Every woodworker should have a Bridgeport

[Winegrower]

I'm making some Greene and Greene style details in the legs of a small side table. Doing this with a router is ok, but it takes making two templates, holding everything together while routing, etc. etc. Seemed tedious, so I just used a small carbide end mill at a high rpm, the DRO to set the bounds, and held the pieces in the mill vise. Yep, I wiped the mill down beforehand, and only the vise contacted the wood. I used the dial indicator to get the right angle and depth. It made the whole process very easy.

 

[markba633csi]

I do wood in my mill too sometimes. I also do vegetative milling with my weed wacker
That's a spiffy little stop you have there

 

[7milesup]

That's a spiffy little stop you have there

Yes @Winegrower. Can you elaborate on that stop?

 

[Winegrower]

Can you elaborate on that stop?

Sure, here's a picture of it disassembled. There is a 1/2-13 stud on the bottom piece for a T-nut, and I should have used a 1/2-13 stud on the middle piece too, so I could leave out the bottom piece to shorten the whole stop. There are recesses on the stop rods for solid positioning, or rotate the rods for random positioning. Also, the top piece rotates, with a cap screw to lock it down. The T-Nut staying attached makes it pretty convenient to place as needed.

 

[mmcmdl]

I did all my oak molding in my original basement on my first BP . I don't think I'll ever be without one .

 

[Reddinr]

I use my mill for wood working too. And the hydraulic press for those tight-tolerance tenons and dovetails.

 

[Winegrower]

Here's a (poor) shot of the table completed...I got tired of the detail in an authentic style and quit early, no ebony details. So it's not Greene and Greene, more Greene and Homer Simpson. It was a nice project with the help of the Bridgeport. All dowels or loose tenons, and everything matched up to about 0.001" or so.

It was the first woodworking project where I did not need clamps to square up the glueups. Just clamp in place, it's square.

The dowel jig has two sides with drill bushings inserted. This was a major contributor to accuracy. I made another simpler jig for the drawer face to side rails, not with hardened guides because there were only a few holes needed.

 

[mmcmdl]

Came out GREAT !

 

[rabler]

Nice!

Yeah, bridgeport did a good job. I have an overarm router. It hasn't seen use since I bought a mill. Should probably sell it.

 

[DavidR8]

Wow, really nice work!