I was talking on the phone to Gunner today. I don't know how the subject came up but I said that if someone asked for all the names of Bridgeport clones it would become the longest post ever on RCM. Here goes: Webb, Alliant, Exacto, Hartford & First but I bet there are hundreds more. Leigh at MarMachine
A friend of mine has had good luck with a couple of SuperMax milling machines, in a light production environment.
Sharp does a real nice clone. It looks exactly like a bridgeport except is says sharp on it. Good quality too.
On 16 Nov 2004 19:34:55 -0800, snipped-for-privacy@AOL.COM (Leigh Knudson) calmly ranted:
How many have interchangeable parts, Leigh?
The Aliant was created by former Brigeport dealers when B'port dropped most of them. I suspect that it is pretty interchangeable. The rest are catch as catch can. Lots of parts look like they fit and don't, then you turn around and find total interchagablility with others. It is not a study that I have made but I have tried to put machines back together with good and hopeless results. I won't buy an import beater unless it is sooooo cheap I know I can sell a single handle for more then my investment. I will buy older B'ports because I can get parts and always part out machine that I find has an undiagnosed terminal illness. (Read broken casting, lunched spindle or so many missing parts it becomes too expensive to repair.) This is the reason I can buy cheap mills at auctions. I don't have to salvage everyone of them. Some just become parts donors to let others live. If you are trying to buy a single machine many auctions are not the place to be. We brought in two B'ports a month ago. Inside the first one we found the table leadscrew casting mangled but I knew where to get a good one for $20. I suspect Hardinge would get $300. for it. I have found Hardinge's source for handles and can buy them at about 1/3rd of retail. The other mill took about 3 hours to clean up and get ready to sell. Purchase price and selling price for both are the same. BTW I have three older B'ports in stock(more then I have ever had) all priced at about $1500. If you need one in the SoCal region let me know. Leigh at MarMachine
The best Bridgeport clone is quite simply a BRIDGEPORT
Get over it and buy one. You'll never regret it
Knuds>I was talking on the phone to Gunner today. I don't know how the
Soon after the dust-up at Bridgeport that led to the creation of the Alliant (around 1981 or so?), I surveyed four old-time users, I think it was, of Bridgeports who had bought Alliants. Every one thought the Alliant was actually a better machine.
Remember, the dealers who got together to have that machine produced intended to BEAT Bridgeport, not just to get some parasitic sales off of it. It would be worth talking to someone who had more years of experience with them, but, by those accounts, the dealers had succeeded.
Ed Huntress
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