Big upgrade today

L

liljoe

New member
I finally upgraded from the small drill press to a real mill.
I have been wanting a bigger machine for many years and I finally found one near me that was in my budget range.
It is an old machine but it is still in decent condition and will probably do anything I will need. It was interesting getting it into my shop yesterday since my backhoe would barely pick it up.
Now I need to get it wired today.
Joe
 

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Joel,

I'm pretty sure Gorton made nice machinery. I know their pantographs have a good reputation, so I would imagine their mills are of similar quality. Somebody on this forum has a Gorton pantograph, so maybe they can weigh in. Maybe Butch, IIRC.

I'm sure it will do anything you need it to. My first mill was a beat to snot Bridgeport with a mile of backlash in the dials, and ways that looked like a poorly maintained road. I still managed to make some pretty nice doo-dads on it.

Check to make sure it's properly lubed as often that is neglected. And buy a box of maroon Scotch Bright pads and start scrubbing! You'll have that thing shining in no time.

Congratulations. After using it for a while, your going to wonder how you survived without it.

Justin
 
I was in a similar situation in regards to wanting a Mill for several years. Last Saturday a dear friend and competitior who is getting up there in age gifted and then delivered to me his Bridgeport J Head Series 1 with a multitude of tooling and other misc. accessories. It is also a 220 single phase so all I had to do was per-say just plug it in. It's in real nice shape with very minimal backlash and more than I could ever have wanted for my own use and a true blessing to have and now own.



JLouis
 
The Gorton's are nice heavy mills, at least the one I used was. It took a funky proprietary collet, but that was the only down side I could see.

Along the same vein, I'm hoping to upgrade my 1940 Index mill to a Bridgeport series II CNC machine. 800lbs vs 6000lbs should make a vast improvement in results on tough materials. And I'll get to learn G-code.
 
This one uses a common NT30 tool holder. That was one of the big things that convinced me to buy it.
Joe
 
Well I got the VFD hooked up today and got the main motor running. Now I need to figure out how I'm going to power the cross feed motor.
I was just happy to get it running.
Joe
 
Those are robust little mills. We had one back when I was still in high school. My dad bought it from Todd Shipyard when they closed down. We sold it in an upgrade in the '80's.

The only complaint would be the head can only be adjusted in one direction in relation to the table. But that's one thing that made the head so ridged.

Good buy.
 
I wouldn’t spend the money

gzig5 said:
The Gorton's are nice heavy mills, at least the one I used was. It took a funky proprietary collet, but that was the only down side I could see.

Along the same vein, I'm hoping to upgrade my 1940 Index mill to a Bridgeport series II CNC machine. 800lbs vs 6000lbs should make a vast improvement in results on tough materials. And I'll get to learn G-code.
Click to expand...

Those old Ez-Trak systems have been discontinued since 1994. I see company’s giving th away. Buy a Protrax. They are easy to program. An that Ez-Trak system. Has its own conversation language. But wait till you need to replace something. Then it turns into a manual machine because of cost. Just food for thought.
 
Hello Mark,
I haven't seen you around here in quite some time.
I am trying to get this thing powered up right now. I have a VFD running the main motor, just trying to supply power to the feed motor. I was told I couldn't use the contactors with the VFD.
 
Vfd

You made the jump to VFD. Don’t know much about the vfd. They don’t like to run multi motors. What’s run with a slave motor?
 
The table feed has a separate DC motor.
Not sure about tramming the head. I have a lot to learn for sure about a mill.
Joe
 
My Bridgeport, I run with a buzz box. (Phase-O-matic) “X” use to power. That was DC control, too. What size motor does it have?
 
M.D.Spencer said:
Those old Ez-Trak systems have been discontinued since 1994. I see company’s giving th away. Buy a Protrax. They are easy to program. An that Ez-Trak system. Has its own conversation language. But wait till you need to replace something. Then it turns into a manual machine because of cost. Just food for thought.
Click to expand...

My Uncle bought an unused EZTRAC from a high school with tooling. They closed the machineshop several years ago.He has converted it to a PC based controls. It may have 10 hours on it. It will work as a manual Bridgeport also and has ball screws.

Bridgeport EZ Trac. Converted to pc computer controls. It is a digital control system using Mach 3. The three drives have been replaced with digital units.
You can Google Mach 3 It is a 3 axis machine.

It is for sale as Uncle Bill is old like me and he has way more machines than he will ever use. He has a nice HLv-H Hardgringe that I like also.
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I don't think the big block 56 is for sale.
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$9500 and he can load. He could deliver for a fee.
 
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The Bridgeport Traks and Paths were pc based. Best fix for them is a Southwestern ProtoTRAK. I still have a 90% complete EZTrack on the shelf.

As long as they work and you are only going to run that control, with enough aggravation you may teach yourself to operate it. They are right up there with a Haas with all their rediculous key strokes. You can learn a ProtoTRAK in a couple of days.

I bought a BP just like that one with no hours on it. At first we thought that dark color was stain on the iron and table. got some mineral spirits and it scrubbed right off. Took a little rubbing but in a few hours it looked as new.
 
Part for a Audi turbo.

I have a Prototrax. Love it.
 

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