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Rebuild of modified W. B. Knight mill drill #2 with BP head

HWElecRepair

Hot Rolled
Joined
Dec 9, 2013
Location
Fort Wayne, IN
Not a new PM member, but new to the antique machinery threads. About a week and a half ago I started the tear down of a WB Knight Machinery #2 mill that had a Bridgeport M head adapted to it. I bought it from my boss (and father in law) not knowing exactly what it was, but after doing some research and help from the guys on the BP thread I found out its a #2. The company we got it from was using it as a production machine until we got our hands on it a year or two back. It has had least 4 coats of paint on it and at least 2 of those coats went over EVERY single part, it seems like.

So far I have torn the entire machine apart, minus the BP Head (which I won't really go into detail here since an M head isnt all that antique to most), the knee, and the power feed gear box. I have not been able to get the knee to rotate, which I think I have to do to be able to get the Y axis screw out.

Once it gets rebuilt, it will be going home to do just odds and ends stuff.

Jon
 

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Got the table ground on Friday/Monday. Looks like the only wear on the table ways is almost the exact length of the saddle, and that wear was about .003 or so. The wear on front to back was interesting. The front way had the above mentioned wear, but the center of the back ways was at zero. So I will be taking a longer look at the saddle and knee ways to see whats going on with that.

Saw some interesting markings on the ways. Looks like perhaps the ways were "ground" with a fly cutter? There are some arc markings on the ways near the ends of the table and where the wear on the ways is, there are no arcs. Our grinder operator said he heard that way back in the day if a maker or company was lazy, they would fly cut instead of grind the ways. No proof to that, but just what he said.

Also uploaded a pic with the indicator on it. We zeroed at 4, not 0 for ease of having to turn our heads all weirdly to see the numbers.

Also showed the stoned table top kinda as a before and after.

View attachment 232630
 

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The table sure is pretty, is it straight and flat? Do you have the tools to check? I think you have much bigger project on your hands, but you will get to write it off as an education expense. Good luck.
 
I am the electronics tech for a machine repair and rebuild company. We do this for Bridgeports all day every day.

I didnt check any of the wear while it was on the machine, but I am gonna be learning how to scrape on it, so that will be loads of fun. By the time it is back onto the column, it will all be flat and square to itself.

It is gonna be a bigger project than I am used to doing (I work on DRO's, power feeds, CNC retrofit kits, etc) but I have all of the tools and knowledge here at the shop to get it done. I am doing this on my off time since it is my mill and I am not paying for it to be rebuilt. I just started tearing apart the Bridgeport M head that is on it, and my sister-in-law (who is our resident M head expert) and my father-in-law are helping me with tips and tricks on that. My big huge projects are gonna be the knee and the dang power feed gear assembly thing.

Jon
 
Got into the shop today and got the power feed gear box torn apart and alot of parts run through the parts washer. And yes, I am wearing a bandaid cause I got a booboo. Yesterday I got the head tore apart and got the spindle motor and power feed motor tore apart too.

I am kinda amazed at how much bronze is in this machine. Maybe its normal for that time frame, but it just shocked me is all.

And I REALLY wish I could get my hands on a wb knight nameplate.
 

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Was browsing some other threads on the WB Knight machines and from a hint on there, I found the serial number.

I feel like a kid in a candy store.

Jon37068877_10216697742538304_7140221127728562176_n.jpg
 
I just saw your other post. I did clean up my inbox. The bad news is I don't see a #2 listed in the serial book. Just models 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60. The earliest date is 1937.
 
We have a 10th edition at the shop, shows the same thing. I appreciate you looking.

I am bidding on a 4th edition right now, hopefully theyll have it.

Jon
 
We have a 10th edition at the shop, shows the same thing. I appreciate you looking.

I am bidding on a 4th edition right now, hopefully theyll have it.

Jon

I'm sorry to say probably not. I have a number of them including 5th Ed (1973/74) and an early one from 1963. The Knight numbers are the same. You're not out the money though because the later editions (maybe 9 and up???) did drop a lot of the really old numbers so you will find it useful to have around. If you find anything else let us know.
 
WilCo. I am really hoping to find more information about this. A big part of this is that I love the history behind it, not just getting it rebuilt to be able to use it.

Jon
 
Well, it is completely disassembled. With Barr's brains and my brute strength (lol) we got it apart. It is now completely apart and the cleanup is well underway.

So pissed about all the paint on this. There were alot of times that I missed screws and such because of the 396 layers of paint on here.

Jon
 

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Perfect. Now move it around a few times. Take it across town. Bring it back. Hire a guy to work on it then fire him. Have a few kids. Etc.

Get back to it in about 5 years.

That's how I do it. Works great every time. :willy_nilly:
 
lol this is about week 2 or 3 of the project. Mostly been working on it at lunch and on the weekends. The big part of the project is gonna be learning how to scrape and getting the ways scraped in. We are gonna turcite the saddle ways after we grind them and then get em all scraped in.

I am gonna get some pictures to post, I have found that on alot of the castings there are alphanumeric numbers in the casting. Not stamped, more like it was part of the die. It reminds me of when you putting together something from ikea and they have all the letters on the parts to let you know how to put them all together. When I get to the painting, I am gonna accentuate all of those parts with the accent paint color.

Jon
 
Got more stripping done... in fact I have it almost completely stripped except for the parts where the grinding wheel couldnt get.

Found a bunch of cool stampings and more markings in the castings. Starting to think these are definitely part numbers.

Jon
 

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Found a bunch of cool stampings and more markings in the castings. Starting to think these are definitely part numbers.

Jon

It is getting close to SIXTY YEARS since I took the only formal class on pattern and mold making I ever sat, but everybody who made patterns for 'production' castings put some sort of markings on theirs. Methods included incising or engraving them INTO the (usually wooden) pattern or gluing material onto it. Pre-formed leather or "processed' leather from waste, re-glued, on rolls in long lengths and more than one cross-section was commonly available back then. Use allowed making a clean and neat inside corner radius or forming raised lettering so "permanent" markings came out of the sand. Where no such pre-prep, hand stamps were used on a flat, be it rough ground or milled and precision-ground. Some of these were "batch or "lot" numbers, tied into paperwork according, office side of the factory walls.

No mystery. It was a business. Folks had to ship the parts expected, raise invoices, ultimately get paid.

Foundry or factory, they were busy places with all manner of parts coming and going, no RFID tags or durable-plastic tags nor sticky-labels ... so this HAD to be done, lest confusion go worse than it already was!

:)
 
@thermite I literally got giddy everytime i found some new stamp or alphanumeric code in the casting. It sounds ridiculous, but i loved it. When I am done, I am gonna make some sort of document on this for parts, markings, etc. I absolutely love history (my great uncle carried an M1 carbine through WW2 and my grandma found some wooden platters made by the same company who made the stock for my great uncles M1 and got them for me) or things that I have. Once I get it in the garage I am gonna get some posters made from the stuff I find out about it.

Thanks for all this info!!

Jon
 
@thermite I literally got giddy everytime i found some new stamp or alphanumeric code in the casting. It sounds ridiculous, but i loved it. When I am done, I am gonna make some sort of document on this for parts, markings, etc. I absolutely love history (my great uncle carried an M1 carbine through WW2 and my grandma found some wooden platters made by the same company who made the stock for my great uncles M1 and got them for me) or things that I have. Once I get it in the garage I am gonna get some posters made from the stuff I find out about it.

Thanks for all this info!!

Jon

LOL! Yeah "Know the feeling".

Mum taught me to sew on a Singer portable as a kid.

As CO of a unit in 'nam, my topkick made a few points for himself by horse-trading my crappy M1911A1 .45 sidearm for a pristine-condition one made by ... Singer.

No, I don't "wish I still had it", either.

The brothers I call my "Basque Law Firm" (Julian and Bonifacio Echeverria) have replaced it with "good-enough" craftsmanship, but much better engineering for their respective "missions".

:)
 








 
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