BRIDGEMILL HEAD

Of all the issues we encountered early on in this business, the stability of the milling head was the one that stood out more than all others.  Those early deigns from the 1980's had the mill head supported on the lathe column and only extending out a few inches beyond the lathe chuck.  In this configuration, it was necessary to remove the lathe chuck for virtually all milling operations, and even then, the milling was limited to 3-4" travel in the X axis and mill head flex and vibration were a constant source of complaints.  With our 17-20 XMTC design, we improved the situation somewhat by extending the mill head to the center of the bed and using the motor as a counter balance.  This was a big improvement over the old design, but mill stability was still not acceptable for heavy work.

1980'S DESIGN	17-20 XM

The general comment we received from most 1980's customers   was that the machine was " An OK  lathe and a LOUSY mill".  With the advent of of the 17-20 XMTC model, those comments changed  to a " GOOD lathe and an OK mill".   We were committed to improve the product as much as possible and began trying various designs, resulting in some dead ends etc. before we finally settled on the " Quadra Lift" design in 1996.

4 post design-too complex	Quadra Lift-1996

The Quadra Lift incorporated 4 steel columns  supporting the mill head on the left and allowing it to raise and lower for  convenient setup and greatly improved the rigidity of the mill head while allowing it to be centered over the bed.  Initially this was offered as an upgrade for older machines, and once the word spread about the huge improvement it made in milling, we found that most of our new customers were ordering their machines with this option installed.  We had now moved to " GOOD Lathe and GOOD mill" in our customer comments. 

BRIDGEMILL  2002	TRI POWER  2006

Even with the positive results from our Quadra Lift, we knew that any mill which is supported only on one end is going to be subject to flex under heavy loads.  We wanted our customers to get the most out of their machines, and to this end we added the 5 th support column on the tailstock end of the machine and the mill head became rock-solid when locked down.  We now had a "GOOD lathe and a GREAT mill"!. Over the years, we had a lot of requests for a longer machine, but until the mill head stability issue was solved, making the machine longer was not possible.  The BRIDGEMILL design solved that problem, and with the design of the TRI POWER with its longer lathe and mill plus 3 axes power feeds, we now have a " GREAT  LATHE and a GREAT MILL"

PATRIOT  2008

     PATRIOT- DOWN                                                    PATRIOT- UP

Even as good as the Bridgemill and Tri Power were, we felt there was room for
 improvement. The new PATRIOT machine incorporates a more convenient mill
speed adjustment, larger handles for the mill head adjustment and a complete
power feed mount, drive pulleys and shield should you decide to add a power
feed to the mill head.