or larger... And the smaller drill press
machines either can't take the side loads or teh table isn't worth a penny
when considering a stable surface for quality hole drilling.

Joe - V#8013 - '86 VN750 - joe @ yunx .com
Northern, NJ
http://www.autodrill.com

Born once - Die twice. Born twice - Die only once. Your choice...

Have unwanted music CDs or DVDs of any type? I can use them for our
charity. eMail me privately for details. Donation receipts available.

On 6 Dec 2004 17:15:23 -0800, "Craig" wrote:

The company I work for is looking to purchase a milling machine. Can
you guys give some advice, they probably wont go for a Bridgeport. One
company told us that Bridgeport was bought out and is not making
machines anymore but there may still be some around.
The people we will be dealing with sell Jet, Wilton, Vectrax. Which of
these are the better machine. MSC lists Vectrax as the highest quality
import. We are looking at 10"x54" table, variable speed, R-8 spindle,
digital readout, X Y power feed (maybe knee also) coolant system,
tooling package. Any input from you guys would be great.
Thanks,
Craig

Lagun.

Good stuff.

Gunner

"To be civilized is to restrain the ability to commit mayhem.
To be incapable of committing mayhem is not the mark of the civilized,
merely the domesticated." - Trefor Thomas

Craig wrote:
The company I work for is looking to purchase a milling machine. Can
you guys give some advice, they probably wont go for a Bridgeport.
One
company told us that Bridgeport was bought out and is not making
machines anymore but there may still be some around.
The people we will be dealing with sell Jet, Wilton, Vectrax. Which
of
these are the better machine. MSC lists Vectrax as the highest
quality
import. We are looking at 10"x54" table, variable speed, R-8 spindle,
digital readout, X Y power feed (maybe knee also) coolant system,
tooling package. Any input from you guys would be great.
Thanks,
Craig
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D
The cost of the basic mill is just the down payment.

I suggest that you (or your accountants) carefully consider the total
operating and life cycle costs. For example, the attachments and
upgrades to power feeds, rotary tables, special fixtures, special taps
and special tools such as universal dividing/indexing heads to cut
cams. With a CNC machine most of this additional expense is eliminated
as all these (and many more) capabilities are =AB built-in =BB.

While CNC operation most definitely does not eliminate the need for
considerable machining knowledge such as feeds, speeds, depth of cuts,
etc. it does eliminate or greatly reduce the need for the extremely
high levels of hand-eye coordination and years of practice required for
consistent and successful close tolerance and/or intricate manual mill
operation.

I don't know if your company or your customers are using CAD, but if
they are, a simple and relatively inexpensive program such as
PowerStation (SKU M99-065-806 @ $147.50 from Travers Tool
http://www.travers.com ) can convert the DXF files (which almost all
CAD programs can generate) to G code. (I don't know if this will do
helical milling to generate threads.)

Even for one-off prototyping and maintenance work you will most likely
be better off with a cnc machine as you will almost always be asked to
run the job again with larger radiuses in the corners or some such
minor modification, or be asked to make the part in steel rather than
aluminum. This is a trivial editing task to the cnc code and you are
ready to cut metal.

Given your low volume production I don't think you will need a
tool/pallet changer, however a basic modular tooling kit (see
http://www.bluco.com/welding/advantages/ and many other sites for
examples) may prove helpful. Note that you can produce many of the
components in-house in any open-time on the cnc machine. Also you may
wish to consider a machine with a PC based controller rather than
dedicated controller such as FANUC as you will most likely not require
high numbers of axis control or high feed rates. See
http://www.desktopcnc.com/cncmasters.htm for an example.

I am cross-posting this reply to alt.machines.cnc as that group has the
most knowledgeable and helpful people I have come across, not only on
CNC machines but also on general shop operation. I am sure they will
give you very good advise based on their own practical experience.

Please keep the group informed of your progress. I am pleased to see
that at least a few shops are upgrading and maintaining machining
capability in the US.

GmcD

Craig wrote:
The company I work for is looking to purchase a milling machine. Can
you guys give some advice, they probably wont go for a Bridgeport.
One
company told us that Bridgeport was bought out and is not making
machines anymore but there may still be some around.
The people we will be dealing with sell Jet, Wilton, Vectrax. Which
of
these are the better machine. MSC lists Vectrax as the highest
quality
import. We are looking at 10"x54" table, variable speed, R-8 spindle,
digital readout, X Y power feed (maybe knee also) coolant system,
tooling package. Any input from you guys would be great.
Thanks,
Craig
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3 D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
The cost of the basic mill is just the down payment.

I suggest that you (or your accountants) carefully consider the total
operating and life cycle costs. For example, the attachments and
upgrades to power feeds, rotary tables, special fixtures, special taps
and special tools such as universal dividing/indexing heads to cut
cams. With a CNC machine most of this additional expense is eliminated
as all these (and many more) capabilities such as easy metric/inch
conversion are =AB built-in =BB.

While CNC operation most definitely does not eliminate the need for
considerable machining knowledge such as feeds, speeds, depth of cuts,
etc. it does greatly reduce the need for the extremely high levels of
hand-eye coordination and years of practice required for consistent and
successful close tolerance and/or intricate mill operation.

I don't know if your company or your customers are using CAD, but if
they are, a simple and relatively inexpensive program such as
PowerStation (SKU M99-065-806 @ $147.50 from Travers Tool
http://www.travers.com ) can convert the DXF files (which almost all
CAD programs can generate) to G code. (I don't know if this will do
helical milling to generate threads.)

Even for one-off prototyping and maintenance work you will most likely
be better off with a cnc machine as you will almost always be asked to
run the job again with larger radiuses in the corners or some such
minor modification, or be asked to make the part in steel rather than
aluminum. This is a trivial editing task to the cnc code and you are
ready to cut metal. Given your low volume production I don't think
you will need a tool/pallet changer, however a basic modular tooling
kit (see http://www.bluco.com/welding/advantages/ and many other sites
for examples) may prove helpful. Note that you can produce many of the
components in-house in any open-time on the cnc machine. Also you may
wish to consider a machine with a PC based controller rather than
dedicated controller such as FANUC as you will most likely not require
high numbers of axis control or high feed rates. See
http://www.desktopcnc.com/cncmasters.htm for an example.

I am cross-posting this reply to alt.machines.cnc as that group has the
most knowledgeable and helpful people I have come across, not only on
CNC machines but also on general shop operation. I am sure they will
give you very good advise based on their own practical experience.

Please keep the group informed of your progress. I am pleased to see
that at least a few shops in the U.S. are upgrading and maintaining
their machining capability.

GmcD

If I could only have one mill it would be a SWI TRAK DPM. dpm is dual
purpose mill. check them out here. I have no idea on what they sell
for new.

http://www.southwesternindustries.co...edmills1.shtml

CNC or manual operation. Ballscrews on the axes so you can take cuts
climb milling.

On 6 Dec 2004 17:15:23 -0800, "Craig" wrote:

The company I work for is looking to purchase a milling machine. Can
you guys give some advice, they probably wont go for a Bridgeport. One
company told us that Bridgeport was bought out and is not making
machines anymore but there may still be some around.
The people we will be dealing with sell Jet, Wilton, Vectrax. Which of
these are the better machine. MSC lists Vectrax as the highest quality
import. We are looking at 10"x54" table, variable speed, R-8 spindle,
digital readout, X Y power feed (maybe knee also) coolant system,
tooling package. Any input from you guys would be great.
Thanks,
Craig

remove 333 to email reply.
Thanks,
Randy