1977 Kent Mill (bridgeport clone) clean up

HI

Im a new member here and have gotten lots of useful info so I thought id add this for anyone interested. Kent Mill info on the net is limited

I bought a 1977 Kent knee mill and am cleaning it up. Very similar and good parts interchange with Bridgeports
One big difference ive found so far is in the table/saddle feed yokes. They are two separate parts. The table feed is pinned and bolted to the table, the saddle feed is bolted and pinned beside the table feed and hangs below it. Looks like the oiling system has had grease forced though it, so all the oil lines will be junk.
The feed nuts are worn, so ive ordered Bridgeport feed nuts and hopefully they can be made to work. The adjustment of the backlash is hard to understand. I can post pics if anyone is curious.
BTW, im not a machinist, just a hobbyist
Cheers

You can cut the brass nut all the way through and then it will be able to get rid of most of the backlash. Just be sure to set it at the ends of the screw, not the center where the screw itself would have some wear. Talked about many times, youtubes on it as well.

Hi Rob
There is not much left of the threads in the nuts. Ill try the bridgeport nuts and use the originals as a lost resort

KBC Tools sells Kent (not certain, but I always assumed it was their house brand). KBC has locations in US and CA. No idea if KBC sells service parts.

thanks for the tip

We had a Kent mill and lathe the last place I worked. We had to do so work on the lathe and they were pretty good with parts. The people I talked to were very helpful.

They did good work for us. They were both pretty low hour when we got them. The mill was a 2 axis Mitutoyo CNC knee mill and besides the display and cleaning the scales we didn't have any issues with it.