new vs. old bridgeport

Hey Guys,
Im looking for some input here and im new to the forum. We have an older ez trax Bridgeport from the 90's and it needs to be gone thru from top to bottom. We have talked to a few companies that rebuild these mills and we were told it would cost in the high 20k range. That would include everything gone thru and painted with an acurite controller. We also got a quote for a brand new Bridgeport with similar specs with an acurite controller for about 31k. My question is I have heard, from a salesman, the new bridgeports may not be as ridged as the old ones and are made cheaper. Is there any truth to that? It would be nice to keep the old mill for loose tolerance parts, but im wanting to hear from people that have ran the newer stuff. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Just how much rigidity do you need?

The newer ones should be stiff enough for reasonable metal removal rates and 31K vs high 20s for a rebuild probably favors the new machine. Besides, one of the big advantages of a Bridgy is a certain amount of flexibility. A hard crash will usually knock the head out of tram (have seen that).

Was the salesman by chance the one quoting a rebuild? I doubt the one quoting new would torpedo his own sale.

Been running manual Bridgeports for over 25 years. I wouldn't think about buying a CNC with dovetails on the Y axis and would prefer a bed mill if in the budget.
My friend has a job shop and has a couple Acer cnc open type bed mills, they have been great for his situation.
I ran one of his manual mills for a few months that had box ways. Alot more stable that dovetails with an offset load.

Dave

I think the biggest question in the decision making factor is the ways. When you say rebuild, are you getting the ways scraped in or just a clean and paint job with the head gone thru and the like? If the deciding factor is a few grand and you arent getting way work vs new ways on a new machine, I think that is the easiest answer to the question.

What is the reason behind getting the EZ Trak rebuilt and the controller replaced?

Jon

20K for a full rebuild and recontrol is about the going rate. The accu-rite control is very user friendly and if you get a tech who knows how to dial it in, it's about as accurate as anything out there. The new bridgeports are imported and a lot of the parts aren't compatible with the older machines. The folks I know who have bought them have been almost universally underwhelmed by the quality. But it's really a valid point about when to transition to a cnc bed mill as you're above price for a good used mill with the same accuracy and more ridgity.

I don't know that you have really given us enough information to give that kind of advice. If it is strictly on a one to one basis then a lot depends on the reputation of the rebuilder and what he has to start with. But realize that a rebuilt machine is still the same type of machine, i.e., dovetails, basic design, flexibility of the head, R8 vs 30 or 40 etc. Do you need the flexibility to twist the spindle into a pretzel? Can you afford to keep the old mill for the odd ball jobs and add another mill? Another consideration is to sell the old mill and use that to offset the price of a new mill.

Time for a wish list.

Tom

I know every shop needs a manual BPort, but for $30k you can get a lightly used Haas minimill or TM1. I'm sure there are other comparable brands out there. I have a Bport clone and a TM1 (cost me $35K new 5 years ago) and I would never spend almost that much money on a CNC kneemill just to get an inferior machine.

I heard but have no proof. The variable speed heads on the new hardinge units are not as robust as the orginal bridgeports. The base and table are just as good if not better.