New to me Bridgeport mill

[FTlatheworks]

I got a 1989 Bridgeport Mill. It’s in decent shape. Still have most of the scraping on the ways. Doesn’t get real tight at the end of the x and y travel, or easy to move in the middle. There are scraping marks on the edges of the table, but the table has some dings and marks. I need to clean it up, but it came with a large Kurt vice, 2 allbright keyless chucks, r8 collet set, accurrite dro, and mist coolant system.

It’s very dirty, but seems to be a decent mill. The power feed works too. There is a LOT of backlash on the x and y, so I’m a little concerned about that. Supposedly the gibs haven’t been adjusted either. Please let me know what I should do to give it a general health check. I’m going to clean it, but what else should I do to get it ready to make some chips? I will post more pictures up close tomorrow night. Feel free to request to see anything and give your opinions and advice. Thanks to everyone on this forum, you guys have been a huge help.

 

[jarhead]

looking forward to your progress.

 

[GrifterGuru]

If it was me in this situation, I would check every surface for damage or wear, check every feedscrew and associated nut/s, go through everything else like bearings, mounts, gibs, dovetails, check everything for alignment, bends et al.

A lot of the above can be done during cleaning but either way, I would suggest the "fine toothed comb" method of check everything multiple times taking photographs at the same time for a record.

 

[markba633csi]

My approach is just do a bit of cleaning and start using it. Fix any issues as you go.
Unless you want to go the full monty and tear it all down, go over every part and then paint and reassemble
If the vari-speed head is quiet it should go for several years before needing a rebuild

 

[FTlatheworks]

My approach is just do a bit of cleaning and start using it. Fix any issues as you go.
Unless you want to go the full monty and tear it all down, go over every part and then paint and reassemble
If the vari-speed head is quiet it should go for several years before needing a rebuild

It’s quiet. I don’t want to do full rebuild. I just wanted to kind of double check that we bought the right mill. I like the clean and use approach. I will have to take a picture of one thing I had questions about.

Is it normal for all Bridgeport’s to lose the scraping on the table? Should I stone the table before I put my vice back on.

Is it normal for the ways to have the scraping slightly gone? Is the from use, or abuse?

 

[FTlatheworks]

If it was me in this situation, I would check every surface for damage or wear, check every feedscrew and associated nut/s, go through everything else like bearings, mounts, gibs, dovetails, check everything for alignment, bends et al.

A lot of the above can be done during cleaning but either way, I would suggest the "fine toothed comb" method of check everything multiple times taking photographs at the same time for a record.

It’s in decent shape. I should have clarified, I’m not looking to completely rebuild the thing. I don’t think it’s time for that, but I definitely want to clean out the chips because they are everywhere and In everything.

 

[GrifterGuru]

It’s in decent shape. I should have clarified, I’m not looking to completely rebuild the thing. I don’t think it’s time for that, but I definitely want to clean out the chips because they are everywhere and In everything.

Never said anything about rebuilding, I just stated what "I" would do, then suggested the "fine toothed comb" method of checking everything.

 

[seasicksteve]

Just give it a good cleaning. Re lubricate it, check the one shot and make sure its doing what it is supposed to no oil passages clogged. Adjust the gibs and nuts if needed. Tram it up. Might want to check the DRO calibration, should be fine but its easy enough to do. Make some chips. At this point you will get a feel if it needs more work.

 

[projectnut]

When I purchased my Bridgeport it was 30 years old. There was about .020” backlash in both the X and Y axis.

In this case the machine had the older style split nut. When I disassembled it (2 years later) to move it to the basement I split the nut and was able to bring the backlash down to .003” which is the original factory spec.

22 years later the backlash is back up to about .020” again. Rather than do another gib adjustment it’s time to replace the nut and lead screw. Later this year I’ll also refresh the head. The whole job should cost around $800.00. Not bad since its about the only thing that’s been done to the machine in over 50 years.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

It’s quiet. I don’t want to do full rebuild. I just wanted to kind of double check that we bought the right mill. I like the clean and use approach. I will have to take a picture of one thing I had questions about.

Is it normal for all Bridgeport’s to lose the scraping on the table? Should I stone the table before I put my vice back on.

Is it normal for the ways to have the scraping slightly gone? Is the from use, or abuse?

If you’re concerned about the scraping in the table it can’t be in too bad a shape.

We regularly do Tool&Die work on machines that are flat clapped out, for general use just stop looking and have fun using.

The nuts are both adjustable to account for wear.

The X adjustment is under the left side of the table, the Y is adjusted via removing the handle and bearing plate and adjusting from the front.

It wouldn’t hurt to remove the table and check that the nut its self is tight in the casting.


You can wind the table full left and remove the left side bearing plate, and position a rollaway under it letting it down onto the rollaway with the knee and slide it out.