bridgeport shaper e lubricant?

WTK what lubricant to but in the gear case and what lubricant to put in the oil cup?
Any idea where to buy a few shaping bits... those on ebay look very pricey!

Gearcase needs 600 weight worm gear oil, Mobil SHC 634 or equiv. Oil cup can use most any moderate weight oil- Mobil DTE heavy/medium or so. Avoid oils with EP additives as they may damage any bronze/brass bushings in the head.

For tooling, you can make it yourself fairly easily using lathe boring bars, I like the round ones that take HSS cutters. If you get the el-cheapos then perhaps cut them into convenient lengths.

Cutting tools will benefit from lots of rake, and stone the edges to make them as smooth as possible.

There is a sliding gib alongside the ram, adjustable once you remove the sheet metal shield at the bottom of the head where the ram protrudes. Once you have the head lubricated and moving easily adjust the gib for slight drag on the ram as it operates, that will help eliminate backlash in the cutting stroke.

Make sure the motor is running in the right direction. When facing the depth adjustment dial, it should be rotating clockwise.

Regards,

Greg

oprod,
Here is page 3 and 4 of nine scanned pages of an "E" head manual I found in the archives. Although I only found 9 JPG pages (plus 1 readme) in the archives, there is a reference to page 18 about the cutting tools, in the "E" head description. JPG file, page 3 is page 18, and the tools are shown on this page. If you can't find these JPG files, send me a PM and I will email them to you.
As Greg mentioned, Page 4 indicates, 1/2 pint of Mobile 600 W oil is used in the wormgear area.

Not to hijack this thread, but you may also want to know this too. I have a question for Greg, since he seems quite knowledgeable with this unit. When I was cutting a square hole in a piece of 1/4 inch plate steel, using a carbide tipped tool similar to a cutoff bit (about .125"(carbide)X.070X.250"X1.500") mounted in a round shaft, which was mounted vertically in the clapper box. The bit would skip off the cut and form a rounded edge and the side of the wall was therefore not vertical. The cause was obvious in that the clapper was pivoting under load and was not fully returning to the rest position. I could hold it forward (towards me) with my fingers and it would cut OK. I disassembled the clapper and checked for wear and/or burs on the pivoting pin, cleaned and lubricated the parts, and looked for other reasons for this apparent binding or instability. I found none. I adjusted the spring to maximum, and even bent the spring a little to increase the pressure; but ended up turning the clapper 180 degrees [so the clapper box would have to rotate towards the cut] to make my cuts. I was able to make a great looking 1 inch square hole but it worried me as to why this was happening. I could of course be totally wrong about the proper setup of the clapper. Advice would be appreciated. Joe

Hi Joe,

Unfortunately I can't help much wrt the clapper, it was missing on my e head, replaced with a big steel bushing. I made a few different inserts that would fit into the hole on the bottom of the bushing, to accept HSS cutting tools and boring bars. The head still works fine though. I tend to feed fairly small increments, so the clapper wouldn't really achieve much anyhow. I've used the head for keyways in steel and cast iron from 3/4" to approx 3" long, and some fooling around in aluminum w/ form cutters.

Off the top of my head and not seeing the details of your setup, my guess is that the arc formed by the clapper, bar and cutter flexes from the cut and levered the clapper a bit around its pivot Perhaps rotating the clapper put the pressure someplace else. But I think you've said as much already. IIRC its possible to jam the clapper, if so you might give that a try for normal operations. It may stiffen the head a bit.

I keep thinking that the head would be fantastic for a tapered keyway, since it can be angled to the table- have you ever done anything like that?

Regards,

Greg

Greg,
No, My first job after I got it running was the 1" square hole. I was making an internal gear for a chain sprocket by using a 1/4 inch plate, turned and welded to the inside edge of a piece of 4 inch pipe, for a bridge crane unit I am making. I had a chain sprocket mounted to a 1/4 HP cast iron worm gear unit with 11 teeth and wanted to mill 22 holes around the pipe so the sprocket would ride inside the pipe with the teeth engaging and protruding through the holes. Thought here was to trap the teeth inside the drive gear and not be able to disengage if something got a little loose. The square hole was to mount the gear to a 1 inch shaft that had the end milled to a 1 inch square, that drives the cable drum. I will send some photos when I get back home. The project turned out great. Would have been perfect if I understood that you go 4 turns plus 11 holes plus one more hole, on the rotab. First time using the indexing plates too. The square hole turned out perfectly though. I can see the clapper working OK on a horizonally mounted bit holder but questioned why it did not have a clapper lock-up feature for vertical slotting. After all, the "E" head goes slow enough to move the work between strokes to prevent chipping the cutting edge on the up-stroke. That may be why you had a modified holder. Could be a design problem. I plan to make several bits from (7/16th?) drill rod or maybe some HSS, so they will mount into the clapper holes. Just grind them to some of the shapes of the photos of original cutters I have seen. The holder with carbide bit I mounted worked OK. They did chip the carbide a little and I had to replace it a couple of times. Made a beautiful square hole. My "E" head had been assembled wrong by the previous owner and the brass wormgear was worn on the edge of the gear. When I turned it around so the gear teeth meshed with the worm, it aligned up with the center like it should have. I think the "E" head is real simple and easy to work on. I will have to think of more projects to use with it. It came along with my worn out 2J. Same mechanic worked on it too, I think! Joe

OPROD,

According to the maintenance sheet, the ram should use way oil and the gear box uses 1/2 pint of Mobil 600W oil. Oil level is even with the lower plug on the gear box, located on the right side just below the center line of the stroke adjuster dial, the upper plug should have vent hole and is the oil fill port. You invert the shaper to drain the gearcase.

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Joe,

Which way do you have the cutter? You should be cutting on the out stroke, with the pivot pin of the clapper box towards the work.

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Has anyone successfully mounted a queen post onto an E head? This would allow use of regular lathe tool holders, just like regular surface planers.

Does anyone know how close to horizontal you can safely run the e-head?

Thanks,

Rich C.

I have an original 1964 Bridgeport operators manual and a photocopy of the English Adcock & Shipley operation and maintenance manual and they both specify 600W steam engine cylinder oil in the worm gearbox. It seems that the 'E' head is called a 'shaper head' in the US but in the UK it is almost invariably known as a 'slotting head'. I have one on my Bridgeport and have some lengths of 5/8" dia. high speed steel and grind up as required. Inserted tool steel tips in 5/8" dia. mild steel rod would probably do just as well.

Malc.

600w is different than 600w viscosity the equivalent to 600w cylinder oil is shell omala s1 or s2 460