Rebuilding the Bridgeport Mill, Progress! 

Looking good Steve. Finally time to get her together and start making chips

Great looking job Steve.

Fabulous looking paint job. Warming the can in hot water for a few minutes makes the paint spray better with higher pressure.

We've rebuilt several machines to showroom like quality, a couple of milling machines DoAlls in this case which are large versions of the Bridgeport and a couple of Hardinge HLV toolroom lathes. We just sent the HLV to a local auto Body Shop they sent it back in just a few days with a finish that would rival anything you'd see on a show car. In fact even the Harding salesman saw it from across the room and ran over to look at it. Auto body folks sure know how to make to make crummy looking metal look smooth and shiny and they do it so much that they're very efficient at it. I concluded it was more cost effective than letting my own folks do it. Hardinge parts are inexpensive you can buy everything from them for less money they're almost anywhere else including things like spindle bearings we also replace all of the nomenclature plates knobs and any other cosmetically worn or damaged pieces. In the case of the HLV lathe we even took all the carriage apart and surface ground all the all the services to restore their finish to like new we've used this everyday for 10 years and it still looks like brand new. We even rebuilt a large hardinge CNC lathe with sub-spindle and live tooling including replacing all the ways and ball screws I had quotes from companies to regrind the ball screws in this lathe for $4000 I found out I could buy a complete screw and nut from Hardinge for 1500 don't over underestimate the value of replacement parts they're really quite remarkable. We put a new lead screw in the cross-slide on the Hardinge HLV and they even sent us drill fixtures and the special Acme tap to complete the job at no charge. I even had a chucker lathe like your Bob for a while it didn't have a readout on it so no one would use it all my guys are spoiled.

The addict has resorted to using moves from the notorious "Chicken Dance" to mix his paint at 7:40 on the video. Oh Steve how far you have fallen by the evil whiles whispered to you by Don "Paint it Steve, it needs some paint, just do it Steve...." You may recover but it's sad to say the Bridgeport Mill base came out beautiful! I hope you enjoyed my humor. The painted base and the rest of the parts looks great Steve. Well done and thanks for sharing!

Looks beautiful, lots of work, but that’s the fun stuff for me, taking something that looks tough and making it look like a jewel-but worth it in the long run. Just like a car or truck, they just work and run better and have less squeaks and leaks when they are all cleaned up and polished and looking good!!! lol. Nice job Steve

Don did a great job of painting.😂

Steve, that pedestal is unrecognizable from what you started with. Bravo!

It is a great color for the machines. Thanks for the videos.

You are doing an awesome job Mr. Steve!

Tis a thing of beauty. And, as I learned from on of the Keith's,, a smooth machine finish makes an easy to wipe down and clean machine.

Steve, crazy or not, the result is pretty awesome.

From Nacogdoches. Beautiful painting. Easily the best Bridgeport paint job.

Wow, it looks great.

Looking great.

I think the word is "Snazzy". Nice job, sir.

Looking really great Steve.

Wow Don is catching isn’t he. After the Bridgeport you should tackle Bob!

looking good. now you will have to paint the rest to match😁

Ohh yeah, that’s looking as flash as a rat with a gold tooth! 😜😂😂👍🇦🇺

Does grey qualifies as a color? LOL. Nice job!

great job... but how any flyys got stuck on the paint? 😁

Are you going to Moore pattern scrape it to finish it off?😊

Steve, do you remember where everything goes🤣🤣🤣

Just an idea but this would have been time to make and install a riser for the mill

Do you watch Bill Maher? Better be careful how you shake 2 cans of spray paint at the same time - it kinda looks like.... well, you know....

YOU SHURE GOT ME FOOLED . NOT 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 DONS IN THE HOUSE WATCH OUT . 😊😊😊😊