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Bridgeport table and turcite help please.

wordsmith07

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 11, 2018
Location
Athens AL
Bought a 1977 Bridgeport to rebuild and replace my round column mill. Stripped it completely down and found .0030 turcite on the saddle. Also there is a milled section in middle of bearing area that reduces total bearing area.
My main question is should I replace with turcite that is thicker than the .0030 that was installed since all gibs ( both longitude and cross feed ) were run all the way in.
Would that give more gib adjustment?
The milled area is about 20 thou deep
There was so much grease etc. I was unaware of the turcite until it was mostly degreased and bonding was probably loosened by degreaser.
View attachment 301242View attachment 301243Would not mind trying to scrape a bit but I have no experience and the next class offered in the Deep South is January 2021.
 
FWIW, I too am rebuilding my Bridgeport J-Head Series I. Grease was used on every zerk fitting so all of the knee components were pulled apart and cleaned. The gibs weren't shimmed but needed it. I used brass and steel shim stock in .001" and .002" and combined them as necessary. Y-axis gib was the worst as it was hitting the rear wiper plate. X-axis could use another .001" but given that x and y gibs were shimmed with .003" total and less, that isn't bad for the age of the machine.

Replace yours? Sounds like it is required, so do it. I assume the turcite was installed behind the gib therefore never sees wear and maintains the gib to dovetail contact to ensure correct mating through the travel of the axis. It would not be necessary to use turcite as a shim material.

I too have milled sections in the middle of each bearing surface. I don't know why they are there and perhaps others with far more knowledge and experience than I have could shed some light on this interested fact.
 








 
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