9x42 Hartford Restoration

Trey_Tull · Jan 20, 2016

Hello everyone. I've made a jump from the South Bend forum over to this one to document my restoration of a 1978 9x42 Hartford step pulley mill. This is something that I have wanted for a long time but couldn't justify the cost. This was a CL find, was priced right and I worked a big band saw into the deal. I recently finished restoring a 1946 Heavy 10R so now I'm embarking on this.

Purchase Day...

I borrowed a trailer from my boss and struck out. It took me about an hour to get there, 30 minutes or so to look the machine over and then about 45 minutes to load it.

Once it was home we hooked the tractor to it and started the unloading process.

Here it is, reassembled and backed into the corner. I moved it into the corner with a 2.5 ton pallet jack.

I will start the dissemble this weekend and my plan is to strip it down to the casting, prime, bondo and paint. Polish parts as needed and replace parts as needed. My fingers are crossed that the spindle bearings are ok!

t.jones · Jan 20, 2016

So a Hartport appears to be a Bridgeford with a different name ? ---Trevor

Trey_Tull · Jan 20, 2016

t.jones said:
So a Hartport appears to be a Bridgeford with a different name ? ---Trevor

Trevor,

From my understanding, its a knockoff of the Bridgeport.

Trey

JRIowa · Jan 21, 2016

A J head clone.

Nothing special, thousands built in Taiwan.
JR

Trey_Tull · Jan 21, 2016

JRIowa said:
A J head clone.

Nothing special, thousands built in Taiwan.
JR

Did I somehow misrepresent what it was or that it was one of a kind? Where you looking for the goose that laid the golden egg??

I have an attachment to it for a few reason.
1. I spent my money on it.
2. Its the first mill I've had.
3. I will be doing the restoration on it.

JRIowa · Jan 22, 2016

Trey,

I hate to burst your bubble, but there are many Hobbiests out there. I retired.

I too spent money on a mill... and a lathe, and a surface grinder and on and on and on. I fill a 28 X 36 building.

I too still have my first mill. It's a BP.

When you say that you are going to "resotre" you mill, do you do your own scraping?
JR

Trey_Tull · Jan 24, 2016

I made a little progress on the mill this afternoon. After I got all of the major pieces apart, I got all of the small parts in degreaser and got some of the larger parts in the electrolysis vat. I decided to remove all of the paint and original body filler from the castings. Once I got it cleaned up with degreaser, I had just enough time to start slapping some bondo on.

Trey_Tull · Jan 24, 2016

More pics

Trey_Tull · Mar 15, 2016

It has been awhile since my last post but I have been making alittle bit of progress.

The main column finished, except of the little door.
The knee finished
All new lines were run for the oiling system
The table is back on and a power feed was added. (will post this pic tonight)

Next on the list
finish painting the ram and turret
tear down the head and replace broken/missing parts.

As you can see, I shortened my pallet. Its makes moving the machine around, in tight spots, so much easier.

abarnsley · Mar 15, 2016

So you put a pretty paint job on a VERY worn machine. The scraping is GONE at ends of saddle/etc...

To fix the wear properly.. (scraping) that pretty paint would get dinged up..

So you still have an oil burning 1984 Yugo, with bad brakes, loose steering, noisy transmission, and fancy new paint.........

Worth as much as a worn 1984 Yugo ... In other words, less than the paint job cost.

Paint does not guide the table, knee, and saddle.. Those scraped areas do..

JRIowa · Mar 15, 2016

abarnsley said:
Paint does not guide the table, knee, and saddle.. Those scraped areas do..

I brought that up in post #6 without a response. I'm thinking a 1985 Yugo.

Trey, you really should look at Kay Fisher's M head rebuild. This is how a machine is supposed to be done.
http://neme-s.org/shapers/bp.html
JR

rons · Mar 16, 2016

Trey_Tull said:
Did I somehow misrepresent what it was or that it was one of a kind? Where you looking for the goose that laid the golden egg??

I have an attachment to it for a few reason.
1. I spent my money on it.
2. Its the first mill I've had.
3. I will be doing the restoration on it.

You are a funny guy. You are getting beat up pretty bad here.
Your work looks good. If you decide to do scraping then a good book is:

Machine Tool Reconditioning, by Edward F. Connelly

jim rozen · Mar 16, 2016

Ooh. Bridgeport/Hardinge forum.

Is it OK to post my Atlas lathe photos? It's a lathe after all....

rons · Mar 17, 2016

jim rozen said:
Ooh. Bridgeport/Hardinge forum.

Is it OK to post my Atlas lathe photos? It's a lathe after all....

Only if you start increasing your "Likes(Given)" count.

jim rozen · Mar 17, 2016

"Only if you start increasing your "Likes(Given)" count."

Not available if one runs the forum without javascript running. Runs too
slow with that.

rons · Mar 20, 2016

jim rozen said:
"Only if you start increasing your "Likes(Given)" count."

Not available if one runs the forum without javascript running. Runs too
slow with that.

What OS and browser software are you using?
Have you crossed the dual core processor boundary.

jim rozen · Mar 21, 2016

rons said:
What OS and browser software are you using?
Have you crossed the dual core processor boundary.

Yes, and no.

I access the forum on a variety of machines which means a variety of operating
systems. Sometimes mulitcore, sometimes not.

The default in any case is javascript "off" as it makes sites load faster. Also a
tell-tale about how solid the site is. The better ones work just fine without the
bells or whistles turned on.

CDiesel · Mar 22, 2016

"It has been awhile since my last post but I have been making alittle bit of progress. "
Nice job cleaning her up, I doubt my beat up old Bridgeport step head looks any better on the the wear surfaces, but it is definitely much rougher on the eyes. It will do a fine job of the little projects you are likely to do with it. I am the assistant to a professional Bridgeport repairman two days a week. I would say at least half of the Mills I see in the die shops still being used every day look about like yours.

rons · Mar 22, 2016

jim rozen said:
Yes, and no.

I access the forum on a variety of machines which means a variety of operating
systems. Sometimes mulitcore, sometimes not.

The default in any case is javascript "off" as it makes sites load faster. Also a
tell-tale about how solid the site is. The better ones work just fine without the
bells or whistles turned on.

with javascript off:
On this site it is a fraction of a second to a second in savings. The updating is rather annoying to boot.
Looks faster due to direct rendering.

For the viewing audience:

firefox:
type "about:config" in address box.
scroll down to javascript.enabled and toggle "true" to "false".

Derek Smalls · Mar 22, 2016

Trey, I'm not gonna bust your chops about repainting an old Hartford mill. Not sure why you've caught so much flack for it, maybe posting it in the Bridgeport section has caused all the fuss, plenty of others have documented this sorta thing. Obviously, as others have said, repainting is not gonna make it perform better, and I personally like the "original" look, no matter how beat up, but a good disassemble, cleaning and lubing, followed by careful gib adjustment will get things as good as possible at least, so have at it.
The thing that caught my eye was the rather ridiculous feet under the heavy 10 in one of the pics. There appear to be only two under the head stock, one front and one rear??? Short of sitting it on a couple of old clamp on roller skates, I can't imagine a much worse set up as far as any kind of rigidity goes. Do yourself and the machine a favor and get them the hell out of there. The floor under it is far more stable than the machine itself, so use it to your advantage! Just my opinion.

9x42 Hartford Restoration

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Titanium

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