I thought I had the acquisition of a DoAll clone of a Bridgeport in the bag, however I have hit a speed bump in the form of a new chairperson of the board who is ex Government and very process driven, (stuff the logic and final outcome, let's have multiple meetings and complicate everything to the detriment of everyone).
Anyway, I got to looking around and for similar coin to what Bridgeports and their clones go for, I can buy a Universal mill with more power, more metal and more rigidity, albeit at the expense of no quill feed, (with one exception, except it's nearly $3K more than machines without), less spindle speed (1600-2000rpm versus 3600-4000 rpm). I also typically pick up 3 axis powered feed with the universals, where most of the Bridgies and clones vary between no power feed to 2 axis only. A 3 Axis DRO is only $550. I have shed space and 3 phase power, so industrial machines are no issue.
If you were doing a lot of threading work, I could see the quill feed being a bonus, but for general milling and boring work, I am really wondering if I may not be better off with the Universal machines.
What say the brains trust?
What are the thoughts on Russian made machine tools as there is one that has caught my eye and comes with three or four horizontal arbors? I figure that to keep tooling costs down, an adaptor to NT 30 will be a good idea as most of these machines are NT40.
I get the impression that the drive train and spindle on a Bridgeport is not the strongest construction (3/4 max drill capacity and no more than 3/8 drilling using power feed) and that their tables tend to droop on the wider versions.
I may want to make a vice for my cold saw one day, bore cheek plates for excavator attachments another (not the whole attachment, just during construction), bbut I also don't want to loose too much at the lighter end of the scale, say cutting a 3mm keyway.
Would a 415 Volt 3 phase VFD be a viable method to increase the speed range on these machines? If 50Hz gives 1800 RPM, then 3000+ shouldn't be out of the question.
If I am mistaken in any are, then please let me know, I am truly open to ideas and opinions.


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