'73 Bridgeport mainanence diagnosis

All,

I'm new here and posted a few questions regarding my Bridgeport. I wanted to know where to look for wear and tear. Are there place I should pay attention to and what am I looking for? The machine runs well, with no funny noises. Quill feed not working, but I think I have that one solved. Is there spindle play to look for? Quill play to look for? I just want to do an overall check.

The Machine came out of my fathers tool an die shop. I grew up using it and it is now in my garage. See pic.

I’ll have a go. You’ll find wear and tear everywhere you look for it. There are many inspections you can perform. The question is, will any of them provide you with usable information?

I think the simplest quick inspection of existing flaking will give you a sense of the mill’s wear. I feel like flaking was .003” deep from the factory. If it’s gone, you can expect to have at least that much wear. If you can still see evidence of flaking, I think you are within .003”, which isn’t great, but it also doesn’t necessarily translate to a part tolerance.

You can check spindle runout. I don’t think indicating the table is super helpful. I think Richard King would say BP tables are like bananas. They can curve down at each end and your indicator will never pick up on it.

My advice is to disassemble to the greatest degree you can stomach, clean clean clean, check your oil system, then reassemble and adjust. Then make some parts and inspect them.

I know folks talk about back lash in the X axis. I’m not sure how helpful that indication is. I have a 1967 mill with little to no back lash. I split the nut and adjusted most of the back lash out. Not hard to do. You have a newer mill which may have a split nut.