Bridgeport rebuild in the works

vettebob · Mar 15, 2017

I tore down my Bridgeport today. Looks like in the nick of time. There was almost no threads left on the knee elevating screw. I will be scraping it in over the next month or 2 I'm heading to Steve's to put his Rockford planer to use on the table and maybe the cross slide. Bob

Richard King · Mar 16, 2017

If you like honey, he has some good Blue Bonnet flower honey :-) Take your saddle and knee with and have him plane them too. You two craftsmen have a lot in common Bob...plus both are hosts and I consider friends. He has 2 Monarch EE's too, Maybe you can lend him your test bars? Rich

vettebob · Mar 27, 2017

OK here's the old elevating nut and screw next to each other

I got home and thought I better get started on scraping this mill or I'll never get done with it. Then I realized I need to scrape my my camel back in first. camel back straight edge in progress I scraped and scraped until I got wore out lifting and blueing over and over.Here's a couple of pics in progress.

vettebob · Mar 27, 2017

Here are some pics of the table after Steve got done planning it.

My saddle had a twist in it so I ended up shimming one corner with a couple of layers of aluminum foil. and grinding one side on my 6x18 surface grinder then rotated it 180 no shim and grinding the other side. I then rough scraped it turned the saddle over and ground the other side again one half at a time to finish removing the twist. Here is a pic of the saddle rough scraped
.

I'm going to relieve the center third on both sides of the saddle on my non pm worthy mill then finish scrape in the resulting 4 pads on one side the other side I think I'm going to leave ground as the knee which mates to it will be scraped. Bob

ewlsey · Mar 27, 2017

It takes a lot of hand cranking to wear out an elevating screw.

vettebob · Mar 27, 2017

ewlsey said:
It takes a lot of hand cranking to wear out an elevating screw.

That's probably why I got a NOS elevating screw off ebay for $90. Bob

Richard King · Mar 28, 2017

I was thinking Bob you should do a thread warning "How not to buy a Bridgeport over the Internet" . Bob got took from the someone who told him the head was rebuilt and it was in very Good shape. He got a real surprise.

Also measure the depth of your scraping, it looks like it's a bit shallow. Remember .0002" minimum. How much bow was in the top of the table? And how much did Steve take off the bottom of the table?

For those who own a BIAX scraper, Bob also makes the leather straps out of real leather.

10KPete · Mar 28, 2017

Bobs inbox is full and won't accept messages....

Information on leather straps desired.....

Pete

Richard King · Mar 28, 2017

I'll email him and told him to sign on......

10KPete · Mar 28, 2017

Thanks, Richard!

Pete

Tyrone Shoelaces · Mar 29, 2017

ewlsey said:
It takes a lot of hand cranking to wear out an elevating screw.

That's a new one on me. I've dealt with a couple of seized up elevating screws but I've never had to replace a worn out one. I'm amazed a person could wear one out on a light mill such as a " Bridgeport ".

Regards Tyrone

Paolo_MD · Mar 29, 2017

Perhaps it was lubricated with lapping compound. ;-)

Paolo

vettebob · Mar 30, 2017

Here's the latest pics on straight edge progress Depth of scraping .0006 to.0008

vettebob · Mar 30, 2017

Richard King said:
I was thinking Bob you should do a thread warning "How not to buy a Bridgeport over the Internet" . Bob got took from the someone who told him the head was rebuilt and it was in very Good shape. He got a real surprise.[/QUOTE
This is what Richard was referring to. I purchased this machine from another member here who advertises himself as a machine rebuilder. I paid $3500 for a machine that was in good shape that the ways had been touched up. I specifically asked about the head and was told it was in good shape. I informed the person I planned on making firearm parts and wanted an accurate machine. When I received the mill it had a broken gib on the knee. I just assumed that this occurred in shipping. So I got on the forum asking how to repair this and Richard went out of his way to help me on how to replace the gib. After replaced the knee gib. I tried to mill something I knew it was not right. Even my unmentionable 800 lb import was far better. I again called on Richard for advice. He taught me how to check spindle runout. I found .0025 runout in the spindle. The spindle had general purpose grade bearings installed and the outer spacer between the bearings was loose. I bought a rebuilt spindle and installed it. My runout went down to .0002 immediately. I found a monarch lathe in pieces Guess who I called for advice. He told me he drives within 1 hour of my place when he goes to his cabin. Richard stopped by gave me advice on the monarch. He asked me about the mill I turned it on for him his reaction was it sounds terrible get me a screwdriver you have bad bearings. I have since replaced all but 2 bearings in the head. Here is a pic of the spindle I removed with the c3 bearings installed as well as my latest find when I took the machine apart. So here I am 5 years later rebuilding my mill and I have probably only used it about 200 hours. Bob

Richard King · Mar 30, 2017

Bob, what is the other 2 pictures of? The gib? Where is it laying? a gib Holder?

I recall another student who took the class we had at your shop who bought a South bend lathe from some guy and had another PM'er from the South Bend forum checked out as it was in his city. The PMer told him he went and looked at it and it was in super shape and he should buy it.

He did, hired a trucking company to bring it to him and when it came into his shop the machine was a mess, scored ways, loose screws and nuts, etc. He called the SB expert who said Any SB was a good machine compared to imports and he should be happy he got one and hung up. I can't imagine anyone being that ignorant to tell someone who's expecting a good running machine. He said he had never mentioned to the expert (Fake) he was looking at any other machines.

Bob and that other guy got took from members on this forum. So even on here, Buyer Be A Where. . I have met hundreds of PM members and so far I have been lucky not to have run into so nasty as Bob did. This is normally a good site with a lot of kind and nice folks. Rich

ewlsey · Mar 30, 2017

I've bought and sold numerous machines via this forum and never had an issue. I've even done some odd trades like when I traded Wippin Boy a TIG welder for a 3J collet nose.

Tyrone Shoelaces · Mar 31, 2017

That's very disturbing. All my dealing with members have been first class. I've never come across more than a couple of people I didn't really like and that was just a clash of personalities not a question of their integrity.

Regards Tyrone.

machtool · Mar 31, 2017

Richard King said:
I recall another student who took the class we had at your shop who bought a South bend lathe from some guy and had another PM'er from the South Bend forum checked out as it was in his city. The PMer told him he went and looked at it and it was in super shape and he should buy it.

Rich.
You have to keep in mind. The South Bend Crowd aren't exactly Machine Tool Engineers. He could have turned up and found it to be a good shade of Grey paint for all we know. Our own scraping expert, The JST is a Logan lathe man. He has nothing more complex than that.

Cheers Phil.

G78 · Apr 7, 2017

Is it ok to plan a mill table? Could it be done with the mill itself wich table is it?

Richard King · Apr 7, 2017

It would depend on what size mill and table you are talking about. Lets say your table is 42" like a Bridgeport mill. If you have a large Vertical or Horizontal mill with a 90" table You cold mill with a dovetail cutter or a fly cutter.

I would recommend doing a longer table of a short tabled mill. Rich

Bridgeport rebuild in the works

Cast Iron

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Hot Rolled

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Stainless

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