Milling Machine on casters?

That is sooo cool!

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Unka' George [George McDuffee]

------------------------------ Watch out w'en you'er gittin all you want. Fattenin' hogs ain't in luck.

Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908), U.S. journalist. Uncle Remus: His Songs and His Sayings, "Plantation Proverbs" (1880).

Modt likely you will find the X travel longer than the Y. 24" of travel is pretty much full Series I Bridgeport size, as is the 12" Y travel. I think there would be serious safety problems with putting casters directly on a Bridgeport. It could be done if the casters were attached to a baseplate, so as to widen the footprint of the supporting points.

Jon

I think the OP has X and Y interchanged.

The useful travel of my 9 x 42 Bridgeport is 26 inches of X and 11 3/8 inches of Y. (I could get more out of the X if I took the power feed off...).

I have seen a Bridgeport on casters. But, as you properly observe, the footprint of the casters has to be larger than the base of the machine. Vertical mills are top-heavy and awfully tippy...

Now, what I want to see is someone run a shaper on casters...

Jerry

Nice machine, but not quite enough X axis travel to cut the mounting screw holes in rack-mount panels... You really need at least 20 inches.

Jerry

I've got one of those and they are nice little CNC mills, but the X-Y work envelope is only 18x10", which a little small for the OPs needs.

Mike

That is nice.

What I have is a Electroglas Prober (semiconductor ) heavy duty square tube table with a roll out (heavy sliders) and a strong shelf underneath. On top I have a sheet of 3M or MMM - anti-static mat - thick carbon filled plastic sheet covering the top. Then I have a tray with drain off the back with the mill within...

It is on 4 very strong Red wheels on the outside 4 posts.

Great when you need to move it for a minute...

Martin Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Endowment Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot"s Medal. NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.

Tom Gardner wrote:

I keep my 10"X50" Bridgeport clone on a pallet and move it with a pallet jack if I need extra room for another machine. The only draw back is that I need to really reach to change the drive speeds, obviously not a great idea for the vertically challenged!

Pete

a friend of mine built a very large steel work bench, big enough to assemble a full size aircraft wing on, later he sat pondering how he could move it around the hangar when he needed to get something done. problem was that he didnt want it on casters when he used it and didnt want anything that would trip him up when working around the bench. something like your milling machine problem.

about a month later the brainwave hit. he welded 4 brackets to the bench out of the way and attaches 4 of the cheapie caravan jockey wheels to the brackets. he then winds the jockey wheel down until the bench has lifted. when each has been wound down the bench moves around easily with one handed pushes.

it takes about 30 seconds a wheel to attach and remove them. works well.

Stealth Pilot

For that envelope you need a "full on Bridgeport".

Don't put it on wheels. Put it on a welded steel pallet or other improvisation which readily accepts a pallet jack, but otherwise stays put.

Bingo - that's what Tormach has done with their stand. It works really well although it is hell to get a pallet jack down the basement stairs.

Mike

.Do you have a forklift availabe and space to move it around ? If so, mount the mill on a pallet/ table for the f/l to pick up & move Alan, in Gosnells, Western Oz. VK6 YAB VKS 737 - W 6174