I am new to this forum and relatively new to machining. I have wanted to have a Bridgeport for years and last month it finally worked out. A local educational institution relocated shops and no longer needed the oldest mill in the old shop. I knew the shop manager and he let me take it home for free. The trade-off was that a few years prior an instructor at the shop had taken apart both the head to replace something in the quill, and the table to replace the feed nut bracket. But nothing had ever been put back together so I took home 5 boxes of parts in addition to the machine itself.
Specs that I have determined:
- Series 1 made in 1970
- 2J head
- Mitutoyo DRO, X/Y and quill
- Power feed for X axis
The knee and column ways still have their scrapings, but the table ways seem pretty worn. Every bearing I've examined so far (including the spindle bearings) is somewhere between crunchy and seized.
Here is how I found it. The cart in the back had a pile of parts on it too.
My garage is a wreck at the moment so I'm not going to post pictures of it in place quite yet.
I'm going to be working on it slowly over the next few months to get it cleaned up and back into service. First task is going to be cleaning up and rebuilding the knee and table.
If anyone has any tips or pointers I'd love to hear it.
Specs that I have determined:
- Series 1 made in 1970
- 2J head
- Mitutoyo DRO, X/Y and quill
- Power feed for X axis
The knee and column ways still have their scrapings, but the table ways seem pretty worn. Every bearing I've examined so far (including the spindle bearings) is somewhere between crunchy and seized.
Here is how I found it. The cart in the back had a pile of parts on it too.
My garage is a wreck at the moment so I'm not going to post pictures of it in place quite yet.
I'm going to be working on it slowly over the next few months to get it cleaned up and back into service. First task is going to be cleaning up and rebuilding the knee and table.
If anyone has any tips or pointers I'd love to hear it.