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it done seized

memphisjed

Titanium
Joined
Jan 21, 2019
Location
Memphis
Our bpc (allaint) ram seized last night. It will no longer go up or down without a very large amount of hanging off quill handle. The autofeed has been dead for many years. It was drilling to its perfection for a few hours, then in the course of 5 holes it got smooth, sticky, stuck.
Any help or clues in what I can do tonight will be helpful. I vote for replacement, but that is a far different lever I haven't found yet.
 
Typical Bridgeport problem where metallic fines cling to the quill and travel into the housing bore. These fines contribute to housing wear that results in a bell-mouth bore. Worst case is a tight or sticky quill travel.
Repair is tear-down and clean the inside of the bore.
This should bring the autofeed back to life too.
John
 
Typical Bridgeport problem where metallic fines cling to the quill and travel into the housing bore. These fines contribute to housing wear that results in a bell-mouth bore. Worst case is a tight or sticky quill travel.
Repair is tear-down and clean the inside of the bore.
This should bring the autofeed back to life too.
John

I agree. The combination of fine powder and oil forms a thicker and thicker paste until it seizes solid. Even getting it apart can be a challenge. Tear-down and clean is the cure.

Mal
 
I had that happen on an MSC brand mill. Relatively new, not worn. The head casting was sloughing off bits of iron from the bore and jamming up the quill, was happening halfway up the bore, not at the bottom where dirt gets in.. We disassembled and fixed it 3 times, resold the POS after the 3rd time.

Handy tip - if you turn the head 90° from vertical it's a lot easier to work on, and you don't have to take it off if you don't want to.
 
Right, the head does not have to be removed from the ram and it can be easier with the head at 90 degrees.
Vertical is ok but place some wood blocking and crank the knee up so the quill does not nail the table.
5 or 10wt oil is what I use for assembly.
The top end does have to come off to get at the two screws that are keepers for the quill skirt (dust shield).

The bore in the casting for the quill is about 5 or 5 1/2" in length. Above that the diameter is larger. That is where
the quill skirt is located. There is a step, like a counterbore and that is where debris collects.
Expect cast iron fines from when the head was made.This might be the contamination source. Over time these fines wash down
into the bore. This is a difficult surface to clean.
A solvent sprayer will do the job and screw up the air you breathe.
Otherwise expect to spend at least a half hour with your hand in the hole till it comes clean.
Better have small hands and the sharp edges will draw blood.
 
A few squirts of spindle oil every time the machine is to be used. Not a direct quote from the manual.
Perfect world on a machine used more consistently. This mill also came out of IH plant that closed in the 1980's, used by then. Then went on to an armored car plant, then another structural shop, then to us. It has lived a maintance mill life, which is not the same as a milling machine life.
I did manage to get it to move again, without full dismantling yet by almost getting it apart until movement (took what this post and one related showed), then started to flush out whatever I could with alcohol. Oiled all till drippy, and it finished the two jobs I needed the mill for without an issue on machine end.
It will now sit for 3 weeks, get 200 pounds of welding wire thrown on it, a few hundred bolts and knick nacks, then be returned to service for 2 or 12 hours.
It depends on who unearths it if it will get oil. I still don't run the slow to fast on the spindle speed as the machine states. It has middle range of radio dial, low and high are fighting cats noises.
All and all, still works for what it is. The boss (#2) man is tempted on a new machine, but not a priority. If we unload it and a mammoth radial drill it can happen.
 
Why would you spend money on a new machine when you indicate nobody will bother maintaining it? It takes about 60 seconds to hit the oil points in the head, maybe a few minutes total if you have to top off the automatic Oiler (does it have one?)


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I worked contract at a bunch of shops when I first started out, there was a row of bridgeports at this one place. No oil in the one I walked up to. Asked shop foreman where the oil was, shrugged.

Walked down the line and pulled the handle on every on shot, all empty
 
is that what all the little oil cups are for?

The auto oiler does not work, never has, or maybe, the lines out do not exist.
 








 
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