Central Penn Machinery is the name of the place, out of Lebanon, PA. I can't complain too much, I paid $799 for the head which is about half (or less) what they normally go for. If it weren't for them blasting water into it, I'd be perfectly happy with what I've found so far. For that price I expected a functional head that needed a rebuild (which the upper head does need). The spindle is beautiful on it actually, though I may change it out for the R8 spindle from the Long Chang head (same bearings/same length/same splines) just to get cheaper tooling. Haven't made up my mind for sure yet (and I already have a new spindle bearing set if I decide to do that). Also unfortunate, the parts from the feed reverse/feed worm shaft were messed up on the LC head too, so they're of no use.
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Rutlands/Long Chang LC-1 project...
- Thread starter Rennkafer
- Start date
Central Penn Machinery is the name of the place, out of Lebanon, PA. I can't complain too much, I paid $799 for the head which is about half (or less) what they normally go for. If it weren't for them blasting water into it, I'd be perfectly happy with what I've found so far. For that price I expected a functional head that needed a rebuild (which the upper head does need). The spindle is beautiful on it actually, though I may change it out for the R8 spindle from the Long Chang head (same bearings/same length/same splines) just to get cheaper tooling. Haven't made up my mind for sure yet (and I already have a new spindle bearing set if I decide to do that). Also unfortunate, the parts from the feed reverse/feed worm shaft were messed up on the LC head too, so they're of no use.
Well at least you can take advantage of Bport parts availability and reasonable prices. It's a great benefit. You don't have to wait for it to show up on ebay or pay an arm and a leg. If your rusty parts don't get replaced, you can find them yourself. Congrats on the lc spindle fitting. I would definitely go r8. Good luck.
That's why, when I couldn't get OEM parts for the head that was on it, I specifically looked for a BP head since they're the same mount and parts are likely to be available well past the next ice age...
On that subject, ordered a bunch of stuff this week for the head (other than the rusty stuff which I'm still waiting for Central Penn to deal with). Got all the head rebuild parts on the way. Found some of it cheap on Ebay, some I ordered from H&W (wonderful people to deal with, and they tolerate questions well). Also did some fiddling with some column/knee parts, found out that the BP dials don't quite fit my knee dial holder (they're about a net fit) but after I cleaned up the threads the dial lock nut screwed right on. Taiwanese mill with standard threads... I like it. They were really serious about copying the Bridgeport pretty exactly 30-35 years ago apparently.
BP head parts might have fixed the OEM head, but I didn't want to order a bunch of parts and then find the one part that wouldn't work and screw up the whole thing. I may scavenge used bits off of Ebay when I get the BP head back together and see if I can put the OEM one together too... just for a spare. And cause I need more projects...
On that subject, ordered a bunch of stuff this week for the head (other than the rusty stuff which I'm still waiting for Central Penn to deal with). Got all the head rebuild parts on the way. Found some of it cheap on Ebay, some I ordered from H&W (wonderful people to deal with, and they tolerate questions well). Also did some fiddling with some column/knee parts, found out that the BP dials don't quite fit my knee dial holder (they're about a net fit) but after I cleaned up the threads the dial lock nut screwed right on. Taiwanese mill with standard threads... I like it. They were really serious about copying the Bridgeport pretty exactly 30-35 years ago apparently.
BP head parts might have fixed the OEM head, but I didn't want to order a bunch of parts and then find the one part that wouldn't work and screw up the whole thing. I may scavenge used bits off of Ebay when I get the BP head back together and see if I can put the OEM one together too... just for a spare. And cause I need more projects...
So it's been a while and some progress has been made...
I managed to coax some money back out of Central Penn for the stuff they screwed up by pressure washing the BP head (which they admitted to). Wasn't enough to buy all new parts but I lucked out and found some on Ebay in good shape. Also figured out the motor shaft was worn a bit more than I was comfortable with (about .013") so ordered a rebuilt unit (pics to follow). I've gotten the motor disassembled (not really that hard) and I'm waiting to go over to a friends house and press all the bearings off of everything (motor/varispeed sheaves/spindle) so they can be replaced. Then time to clean all the external parts up and paint them. Other than the shaft, the motor looked great internally.
Not sure what I'm going to do about refinishing the column as my garage isn't heated and it's a bit too cold out to paint at the moment.
Motor pics...
You can see the wear in the shaft here...
The rebuilt shaft...
I managed to coax some money back out of Central Penn for the stuff they screwed up by pressure washing the BP head (which they admitted to). Wasn't enough to buy all new parts but I lucked out and found some on Ebay in good shape. Also figured out the motor shaft was worn a bit more than I was comfortable with (about .013") so ordered a rebuilt unit (pics to follow). I've gotten the motor disassembled (not really that hard) and I'm waiting to go over to a friends house and press all the bearings off of everything (motor/varispeed sheaves/spindle) so they can be replaced. Then time to clean all the external parts up and paint them. Other than the shaft, the motor looked great internally.
Not sure what I'm going to do about refinishing the column as my garage isn't heated and it's a bit too cold out to paint at the moment.
Motor pics...
You can see the wear in the shaft here...
The rebuilt shaft...
Got some more done on the motor this weekend, cleaned the outside of the winding heatsink and the upper bearing cap. Not really sure what grease got sucked through this thing but man it's hard to get off. Ended up using my secret stash of old solvent which cleaned it right off. Just have to be careful to work with the door open and wear gloves. Also took the outer motor covers and upper/lower belt covers to the local pressure washer thinking that would get them clean. Engine cleaner and the pressure washer barely touched the stuff (same stuff as on the motor heatsink/bearing cap). A bunch more hand cleaning is needed on the belt covers before they're ready for polishing but the motor covers are ready to be sanded/painted.
A few pics...
A few pics...