Aftermarket x power feed

Looking for an aftermarket kit for X power feed on my Bridgeport mill. Anyone have a economical one they’d recommend? There’s tons of them on eBay.

Thanks!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

derekpfeiffer said:

Anyone have a economical one they’d recommend?

Click to expand...

Let's be honest. You don't want to spend $750 for a Servo. I can understand that. How much do you want to spend?
JR

JRIowa said:

Let's be honest. You don't want to spend $750 for a Servo. I can understand that. How much do you want to spend?
JR

Click to expand...

The least possible with still getting something reliable. Lol

I’d like to keep it around 2-300 if possible. I am a firm believer tho if I need to spend a lil more to get a lot more I will.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

IOW, cheap. The trouble with the really cheap feeds is just that, they are built not to be repaired. AFAIK, parts are not even available for most of them. I'm hopeing that Jon (from H&W) will answer on this.

The "Dynamo" import brand from Servo is not too bad, but still above your minimum. The best feed out there is a BP 8F. I've seen them go for $400-500. I worked in a lot of shops where the power for the feed was you left or right arm. Having said that, I'd never have another mill without one. Same goes for DROs. But, if I was really tight on money, there are also a lot of things I have that I'd take over power feed.

Sorry, probably not really what you wanted to here.
JR

JRIowa said:

IOW, cheap. The trouble with the really cheap feeds is just that, they are built not to be repaired. AFAIK, parts are not even available for most of them. I'm hopeing that Jon (from H&W) will answer on this.

The "Dynamo" import brand from Servo is not too bad, but still above your minimum. The best feed out there is a BP 8F. I've seen them go for $400-500. I worked in a lot of shops where the power for the feed was you left or right arm. Having said that, I'd never have another mill without one. Same goes for DROs. But, if I was really tight on money, there are also a lot of things I have that I'd take over power feed.

Sorry, probably not really what you wanted to here.
JR

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! Just wanting to get real world info. Mine won’t see a lot of use but when you’re used to one and I come home and don’t have one it gets old at times. I own a welding shop but do some machine work as well. That being said I’d still rather buy once, cry once.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This one is identical to the one on our Sharp at work, same casting and everything. Only difference I can see is the sticker on the side of the sharp says ALIGN instead. It’s been a very solid power feed. The machine was there when I hired on 11yrs ago and still operates flawlessly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I found some parts for my old ASONG were available from Bestline Products. My power feed has a central machinery sticker on it, like HF. It's cheap, but I've got two of them running, X and Z. When they puke, I will likely upgrade to one of those ebay ones. If the mill were worth more, I'd be spending more. It's not great, but it runs.

The Asong's from Bestline work pretty good ,have several in home shop pushing 10 years.

Ended up throwing a $180 offer on the one I posted and they actually accepted it. Hell its worth taking the gamble for that I figure!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

@Rhoderman Bestline is a solid go to place for import feeds, as a whole lot of them are extremely similar. We fix Align feeds here at the shop, but I am not really a fan of them. Anything else (asong, alsgs, etc) I REALLY try to steer clear from. Just my opinion.

@JR is right, cheap units like that (asong, dynamo, etc) are fire and forget feeds. While you can get parts for the Dynamo easily (at least I can, since I am their regional repair facility), repairing them can be more time consuming than its worth. I mean I know its different if you are fixing it yourself at your shop, but my time is $110 an hour, so just for an hours time you are 1/3 of the way to the cost of a new one... And while I know people say that you can fix it on your own time, your time is still worth something.

My professional opinion is at least buy something you know can be maintained. If you can find a cheap cheap power feed and the shop says that they can get replacement parts for it, sweetness. Do your research and dont just take the salemans word that its new and repairable, to find out its out of warranty and the parts are obsolete.

Also, keep an eye out. Some of the just $300 power feeds are just for the feed, none of the brackets or mounting hardware.

Jon
H&W Machine Repair