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Bridgeport M head buy, no flaking on older models?

TiesA

Plastic
Joined
Jul 5, 2020
Recently someone around town offered me a BP M-head, which has seen far better days.

The machine is covered in crud and (light?) surface rust, everything turns, uses MC2, bearings seem fine (on both ends), power feed doesn't work and hardly any play when rocking the bed. He said it was hardly ever used when he got it, besides the deep apprentice marks on the bed, the ways do not appear to have any flaking (left?) on them.

Is it normal for a BP that old, to not have any flaking/scraping marks, maybe from factory? Or would it just have been wear on the machine? There is also no accesoires that come with it (no z-handle, no no collets, nothing).

I know the shaper attachment is worth the cost alone, but I'd like to know for sure the machine isn't scrap to begin with. Can I put the shaper on any BP, like my Series I? Friend of mine would like to buy it and 500 euro's doesn't seem to shabby.


BP Mhead.jpg
 
Flaking on my 1952 model is a fairly large crescent pattern, not super deep.

No flaking on top of table I can see, only on the ways..

Rust cleans up nicely (even just steel wool and some oil), shaper will fit most STANDARD BP R8/MT2/B&S#7 spindle taper mills

Tooling is easier to find for #2 Morse.. Drawbars are different lengths for tapers.

Make's a nice little homeshop mill, not a powerhouse, bigger R8 taper head can be fitted with some fabrication.

I would get it for that price for shaper alone.. Stroke setting gear/parts, are easily broken on the shaper though..

A small VFD for the motor, and a DRO make it a nice light mill..
 
You can easily examine the wear in the center position of any way, then look at the end position. Typically the ends have plenty of flak left but the center area is flat.

Can't say about the shaper but in the event it doesn't fit what you have maybe an adapter can be made.

Flaking on a table top is an old trick to transform a randomly gouged up surface into a uniformly gouged up surface. I have no use for a flaked table because I don't
apply oil to my tables and slide heavy vises over them.

Is the power feed one of those old gear box types?
 
looks liek a gear driven PF i have one i really should see if i can get running. as for flaking non on my table and sadly bubba that had it before me used grease so the middle of my knee us in a bad way gouged. one day i ll have it rebuilt. im a knife maker and use mostly smaller carbide endmills so its nice that the mill has the high speed head on it
 
Yeah sorry I only meant flaking on the ways, not the table. After some cleaning with scotch brite and WD40 she's starting to look really pretty.

I already have a working BP which is in far better state, friend of mine wants to buy it.
 
Yeah its a gearbox driven one, quite heavy. I seem to be missing a lever for speed selection

The wear seems to be close to none for such a old machine, everything feels really thight. I think they changed the acme thread and/or nut at one time.
 








 
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