Bridgeport as a drill press

Discussion on all milling machines vertical & horizontal, including but not limited to Bridgeports, Hardinge, South Bend, Clausing, Van Norman, including imports.

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pete
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by pete »

ERIE S-1 BERKSHIRES wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:53 pm That's not necessarily true about the innards being for 3/8 holes only my friend wood regularly drills with a carbide tipped drill 3/4" cast iron buns 7/8 stainless steel bongs by the thousands and no pilot hole and still going strong
As Harold mentioned, this is for Bridgeports and I'll add "some" of the clones of them WITH the built in power head feeds engaged to power drill. When using the lever feed then the machine's rack and pinion is used to control the spindle and that's far heavier built to withstand the down feed pressures. I have read mentions that some of the larger off shore clones that are much heavier built than the standard sized Bridgeport also have redesigned power feed internals and larger drills can be power fed without damage. I have no experience with them so can't confirm that's correct or not.
ERIE S-1 BERKSHIRES
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by ERIE S-1 BERKSHIRES »

No he is not hand-feeding he using the power feed only I have personally helped him do hundreds of them I was there as a witness I cringed when he did it he said it would be fine
pete
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by pete »

Interesting it's standing up to that, but I think I'll pass on trying it with mine. I haven't been into the head of my mill and plan not to if I have my way. I usually peck drill to break the chips so power feeding even with the smaller drills doesn't seem to have much point for what I'm doing.
Russ Hanscom
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by Russ Hanscom »

The local machine shop has two Bridgeports heads in production drilling of 5/8" holes in 1/4 - 3/8 thick steel. Full sized bit, no pilot. They use hand feed and drill holes as fast as they can feed the stock to them on rollers. May not be designed for it but they are making holes by the thousand without issue.
John Evans
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by John Evans »

Russ Hanscom wrote: Sat Mar 16, 2019 10:06 pm The local machine shop has two Bridgeports heads in production drilling of 5/8" holes in 1/4 - 3/8 thick steel. Full sized bit, no pilot. They use hand feed and drill holes as fast as they can feed the stock to them on rollers. May not be designed for it but they are making holes by the thousand without issue.
Yeah HAND feed ! I have been into the gear train on the BP heads and right at the top of the gear train the small bevel gear is only a bit over 5/8" inch in diameter . Those teeth are about 1/8 high and 3/16 long.
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Russ Hanscom
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by Russ Hanscom »

I also suspect that the local shop is not too much concerned with longevity. These machines are in the run until they drop phase, then go get another. Lot of stuff in their shop in that mode.
SteveM
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by SteveM »

Richard_W wrote: Sat Mar 16, 2019 1:12 pm If you are helping to sell a machine shop, then have them buy a radial drill press if the shop has one available.
Richard W
It's a small one-man shop and they don't have one.

Steve
whateg0
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by whateg0 »

ERIE S-1 BERKSHIRES wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:53 pm That's not necessarily true about the innards being for 3/8 holes only my friend wood regularly drills with a carbide tipped drill 3/4" cast iron buns 7/8 stainless steel bongs by the thousands and no pilot hole and still going strong
Anecdotal evidence is not the same as specifications. I don't know the machine well enough to know what the innards are like, but having done something successfully (and having gotten away with it with some luck) doesn't mean that the next time won't break something.

Dave
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Harold_V
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Re: Bridgeport as a drill press

Post by Harold_V »

whateg0 wrote: Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:07 am
ERIE S-1 BERKSHIRES wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 9:53 pm That's not necessarily true about the innards being for 3/8 holes only my friend wood regularly drills with a carbide tipped drill 3/4" cast iron buns 7/8 stainless steel bongs by the thousands and no pilot hole and still going strong
Anecdotal evidence is not the same as specifications. I don't know the machine well enough to know what the innards are like, but having done something successfully (and having gotten away with it with some luck) doesn't mean that the next time won't break something.

Dave
Yeah, that's the point. Who knows how much any particular machine may tolerate, and for how long? The makers of the BP mill warrantied their machines to perform to particular standards. If those standards were exceeded, pretty good chance they were off the hook if there was a failure, so it's entirely likely that they knew their machines would tolerate the pressures involved in drilling up to 3/8" holes and not experience problems. That doesn't mean they can't drill larger holes, but the chance of failure is now greater than it was.

You can look at this much like driving the speed limit, what ever it may be. If you stay within the recommended speeds, generally posted clearly, you can drive without fear of a speeding ticket. If, however, you choose to drive 20 mph over, you may or may not get a ticket. The choice is yours. I drive the speed limit, and I restrict the use of the power feed on my BP to boring holes, or making outer turns when necessary. I hand feed drilling operations. I don't want the power feed to fail. YMMV.

H
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