Learning to use a Bridgeport?

[Thinkcooper]

At my office, we have an old knee kicker manual Bridgeport with a digital control panel that sits virtually unused. It has a bunch of tooling and mills and works well for the rare project the mechanical engineers need it for. They are encouraging anyone who wants to use it, to do so. I took a basic 15 minute orientation walk through on it over a year ago, but really want to start digging in.

Anyone have a favorite online resource they can suggest for getting the basics down?

Thanks in advance!

[BigSki]

Check a local community college for a basic manual mill intro class. These knee mills are great to have access to, extremely flexible machines once you start to figure them out.

[EddieO]

mrpete on youtube.com....there is multiple others on youtube as well.

Later EddieO

[C*H*U*D]

Another one on YouTube I like is Tubalcain. He's an old school guy but has a lot of neat tricks. Plus he sounds like an old Uncle I used to have.

I also like Tom Lipton of Ox Tools. Another old school guy.

[Thinkcooper]

Originally Posted by BigSki

Check a local community college for a basic manual mill intro class. These knee mills are great to have access to, extremely flexible machines once you start to figure them out.

Interesting suggestion - I picked up my welding skills at our local CC.

Originally Posted by EddieO

mrpete on youtube.com....there is multiple others on youtube as well.

Later EddieO

I was being a space cadet for not just diving into YouTube first.

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

Another one on YouTube I like is Tubalcain. He's an old school guy but has a lot of neat tricks. Plus he sounds like an old Uncle I used to have.

I also like Tom Lipton of Ox Tools. Another old school guy.

Awesome - thanks - started to watch that playlist now.

[EddieO]

Mrpete is Tubalcain....Tubalcain was already taken, so he uses Mrpete as his username...

Later EddieO

Originally Posted by C*H*U*D

Another one on YouTube I like is Tubalcain. He's an old school guy but has a lot of neat tricks. Plus he sounds like an old Uncle I used to have.

I also like Tom Lipton of Ox Tools. Another old school guy.

[BigSki]

Ran across this guy last week. Great old-school machinist with good videos.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...9ZJLdfgHIjfZ0A

[NitritedCarbide]

Learning to use a Bridgeport theres gonna be a huge learning curve, mistakes, accidents, etc..
Best words of advice I can think of-
Learn to use a cutter ginder (ie old Deckel)
Sharp drills and cutters are your friend, and can ultimately learn to make your own drills and cutters, not just drill sharpening.
You don't need carbide for everything.. actually get a better finish on aluminum with high speed cutters.
DONT wear gloves, watch your sleeves- trust me..Ive seen things nightmares are made of in other shops.
Use good cutting oil, molyD works nice esp with tapping difficult materials. Use water soluble cutting oil in a spray bottle to keep things from getting too hot.
Compressed air is your friend as well.
Get to know speeds and feeds for different materials, but after awhile you just get a feel for it.
( I can go on and on )


Ive been working side by side with my father for the last 15 years.
He's been working in shops since he was 14.
Even after all these years I'm still learning, granted I do most of my everyday work on my HAAS mills.

[KMS]

You might find some help here,,,

Virtual Machine Shop