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A moral question on a Bridgeport mill to ponder

I poke around in here because I am still looking for a mill...going on 10+ years now! I'm getting a bit thin on patience!

A son who didn't know what his Dad had at his business until after his passing? If that's true I'm sure it will be up for sale at some point in the future... the question is...how long?
 
On the other hand .... one night, late, raining, really hard to get a taxi in the rain. Taxi finally pulled up, we were about to get in when three people came running up, "Our friend was just in a fight and got hurt, we have to go to the hospital right away, can we have this taxi ?"

Okay, fine .... as they drove off we could hear them laughing about how they fooled us.

I've become a little cynical about sob stories since then. This thing with "it was my dad's mill" sounds fishy to me.

Ha. That's the same story you get sometimes at Grand Central Station in NY when you're taking the Metro North RR train. Somebody shows up, "lost my wallet, need money to get home, can you spare ten bucks.?"

They collect money and then dart out just as the doors close. My approach is to say "sure, sit right here with me, I'll pay your entire fare when the conductor comes around." Gets the dirty look that does.
 
Agree.

Realizing it's too late, I feel the moral question was the sellers: He accepted a deposit, he (presumably) gave his word. Something else came up, maybe he felt he shouldn't have given his word. He's acted in haste. If he needs to back out of the deal, he needs to find a way to compensate the buyer (OP) that he gave his word to. Maybe he needs to help find you another mill, or move it.

I'm sentimental. I care about family legacies etc. But just for the record, compensating you for gas is poorly done in my opinion. I would have expected more from the fine citizens of Colorado. The son should have come forward sooner. Maybe the son should have bought the mill from you had he felt so strongly about it.

I think you were taken advantage of. I think the seller's word is meaningless.

I agree that some advantage was taken on the OP here. Probably the son is listing the Bridgeport right now to flip it. It happened to me.

If you are looking for a machine, next time you need to pay cash and haul it away. That's how I got my mill after looking for several years like the OP. I found one that was on the market and jumped on it.
 
That's it in a nutshell. Pay cash on the spot if the deal is right. You'll know. If you can't haul the entire machine then and there, take the most expensive part - in this case the head. With a helper you can undo that and put it in a car backseat. Headstock if it's the lathe.

When they come with the long sad story, tell them you found a buyer for that part as-is. It's already sold.
 
If there is any blame to place on the situation it is on me. I am fine with the outcome, though.

In the end it doesn't matter, I'll find another one. If I don't then I'll just go without a mill as I have been. Life goes on.
 
How about this one?

Induma Milling Machine - tools - by owner - sale

Mid '60s Italian version of a Bridgeport but beefier castings. Power x axis, DRO and digital 220v to 3 phase converter. 220v disconnect. Comes with vise, swivel base, Jacobs chuck, collet set.
Make offer on: 0-6" Mike's, Starret depth gauge, Starret indicator, 2 mag holders, quill indicator holder, end mills, insert shell mill, boring bar, parallels, 1,2,3 blocks, hold down set, edge finder, small, shop made hold down plate.
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some info here"

Induma milling machines??
 
If there is any blame to place on the situation it is on me. I am fine with the outcome, though.

In the end it doesn't matter, I'll find another one. If I don't then I'll just go without a mill as I have been. Life goes on.

I don’t know where you are on your journey, but there’s a lot of stuff you need when you get your mill that maybe you could search for now while you wait for the right miller to come along. I did that and was glad I did.
 
I'd be skeptical of the story about the mill being his dads. Sorry but I've just dealt with so much of this kind of BS that I think this story is also BS. My dad ran mills for years and I never once had any emotional attachment to any of the machines that he ran.

I like the idea of taking possession of the mill and telling him that when he finds a suitable replacement for it bring it over. Especially if machine tools are scarce in your area.

I also like the idea of having a conversation with the supposed owners son.

I think they got a better offer.
 
You will probably never know the truth.
And this isnt really about anyone but you.

If you feel the best thing is to try to be a nice guy.... go for it.
On the other hand you might be of the mind a deal is a deal.

No matter what happens you have to live with the out come... The best option is whatever fits your lifestyle.
 
The part that is fishy to me is OP had to chase down the "son". If I were the bereaved, I'd have been on the phone to the purchaser explaining myself and asking if he would mind passing on this sale, not trying to cut him off from behind. To me, that's kind of underhanded. Having someone else do your dirty work is nasty.
 
I would let it go. The mill holds sentimental value for the son. You can always find another machine. Tons of machines come up for auction all the time. There is only one Bridgeport this guy's dad used.

A toolroom monarch lathe I used to own was my prized possesion, in part for its sentimental value, because my dad bought it for me. Without my knowledge it was thrown away. I would love to get it back, but it has probably long been scrapped.
 
If there is any blame to place on the situation it is on me. I am fine with the outcome, though.

In the end it doesn't matter, I'll find another one. If I don't then I'll just go without a mill as I have been. Life goes on.

Those were the days. A hacksaw, file, vise, handheld drill.
 
I was moving some machinery out of a company that was relocating to a new factory. Some of the machines were going to the scrapper. One was a big radial arm drill. The guy who operated it had a tear in his eye when it went out through the door.
He told me his dad had operated the drill from the day it was installed brand new in 1947. When his dad retired he took over, so the drill had been in the family so to speak, all that time.

Regards Tyrone.
 
I was selling off machines before the big move and Wonder Woman made it real clear that the Hardinge chucker was coming with us even if it had to live in the garage while it waited for the shop to get big enough for it to fit. She spent several evenings playing with the shop organization on our 1"=1' paper dolls model of the shop and said "she will go here", would you like to take a guess where that chucker is today?
 
I was selling off machines before the big move and Wonder Woman made it real clear that the Hardinge chucker was coming with us even if it had to live in the garage while it waited for the shop to get big enough for it to fit. She spent several evenings playing with the shop organization on our 1"=1' paper dolls model of the shop and said "she will go here", would you like to take a guess where that chucker is today?

That is more than just a keeper.
 
I totally get sentimental attachment, even to something like a mill or lathe.

In a small turn of events, I may have found another similar Bridgeport (1.5hp 2J with a Bridgeport powerfeed on the X, seems to be in good condition) local to me. An older gentleman and friend of mine that farms near me has one. He had an employee that did quite a bit of work on it, but that guy has since left and nobody else around there knows or cares to use it. He had never wanted to sell while they were getting use out of it, but for years I have asked him to keep an eye out for one as he goes all over the area for farm equipment and parts. I ran into him the other day and he said he may be interested in selling his. He's not real sure how much he wants, and the tooling for it is kind of scattered all over so I don't know exactly what all would come with it. We will see, maybe things will work out much sooner than I anticipated and we can make a deal! This one would be much easier to get home than the one that started the thread.
 
Hello all!

I'm an aspiring hobby machinist, at the moment I don't really have much for equipment. I've wanted to find a good Bridgeport style mill for a long time, I've actively looked for around 5 years. Most everything has either been simply not quite what I wanted, wore out, or too much money. I live in Colorado, so they seem a little harder to come by than closer to coasts, and I don't do Facebook so I think that really limits my finding of more local listings.

I did find what I think is a good mill, spec'd how I want, fairly priced, and it comes with a toolbox full of the tooling which is a huge plus for me to get started. It's a 1 1/2hp Varispeed head, runs smooth, has a Servo powerfeed on the X, the table feels good and snug and doesn't tighten up at the extremes, the original flaking is there and has only very negligible wear in the center of travel. The only real issues I see is there's a fair bit of backlash in the X-axis, and there's a few broken handles and knobs that are easily replaced. My experience with them is very limited, but I did my best to give it a good inspection and feel it is the machine I have been looking for. It spent it's life doing maintenance work and prototyping, so it was not used all day everyday.

It belongs to a business that is closing up that particular location, two of the employees are handling the sale of everything that's left and struck me as fair people. It's a pretty good drive away from me, so I wanted to inspect it before dragging my gooseneck trailer and tractor all the way to get it loaded. They agreed to hold it for me with a down payment and gave me a signed receipt stating such.

Now here's where things get interesting. No shady dealings are happening, just a unexpected curve ball. One of the guys calls and says out of the blue a son of the guy that started that particular company showed up after hearing the location was closing. He was hoping to find some of his fathers tools, he found his fathers Bridgeport. Needless to say, he would like to have it back. Now, since I have a deposit on it, it is my mill to come pick up and pay in full until next week and they made that clear to me. But asked if my heart wasn't set on it if I would let it go back to the son. I would get my deposit back, plus a few hundred dollars for the time and gas money I spent to go take a look at it.

What would you guys do? To me it is just a mill, but I I'll be pretty hard pressed to find one in similar condition and specs with a nice assortment of tooling to go with it. It's not impossible, and I'm sure another will come my way someday, but who knows when. For him, it's his dads. My father is still around, but I certainly understand. I have some things from both my grandfathers and they mean a great deal to me. Together with my dad we were able to find and get back a tractor of my grandpas that was sold after his passing, so I know what it's like to get an item like that back in the family.
Congratulations on letting the son have it, fake story or not. I'm 77 years old and have seen a lot of cold-blooded business deals that compromised ethics to make a few bucks. There are tons of Bridgeport's out there.. take the extra cash and put it towards another one. Here's a saying that FOR ME, works: "Decisions become easier when your will to please God outweighs your will to please yourself." I know that you're sleeping well at night now. Let me know when you get your new machine, and if too much time passes, drop me a note and I can direct you to someone who might have a nice machine for you.
 








 
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