Millport-Bridgeport parts & help

Hello all,

First time posting here. I picked up a 1989 mill that says Millport on the head and Bridgeport on the ram, go figure. The machine is missing lots of parts including most quill auto-feed parts, several screws, covers, etc. The quill does not fully retract and the clock spring is either broken or missing. I'll be entertained for a while putting this thing back in shape. I'm not planning on a full restore but just enough to make it usable and maybe CNC it someday.

Here's some pictures for your reference and a short video showing the current state of the motor along with my questions and request for help, if you can.

It's a Millport


It's a Bridgeport


There's about 16" x 12" x 8" of Aluminum chips in that bin that came from inside the main cast. Prev owner was a pig.


Empty quill overload clutch space


Quill won't go back in much further than this.


Vari-disc assembly, unusual? That socket head screws into the motor shaft and keeps the spring/assembly in place.


Note the sleeve that goes over the motor shaft. This is completely loose fitting right now and I suspect it's missing some sort of insert, shim or sleeve. True?


In this video you can hear the busted bearings. I ordered a couple of replacements already.

Question: I can't figure out which motor this is but I suspect is a 2 hp. The motor nameplate - if at all attached - is covered by several layers of paint. If you listen to the motor you will hear a whine from the VFD I'm using for the testing. I think I can tune it to make it a little quieter if I had the nameplate values. Anyone with a good nameplate picture for a 2 hp? Or maybe a 1.5 hp as well just in case? I suppose I can measure it and get those values if a pic/data is not readily available. What I have on it is that it's 220V, 4 poles, 60Hz. Bearings are: 6206Z for the bottom (closest to machine) and 6205-2RS top.

Thanks!

Can I get a shot of the front quill stop? that threaded rod in pic #2 doesn't look right, looks like a pretty close copy of a BP, that rod shouldn't extend with the quill.

These guys sell Millport and Bridgeport parts. hey have an exploded view of the heads too/ High Quality Tools Inc. - Milling machine replacement parts, cutting tools, and more

Shadon said:

Can I get a shot of the front quill stop? that threaded rod in pic #2 doesn't look right, looks like a pretty close copy of a BP, that rod shouldn't extend with the quill.

Click to expand...

Hey thanks for your comments. I popped the retaining clip out but it normally looks like the pic below. It's missing lots of parts around there. I found most of them at various websites, eBay but they are some expensive parts for what they are. I suppose I just need to come to grips with the fact that these are expensive parts to buy.



Thanks for link, Richard! I saw that website before but hadn't noticed they specifically list Millport parts.

So, did Millport every slap one of their heads onto a Bridgeport body or is this a Frankenstein of someone's creation?

Thanks.

Hello all,

I contacted the guys at Mataco in Ohio. Good folk there and "Joe" took time out of his shop duties to chat with me and answer my questions. He gave me a bit of background on Millports. To answer my previous question: no, Millport never had an agreement with Bridgeport to supply bases for their heads. In fact, Bridgeport probably (and rightfully so) hated Millport because they knocked off their design and produced a ton of them in a short amount of time, flooding the market with similar but lower priced machines produced in Korea. This is the same tactic being used by the Chinese now to kill any profitable industries in USA.

Based on how I described my motor, Joe thinks it might be a US Motors brand since it doesn't match what came with the Millports. He pointed me to what to buy to get the motor back in shape. Parts are coming shortly. For reference, the motor shaft is 24mm (~0.945") in diameter with a keyway of 1/4" x 1.5" long. Joe thinks that makes it a 1.5 hp.

Ok I'm on in my quest to de-muck this machine. Further down the belt housing, I found a thick layer of what I can only describe as crude oil. Where's it all come from??. Gummy and mucky everywhere but otherwise everything looks in good shape in that section. This is how it looks after 30 mins of scrubbing:


This sucker refuses to budge out. I removed the quill feed handle and, as you can see, there's no screw on the shaft holding it but that piece will not come out. Should I try a puller to pull it out? There's nothing on the other side where the feed clutch would go.


The quill pulled back in a bit more. I think the problem is the skirt which shows that is bent on one of the edges. Need to figure out how to pull the skirt out of there.


Regards

In your last photo, you mention the "skirt". Are you talking about the actual quill? (the shiny part in the photo...hope that isn't bent) I would guess that your problem is with the gear rack that moves the quill up and down. Maybe it's miss-aligned or has chips in it? It can be removed from the handle side. You might also check that the quill depth stop isn't causing you problems. To be sure, remove the threaded rod and back out the bolt that attaches the quill stop collar to the quill.

My Millport head is attached to an Enco body. My guess is that Millport sold replacement heads at a decent price, so when one went bad in a shop, the quick fix was to purchase a spare head. Many (most) parts from a Bridgeport will work on your Millport.

A decent video of tearing one apart is at Bridgeport 2J Head tear down - YouTube
Photos of a rebuild Bridgeport J head step pulley disassembly and reassembly

Jack
Millport owner in Ohio, but wish I had a Bridgeport.

Thanks Jack,

This is the quill skirt I'm referring to: Quill Skirt. Even if it's not catching the quill itself, mine is bent out of shape. From what I've been reading, I think I get to the skirt from the top so all of those parts need to come off. That's not necessarily a bad thing since I need to clean up in there as well.

I'm still unsure how to pull the quill pinion hub: Pinion Shaft Hub Sleeve. It doesn't seem to have a setscrew so maybe the key is stuck? I'll try again tonight.

I wanted to do one thing at a time so not to misplace parts or forget how things go back together but I guess that's out the window at this point. I have the motor, the upper head and various other parts in little pieces scattered about the garage while I await for parts to come in. Don't mind if I keep reaching out for help http://www.practicalmachinist.com/biggrin.gif

Thanks for links! I had found those and bookmarked them already. Great reference indeed.

Regards.

JRoque said:

Thanks Jack,

This is the quill skirt I'm referring to: Quill Skirt. Even if it's not catching the quill itself, mine is bent out of shape. From what I've been reading, I think I get to the skirt from the top so all of those parts need to come off. That's not necessarily a bad thing since I need to clean up in there as well.

I'm still unsure how to pull the quill pinion hub: Pinion Shaft Hub Sleeve. It doesn't seem to have a setscrew so maybe the key is stuck? I'll try again tonight.

I wanted to do one thing at a time so not to misplace parts or forget how things go back together but I guess that's out the window at this point. I have the motor, the upper head and various other parts in little pieces scattered about the garage while I await for parts to come in. Don't mind if I keep reaching out for help http://www.practicalmachinist.com/biggrin.gif

Thanks for links! I had found those and bookmarked them already. Great reference indeed.

Regards.

Click to expand...

I pulled the spindle out of mine, but left the quill go, so I didn't see how the quill sleeve was removed. Since my Millport is a J1 clone, the upper half of your head is different than mine, so I can't help with your pinion shaft hub.

You might of found it already, but a nice video on reassembling the variable speed drive is at Bridgeport milling machine Vari Speed Head Assembly - YouTube

Jack

Hello all.

Thanks Jack and good find on that video.

Didn't have a whole lot of time tonight but I managed to mount the motor bearings and put the motor back in its frame - while managing to break a bolt. Ahrrg. I'll pull that out someday but it'll have to do with 3 bolts for now.

On a more positive note, the grinding, clicking noise is gone now and the motor is running quiet and smoothly. Pardon the horrible mess on my bench. I hadn't noticed how messed up that was until I actually watched the video. Anyway, the motor spins full speed (1800 RPM) and slows down a couple of times. The last few seconds I sent a "stop" command to the VFD which coasted the motor to a stop and without the VFD whine:

I managed to take the quill pinion shaft out by carefully tapping on the feed/clutch side. The shaft itself looked alright but the ends had dings and scratches. Nothing too bad. The handle mount part had a few coats of paint and looked pretty beat up under that. I carefully chucked these in the lathe and cleaned them up a bit. Notice the continuing trend with this machine of having empty spaces where parts used to go. Missing here is the entire clock spring assembly, will order that next.


Regards

You might consider putting a power feed on the knee. That will do 2 things give you a controlable power feed for boring and save your back in the bargin. My smaller BP was missing all the power down feed bits and a import power knee feed was much cheaper. Liked having the power knee so well I popped for a power feed for my bigger BP. That skirt will cause your quill retract issues when damaged.

Hello.

Thanks for the comments, John. Yes, I've seen nearly all the pros on YouTube videos using knee power-feeds so there's definitely something to it.

I ordered the clock spring last night and am expecting the motor plastic sleeve and keys to come in by tomorrow, hopefully. Once that's in, it would complete the motor/belt housing. Can't put it back together yet since I'll need to tear the spindle column apart.

More cleaning chores this morning. The "before" picture below doesn't look as bad as it really was. There was a thick layer of gunk all around inside that took several degrease, wait, rinse cycles.

Before. Gunk everywhere though not a single chip in there. Weird. Used "Gunk" engine degreaser first, waited 10 minutes, rinsed, wire-brushed it then used a lighter degreaser to finish.



After. Not perfectly clean as I ran out of time this morning and had to leave it like that, but much improved. At least the belt won't be greasy from now on.


Cleaning products used:


Basking in the Sun:



Regards.

ROQUE---the spindle is raised and lowered by means of a ''rack and pinion gearing''--you last posted a pic of the ''pinion gear'' and shafting which is attached to a long handle--as in drill press-- . you can very easily apply a large amount of downward pressure with this handle onto the ''rack gear'' which is machined onto the o.d. of the quill. it is quite easy to distort this pair of gears . now picture the spindle in the lowered position after this pair of gears has been overloaded -as in distorted--now as you raise the spindle upwards you cut grooves in i.d. of the spindle housing with these newly distorted gears. the gears become cutting tools. now the next ques. usually is''WHY IS MY QUILL STICKING TODAY''?? NOTE the power feed clutch parts which you are missing were designed to drill a maximum 3/8 dia. hole in steel. --more load than this then the clutch was designed to disengage. how much pressure can you apply if you ''raise the table'' with that large handle on the front of the mill??? ya like soooo many others i bought a ''used'' bridgeport. circa 1967--if they could only talk! it took me almost 2-days of sanding- stoning- blueing then assem., disassem.yatta yatta . yes the gears were distorted and after a lot of work the quill now moves freely as it should. don't really know how things are going with the mill you have --but this story of my adventures may help make your day a little easier. hope this helps. re steve in mt.

I had a millport that was missing parts, I called Millsite Engineering who make the Millport branded mills and they gave me a parts manual and sent the stuff I needed very reasonably.

The mill was very clapped out so I moved the only parts that worked good, the step pulley head and the handles, onto a BOSS skeleton with an excellent set of ways and table. It's a good mill now but the spindle bearings are getting tired.

Hello all,

Thanks for the tips, gents. I'll be looking into the quill issue shortly after I'm done putting the motor back together.

Alright fellas, I need some more help. I have the steel sleeve part of the vari speed disc that moves over the motor shaft (see pic below) stuck in the disc. It moves some but it won't come off. Any ideas on what to do to persuade that part to come out? The plastic key in there is good and I need to keep it but that part needs to come out so I can glue the two plastic sleeves that ride on the motor shaft. Ideas?


On other news, I have a nice, constant stream of parts coming in as my bank balance is sucked dry. I got the vari-disc repair kit - which included only 1 of the 2 plastic keys I need, a new quill skirt and quill lock parts. The brass bits of the quill lock are $20ea + shipping. What is up with that?

I love my wife and all but I could not get my eyes off this cutie, so I picked her up and brought her home today. The quality is impressive. I had been on the fence about saving a few dollars and going with a China special but heard of issues with those lifting the jaws. Just going by the pictures on the interweb, I could see a difference in the fit and finish of the copies. I imagine there will be some of those that are good quality but it was hit or miss for me. So a Kirk D675 later, I now have more vise than mill :-)


On even more off-topic news, I needed some steel and aluminium so drove to the local metal shop and picked up these, below. Those are: 2 pieces of 5"x5"x1/2" mild steel and 2 pieces of 6"x6"x1" Al. Total cost: $55.93 What in the world is happening (besides China fighting us for every spare tin can out there)???


I better get cracking soon and make a part or something to justify this money pit.

Regards.

Hello all,

I was able to remove the stuck shaft from the vari-disc by grabbing it in the vise (using padded material) and tapping on the disc bell with a rubber hammer. On this motor, I could not fit any of the plastic shims that were included in the repair kit. In fact, I could only use one of the small keys that came with the kit and even that I had to cut to fit. The disc assembly slides nicely on the motor shaft without needed plastic sleeves. The motor is finally fully assembled and I'm moving on to other jobs while waiting for more parts to come in.

The next one up is the top/upper bearing cap that is missing on my machine. I swear someone took the time to methodically mess the machine up good. Why else would that bearing cap be missing? Anyway, I started with the previously referenced piece of Aluminum chucked in the lathe. I bowed out for tonight until I get more spare cycle to continue cutting

Center drilled, ready to plunge twist drills and bring to size so I can fit a boring bar in there:


After a long series of interrupted cuts that were jarring the little lathe off the bench, this is where I left off for the night:


Regards

Hello all,

More fun making parts not present on the machine. This time is the top bearing cap which I cut in the lathe from measurements taken from the bearing and belt housing. It "fits" but here's hoping that translates to actually working right. I believe there's a spring/wavy washer between the bearing that the cap so I accounted for that with a few mils of clearance.

Here's the finished bearing cap, top


Bearing cap, bottom:


Mounted on the belt housing. It fits fine on the top bearing and the rest of the housing so there's hope it will work.


If it's a bearing on this machine, it's a sure bet that is busted. The top bearing appeared ok but once removed from the spindle I confirmed it is nice and crunchy. It had no markings on it but it measures to a 6007RS, which I already order (a few).

Next parts missing are the two "pivot sleeves" that would go on the tilting jig attached to the speed chain. It sounds like a brain-dead easy part to make but with no reference, I'm ordering those, too.

Regards.

Bearing cap looks good, may want to consider counterboring those screw heads, remember you will be wrenching the drawbar frequently, your knuckles will thank you.

Hello all,

Good idea on counterboring those in. I can't believe missed that last night. Thanks!

Bit of good news/bad news for me.

First, good news. I machined a little brass part and mounted the quill handle spring.


More good news. The quill retracts fully now!


I had a little bit of a 'skirt problem' and that was preventing the quill from retracting fully. I pulled the bent out of shape skirt through the space in the front.



Now the bad news. I suspect I have a bent spindle. The quill jams and it's hard to pull down as I turn the spindle. There's one angle I can place the spindle where the quill moves up and down freely. If I move it 180 degrees from that position, it jams up. What else can it be if it's not a bent spindle?

Regards.

You still have the upper drive off correct? We can rule that out? If so, pull it apart and get it on some V blocks to check it out.

Edit: Does the spindle turn freely? No tight spots?

I would tap a set of 3 holes on the cap like a BP has so you can jack the cap off of the top bearing, my BP cap is a press fit on the bearing.