How long to disassemble a Bridgeport?

[Barncat]

I am looking at buying a Bridgeport mill. The only thing is the seller said he would give me a couple hours to disassemble it and remove it. It is in a room down a hallway, so it would have to be taken apart to remove it to get to the garage. No stairs to speak of. How long would it take a person to disassemble one and put on some sort of rolling dolly to remove it and load in a truck? I have a shop crane/cherry picker on wheels.

 

[jwmelvin]

I moved a Bridgeport with an engine hoist, out of a side room that required some steps to get up to the driveway. It took more than a couple hours. I removed the table, saddle, and head, and moved the base-knee-ram as a chunk using the ram eye bolt. Since the stairs and curving, tilted path, were the biggest time sink, I don’t think smaller pieces would have saved time. But a couple hours is enough to get the pieces apart. I had a couple friends helping with the load, and unloaded myself at home. I think it took us about five hours to get the thing on my trailer at the seller’s house, and I had taken most of it apart the prior day.

Taking the knee off probably would help, as I took it off eventually to clean up.

Good luck. It was fun, but a good bit of work.

 

[projectnut]

I would say at least a long afternoon, but more likely the better part of the day. I disassembled a Series I machine to get it into my basement shop. The total weight was around 2,200 lbs., The individual components aren't all that light. The head alone weighs about 200 lbs., the ram adaptor 80 lbs., the ram is 215 lbs., the turret is 215 lbs., the column is 715 lbs., the knee is 257 lbs., the saddle is 142 lbs., and the table is 365 lbs.

You'll need some sort of lifting device to lower the head, ram, knee and table. The table will be the trickiest. You have to run it completely off the saddle and it has to be perfectly aligned the entire distance or you'll break either the table or saddle ways. I used a hydraulic cart to be sure everything was in alignment. Another problem might be the knee. It has to be lifted high enough to disengage the ways, and like the table has to remained perfectly aligned the entire distance to avoid breaking the ways.

I doubt the seller disassembled and moved the machine in the amount of time he's giving you to do it. I took more than a full day do disassemble my machine, and more than a day to reassemble it.

 

[sdelivery]

First, do not use the threaded hole in the ram to lift the machine by. It was only designed for lifting the ram.
Take the head, ram and ram adapter off column with four bolts.
Remove the table from knee.
Lift to pla e rollers underneath.
Take a friend and you should be out of there in a few hours

 

[woodchucker]

I am looking at buying a Bridgeport mill. The only thing is the seller said he would give me a couple hours to disassemble it and remove it. It is in a room down a hallway, so it would have to be taken apart to remove it to get to the garage. No stairs to speak of. How long would it take a person to disassemble one and put on some sort of rolling dolly to remove it and load in a truck? I have a shop crane/cherry picker on wheels.

Make sure he gives you two days.. How wide is the hallway, is it concrete or wood floors? Will the machine fit down the hallway if the table goes lengthwise down the hallway and the ram is over the table and head lowered?

I don't know if the table will go up high enough, but if it does, lifting dollies (hydraulic might be worth renting). I'll see if I can find a pic. You need a 1 ton rating.

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good rental places would have these. But you need to carefully balance the load

You will need some cribbing to be able to press against the columns casting so you can fully secure it.

 

[OTmachine]

Took the turret / head assembly off series 1 first Using a lifting eye in the threaded hole in the turret. Used a piece of 1/8” wall 1” square tubing about 14”? long with a sling choked around it to pick the rest of the mill up, (mounted in place of the cross that anchors the turret) with engine hoist. Then use 1” schedule 40 steel pipe rollers, about 5 of them to roll machine out. My rollers are about 3’ long. Use plywood or 2 x 6’s for a surface to roll on if needed. Done this several times. You will need a low or drop bed trailer. Check out the requirements prior to doing. Width of hallway would determine if table has to come off. My .02

 

[Winegrower]

First, do not use the threaded hole in the ram to lift the machine by. It was only designed for lifting the ram.

This comes up occasionally. The manual for my Bridgeport clone clearly shows lifting the entire unit from this point. My unit was delivered off the truck with a chain hoist from the main hangar I-beam like this. (And dropped 18" or so when the guy flipped the wrong lever on the hoist. It survived without issue).

 

[matthewsx]

If he wants it out he should give you enough time to do it safely. If he has a time constraint the price should reflect what hiring a rigger will cost.

Make sure it really can’t come out intact. My baby Bridgeport had to come through a narrow door and we were able to get it out by removing at the hinges and cranking the table back and forth.

I can’t stress enough how much having someone experienced with you will help if this is your first time doing this. Reach out on the list if you don’t have someone already lined up. It’s not a matter of strength, you move this stuff with your mind, not muscles.

John

 

[sdelivery]

Over the years we all have gotten away with or knows of an occasion that someone has gotten away with doing something this way or that way,, knowing there were some risk.. I think it might be considered complacency.
I have no intention of arguing this point.BUT this is 2023 and for decades now we have known lifting a Bridgeport with a 1/2 eyebolt is unsafe.
The radius of the eyeball hole means it has no flat face to contact the eyeball flat face.
1/2 eyebolts specifically made for lifting are rated at or below the Bridgeports weight.
Cheaper versions who knows.
When moving machinery you don't take unnecessary risk.
I have been in all facets of machine tool building, new,rebuilding, custom machines,, retrofit, maintenance, rigging, repairing and field service since 1981.
I use an old 80's cherry picker with a 3000 # capacity hydraulic unit from HF.
Lots of blocks of wood of varying sizes,
black pipe rollers and a pinch bar.
If you are going to lift, buy some lifting straps .

 

[Asm109]

You can get the x table off in under an hour.
Take one handle off, remove end caps each end (4 bolts) Unscrew lead screw. Loosen gibs, slide table off onto a table or bench of appropriate height.
Roll the head sideways or upside down to reduce height.
At that point is should through a 36 inch wide door.