# B-port clone rebuild



## Hukshawn

Well, I decided to make a new thread in the right area. This is likely to be a long process. Hopefully not terribly expensive too. Wife is mad enough how much money as time I've spent on this already.

So, the First j-head column mill.



I played around with it and noticed it has some war wounds. I picked this up from a guy a few hours away from me who retrieved it as a bit f payment for work he did in a factory. I believe he was an electrician who also built conveyor belts.

I bought it for $1450. I think it was a fair deal.
The machine is filthy, but useable as is.






I like clean machines, but usually don't wind up cleaning them up before I use them. This time I wanted to clean it up first.
So, I decided to tear it down. Found some parts that could be replaced. Some bearings, the x table brass nuts, and found the quill feed doesnt work.



The worm gear is shredded.
Also can feel some broken gears inside the quill fine feed. 

To be continued.


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## Hukshawn

Some clean up. Parts everywhere. Started doing some painting. I chose a nice light gray. Almost comes out a bit creamy in colour. It'll look nice once done.








Finding more bearings that should be replaced :/
The bearings in the step pulley are crunchy. The bull gear and the back gear are both fine. Packed that gear assembly with new grease as someone had packed it previously. It has a gits oiler but I suppose grease is a good option too. I'll have to remember not to oil that cup. Or I'll have some sloppy mess on my hands.

I'm deep enough into the mill to find that the spindle gears sound fine. Which is a big relief. But I'll be spending quite a bit already on worm gears, lead screw nuts and bearings. And I haven't gotten into the quill feed yet, which doesn't work.




I've been talking to a local industrial supply shop who said he can get bearings but I'm worried about the actual Bridgeport items. I kind of assume he won't be able to get those items without ordering from the places I already know. And I'm trying to avoid ordering from there cause it's the states, and shipping and conversion will be very pricey.

I read somewhere either here, or the repair manual that I downloaded from here, to put fasteners and small parts in labeled ziplock bags. What a fantastic idea... and as you can see, I've been taking photos. Anything where something specific has to go back in the same place, the oiler tubes, or the motor wiring, several pictures taken.


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## Hukshawn

Well, Merry Christmas everyone! 
I guess I know what I have to ask for Christmas... A whole schlew of parts. 

Someone crashed this machine, hard. 
Something look funny about this quill clutch assembly? 



Maybe a closer look. 





First, fairly certain the machine would have come new WITH a clutch inckuded and not a delrin spacer, and those teeth would certainly not needed to take a dirt nap and laid over like that. 

Oh, and half the quill spring is missing. 



So, in closing, looks can certainly be deceiving. Great machine on the surface, signs of heavy use and abuse underneath. 


as the parts lists stack up, I ponder my next moves. I'm into the hundreds on that Bridgeport parts machinery website shopping cart. 
How much should I replace? How much do I need to replace? Do I care that the pulley bearings I are noisy? Do really care that much about a quill power feed? Do I care about the spring loaded quill? *Sits and ponders the universe*. 

I'm sure I'll replace the bearings, they're cheap and easily accessable. I need a spanner wrench to get the pulley bearings out. But I wonder about the quill power feed. Do I spend the money and wind up with a divorce? Do I just leave the machine disassembled till Christmas and ask for very strange gifts? Do I just clean it all up, paint it, and leave the power feed broken?
Honestly, I don't think I care about the power feed more than the fine feed. I would like that to work. So, from what I can see, it's just either trying to salvage that worm gear, or replace it with the bearings. OR take it all apart again during the holidays. Jebas! 

In any event, I've run out of bench space till all these painted parts dry. Once they're dry I'll start putting those items back together and by then I should either know what parts my supplier can get, or have made up my mind about the power quill. 

Either way, a bit disappointed. A broken key would really have been nice.


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## RandyM

Welcome to the world of used machinery. You are doing a fine job!

Oh, and it's funny that the teeth didn't just shear of that gear. At least you are finding the problems.


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## Hukshawn

I'm going to try to see if I can tap them back up and file them smooth. Then I'll have to connect the fine feed knob to that gear and I can at least use the fine feed for now.


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## RandyM

Hukshawn said:


> *I'm going to try to see if I can tap them back up and file them smooth*. Then I'll have to connect the fine feed knob to that gear and I can at least use the fine feed for now.



Good luck.


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## markba633csi

Since you don't have a knee I can appreciate the need for the fine feed, but personally I would skip the power feed feature, for now anyhow.
Yes looks can be deceiving can't they? 
Mark S.


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## Hukshawn

Jesus... Just teeth and gums everywhere...


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## francist

Oh that does not look good. I was hoping it would start to get better for you. Dang.

-frank


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## Hukshawn

Well, some good news. The quill came out nicely and is in good shape. Bearings sound fine far as I can tell. I did not bathe that one in varsol like everything else. I left the oil and grease inside those bearings. Even if they are a bit crunchy like the pulley bearings, I don't want to know at this point. I'll tally up the parts and give a total here shortly...


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## Hukshawn

$700.... American! Before shipping... that's how far I'd be to get a working quill power feed..  eff me...

So... can guarantee that won't happen. Next best hope is to cut a key slot in what's left of the clutch worm gear to key it into the fine feed shaft. So I can at least use the fine feed handle. I think that's a must... otherwise, I can kiss any good accuracy goodbye, even with a dro. 

Super fun wow! 
Next I'll take the j-head body off and get it all cleaned up and painted. Then start working on the column.


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## Silverbullet

With all the members we have , why don't we have our own network of machinist who make different parts for the machines we use . Gears , shafts , tig welding.Many have talents for differing things and machines. After all we all or most of us just can't afford the cost of factory parts new for a machine 85 years old.


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## Hukshawn

I suppose if it were that expensive to buy the parts, I could probably buy a dividing head and some teeth cutting saws, make my own and likely still be ahead of $1000 it would likely cost me in CAD $.
And I'd learn real quick how to make gears. 
Christmas IS coming... The mill will run fine without the quill power feed for the time being...


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## Hukshawn

There was a dividing head for sale locally last year for dirt cheap and I dragged my feet on it, stupid stupid stupid!


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## Hukshawn

Curious... Can gears be cut with a spin index....?


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## Dabbler

-- have a look at xynudu's thing on gear cutting...  He doesn't use an indexing head, but uses a paper pattern easily printed from his friend's website....  have a look at all his gear cutting videos for neat ideas...

try viewing this first:


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## Hukshawn

I've seen the paper idea before. Definitely an option.


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## Hukshawn

It appears someone replaced the very expensive spindle bearings with just regular 6206ze bearings.... 

Jesus Christ, I'm starting to think I got hosed...


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## RandyM

Hukshawn said:


> It appears someone replaced the very expensive spindle bearings with just regular 6206ze bearings....
> 
> Jesus Christ, *I'm starting to think I got hosed*...



It all depends on what you paid for the machine. If you got a really good deal, well then these things can be expected. If you didn't..........................well yeah, you are coming up on the short end. We have all been there. The thing now is to vision a future with a sweet running machine making some really coooool things.


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## Hukshawn

RandyM said:


> It all depends on what you paid for the machine. If you got a really good deal, well then these things can be expected. If you didn't..........................well yeah, you are coming up on the short end. We have all been there. The thing now is to vision a future with a sweet running machine making some really coooool things.


$1450


Tell me, the factory in which this machine was apparently heavily used, with the really cheap maintanence department, replaced the precision, high radial loads capable bearings, with just a regular sealed bearing. 

The bearing ran smooth until I put some oil in it and it loosened the grease, now it does a bit of clunking when spun. Is that a bad bearing disguised by grease or does the bearing require grease over oil? 

Second, with the machine in the shape it's in, and it's just a home shop machine, is it worth putting that super expensive bearing in? Or will a good quality regular bearing suffice?


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## RandyM

Hukshawn said:


> $1450
> 
> 
> Tell me, the factory in which this machine was apparently heavily used, with the really cheap maintanence department, replaced the precision, high radial loads capable bearings, with just a regular sealed bearing.
> 
> The bearing ran smooth until I put some oil in it and it loosened the grease, now it does a bit of clunking when spun. Is that a bad bearing disguised by grease or does the bearing require grease over oil?



I'd say the grease was hiding the bearing deficiencies and I'd replace the bearing.



Hukshawn said:


> Second, with the machine in the shape it's in, and it's just a home shop machine, is it worth putting that super expensive bearing in? Or will a good quality regular bearing suffice?



Only you can answer that question. Is it worth it to you? If you go the cheap route I'd think you'd be putting bearings in it all the time. Personally, I am one to make things right and would repair the machine properly. Good luck.


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## Hukshawn

RandyM said:


> Personally, I am one to make things right and would repair the machine properly.


I can appreciate that. But at $300 for the pair, along with the other 3 bearings, the 5/32" aluminum tubing and ferrules for the one shot oiler, I'm starting to climb up well into the "too much money right now" zone. I can't hide those expenditures from the Warden... 

I have been back and forth with my local supply, I will see what's available for the higher quality of the non precision bearings and go from there. And all the power quill stuff will be put on the back burner until some far off later date. 
My wife is supportive of my hobbies, she is not supportive of the money spent - which is an oxymoron, I realize. And it's already a bone of contention. 

For now, I'll get all those bearings in and continue on the clean up/paint. It'll be a good running machine none the less, when I'm done.


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## BGHansen

Hukshawn said:


> Well, I decided to make a new thread in the right area. This is likely to be a long process. Hopefully not terribly expensive too. Wife is mad enough how much money as time I've spent on this already.
> 
> So, the First j-head column mill.
> View attachment 243864
> 
> 
> I played around with it and noticed it has some war wounds. I picked this up from a guy a few hours away from me who retrieved it as a bit f payment for work he did in a factory. I believe he was an electrician who also built conveyor belts.
> 
> I bought it for $1450. I think it was a fair deal.
> The machine is filthy, but useable as is.
> View attachment 243867
> View attachment 243869
> View attachment 243870
> 
> 
> 
> I like clean machines, but usually don't wind up cleaning them up before I use them. This time I wanted to clean it up first.
> So, I decided to tear it down. Found some parts that could be replaced. Some bearings, the x table brass nuts, and found the quill feed doesnt work.
> 
> View attachment 243872
> 
> The worm gear is shredded.
> Also can feel some broken gears inside the quill fine feed.
> 
> To be continued.


Looks like you have a bit of a project.  On the other hand, if you do rebuild it, you'll know every nuance about the machine.  Sounds like no casting are broken, just the normal wear and tear items.  Enjoy the adventure, and maybe make something for your wife.

Bruce


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## Hukshawn

Ohh, I can't stay mad at a face like that...





Edit: jeez, looks a lot smaller when all taken apart sitting on the bench. But the new paint makes it look a million bucks better.


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## Hukshawn

Well, it is fully disassembled. I had to set up a makeshift crane to get, what I'm going to call the turret, off and the column. Then there were 6 bolts holding the flange that holds the column down, I had to heat those with a torch to get them out. Nearly set all the varsol in sump on fire, well actually, I did set it on fire, I had to put it out with a fire extinguisher. Haha. Good thing it was only varsol, really slow burn. I didn't panic! 

Honestly, I took it down this far all because I really want to clean the sump out so I can use it. Otherwise I'm sure I could have cleaned and painted the mill body intact. Feels good to have it all apart to clean real well. I have not come across anything further broken. So now it's all uphill from here. I'll spend the next several days cleaning the crrraapppp off everything and give it a nice paint job and in the mean time I'm sure my bearings will come in. 
I have yet to talk to my supplier about what bearings to use in the spindle. I might just a high quality non precision bearings instead of the $300 bearings. It's just not feasible right now. If a time comes where I wear out whatever I put in or I find there's too much run out, I'll take the plunge. Now that I've torn into it this far I will feel comfortable taking it apart to get the spindle out.


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## Dabbler

wow... that is ambitious.  I have an odler mill, and all I've gotten to is doing an upper head rebuild.  I admire your grit!


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## Hukshawn

Since it's not a knee mill, the lower end was easy... well, the cleanup won't be. It's pretty caked


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## Hukshawn

The clean up and paint is done. Looks a bit rough, wish I had the time and space to strip the old chipped paint off. It just looks like I painted over beat up paint, which is exactly what I did. But still 100% better than what it was before.







And I scrubbed the sump out. Maaan, what a goopy mess that was...



Now I'll wait a week for the paint to dry fully, stone all sliding and mating surfaces to remove any paint, debris, burrs, etc, and start putting it back together!


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## RandyM

Looking good Shawn. Thank you for sharing your project with us.


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## Hukshawn

Now you can really see the size of my garage and why a knee mill really would not have worked. Lol.


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## Hukshawn

Some bearings came in today. The step pulley bearings and the hand crank bearing.
The pulley setup sounds superb now.
However, when trying to put the pulley back in the housing with the lift/gear change assembly, I realized I basically had to rebuild the whole set up. After hours of pissing around with stripped threads, galling, wrong bolts, I just rebuilt it.
The shoulder bolts that thread into the pulley body that are lifted by the change lever were stripped, not to mention the wrong bolts. The assembly was worn out enough that the pulley wouldn't fully lift off the cog on the top of the spindle. Sooooo, I drilled and tapped new holes for the shoulder bolts, cut a spacer/shim ring to go under the lift ring/collar to give a bit more height, and filed/sanded all mating/sliding surfaces to make movement smoother cause it just galled before.

Everything works now, smooth, engages and disengages as it should. Only issue now, the break ring has a worn section and an unworn section that sat above the top of the pulley. Since the pulley is slightly higher now it just skims that unworn section of brake. Just enough to create an annoying ring. Nothing I'll worry about at this point. I'm sure it'll settle or wear a happy spot.
I also wrapped the brake spreader with a copper shim cause the brake wouldn't engauage anymore. Fix what ya got rather than spend more money... Now the brake catches and works great. I will keep an eye on it over time to make sure it doesn't wear right through.



The light gray/white looks nice, but maaan it grabs dirty finger prints. I keep wiping everything down after I'm done a step.



I also have part of the table back together. Re did all the oiler system. Cleaned untold amounts of crap out of the holes. No way oil was getting through there before. And it showed - the ways have lost all the hand scraping. The y slide gets real tight if you travel beyond the worn area, near the column.




I turned a brass ball to replace the missing plunger handle. Fastest brass knob I ever cut. Seconds!



I'm going to ATTEMPT to turn new nuts... I have to use my friend's lathe again since I can't turn the 5tpi acme thread. I will turn each piece as one then part then in half in order to get the two threaded pieces to adjust the backlash. I had picked out a piece of good bearing bronze at the metal shop until I got to cash and found out it was $150... I promptly returned it to the shelf and grabbed a smaller section of regular brass for $50. Lol.
If I can make the nuts, it'll be nearly $80 cheaper than ordering from H&W


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## Dabbler

so you have a 'First' mill too!  any problems with interchanging parts?  mine is from 1991, but been abused.  It'll take a full rebuild... someday... but now I can cut chips with it, so - later!


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## Hukshawn

I have been going through the H&W machinery website looking for parts. I haven't actually ordered anything beyond bearings, and I just order what the bearing actually is. I can't justify ordering from H&W due to cost to Canada with conversion. Basically add $40 to every part ordered to actually get it to my door. So, I'm resorting to making what I need. 
However, from going through the site it looks like a vast majority of the parts are identical. I downloaded a Bridgeport rebuild manual from here a few weeks ago and it's verbatim. It's exactly the same with the exception of a vari speed drive. Mines a pulley. But even the pulley and timing stuff is the same. 

So, the head and table are identical. However, nothing else is. But that doesn't leave much. 

What kind of a First do you have? A knee?


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## Dabbler

I have a knee First mill on the BP #2 pattern, so it is a 9" X 49"  It was made in Taiwan, approx 1991.  It is really gummed up, and needs a complete overhaul.  On the plus side, the ways look great, and it came with a Mitutoyo DRO installed.  I'm a convert to DRO on a mill...

Once I get around to it, I'll post photos of my rebuild.  First I have a surface grinder to finish and then a tool and cutter grinder to do.  I'm assuming the mill will hold together until then.


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## Hukshawn

Bit of an update.
Been a slow week. Kiddo has been sick again, wife is busy with school work, and I had no access to a lathe to thread the new lead screw brass nuts to 5 tpi. Kinda stinks the last few actual projects I've needed to thread I couldn't even thread on my lathe. I think once I have the equipment to cut gears, I may figure out if I can cut a change gear to expand my lathes thread abilities to the lower tpi's. I'm sure I'll have to call on the folk here for help with the math.

Yesterday I was able to temporarly set up my friend's lathe in his barn. Breaks my heart the way he takes care of his machines. The ways were already rusty, but where he has his equipment temporarly stored is close enough to the big barn sliding doors that rain gets in and onto the lathe. So there was new rust on the old surface rust. Uhhg...
I spent an hour scrubbing, honing, and oiling his machine before I was able to use it.
I ran a cable from an electrical panel over to the lathe to power it.

But I was successful. It's really quite nerve racking when you only have one shot to not screw up a part.. one wrong turn of a dial, one missed notch on the thread dial, one slip, and the whole piece is ruined...
I had to hand file the keyway as I didn't set up his mill. He has it on a rotary phase converter with a transformer since it's a 3 phase 600v motor, kinda dumb, actually... The cabtire cable I had as temp power isn't heavy enough for the draw of that set up. However, I may have talked him into a motor swap project, to a 2 hp single phase. He didn't think it was possible. I said all kinds of guys have changed the motor. At worse, you have to build a mounting plate. Easily done out of an aluminum plate. He was intrigued.



I have the Y feed nut pressed in, gapped, and locked in place.



Maybe this week if I have time I'll get the x axis nut key way cut, parted in half, pressed in and gapped. Then I can fully reassemble the table.

Also, my spindle bearings should be in tomorrow.
I went with a good brand name off the shelf bearings instead of the ABEC 7 bearing. That supplier was $300 A PIECE... for the ABEC 7 bearing. And didn't have anything in between.
He thinks for my home application they will be fine for a number of years. And at $21 a piece, I'll change them yearly if I have to. I honestly don't think it'll matter. This machine is worn out enough I won't notice.

Thanks for reading.

Onward!


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## Dabbler

nice work on the threading job!  Cuting threads under those conditions!  wow.


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## Hukshawn

Sweeeeeeeeeeet mama-jama... I could NOT have been more wrong about the spindle bearings. Goooooood lord. 
See, I never took the spindle out cause I had to make a tool to get the collar nut off. I was reading the smaller top bearing, and to my delight, is the crunchy bearing. I cleaned out the actual spindle bearings and they sound fine. 
For Christ's snakes... 
So, now I can replace the smaller 6206 and put all this back together.


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## Dabbler

- you dodged the bullet...  My friend with a BP clone changes bearings with goup 3 bearings about every 4 or 5 years, and  they are 1/4 the price of precision bearings.  On that machine he holds .001 tolerance over the entire range (he uses a DRO to help with that.


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## Hukshawn

Pretty much everything mechanical that is going to be assembled at this point is. I need to put the electrical back together, however, I may change it. The machine came with a magnetic contactor as well as a DTDP switch, but I installed a disconnect just behind the head, so I may just remove the contactor as it serves no purpose.






I've left everything to do with the quill power feed out. I have to rebuild the whole set up.  and frankly, I'm not sure I'll ever have power feed. Just too many parts broken and missing. I do want to at least have the fine feed knob working. that will take some machining to get running. 

The mill came with a box or random worn out goodies that I had gone through, dug out some half decent parallels, which is great cause I didn't have any. But the vise it came with is embarassing... No, worse than that, it's depressing...






I was going to add it to the Christmas list for my wife, but I've already added too many expensive things to get me started in cutting gears. So, I may just have to use this embarrassment for the time being. Maybe I'll make new jaws.


Almost ready to cut chips!


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## Bob Korves

Hukshawn said:


> But the vise it came with is embarassing... No, worse than that, it's depressing...


Iron worms!  Make sure you put out some bait to kill them.   If nothing else, make some jaws from mild steel.  That is what I did with my BP vise, and I now prefer them to hard jaws.  I bought enough material to make another set should I screw them up or more hopefully when (IF!) they ever wear out.


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## Hukshawn

The softer jaws should save the tool bits if I happen to run into it one day, good idea. 
In the goodies box it looks like this vise may have had a few pairs of jaws... 
I don't understand the condition of this vise. Never in my life have I ever thought it reasonable to just drill right into a vise or whatever material laying below. Just goes to show the calibre of people who were running this machine in its past life. 

I didn't look at this machine as being clapped out or in horrible condition to think I paid too much when I first started. It just was what it was. but looking back, it really is all of those things. This machine was in bad shape, it had been used very heavily and wrecklesly. At least the main moving parts of the machine still worked, I suppose...


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## Dabbler

Well you have the machine now and it looks like you are ready to cut chips.  It looks like the vise still will do the job, it is just looking like it was treated... badly.  It still will be functional until you can get a more modern (and unravished) vise.


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## Hukshawn

I was able to power it up last night. It's really quite quiet. But in that quietness I could hear just a little bit of noise coming from the spindle bearings. Undesirable noise... I flooded it with oil, ran it again at top speed, could still hear it. So I left it. I really hope the oil will permeate and it'll be okay..........


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## Dabbler

My friend Bert has been running his BP on noisy bearings for about 3 years now, and he uses cheaper bearings.  He still gets great finish and accurate work out of it.  He is trying to see just how far he can go with this set. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that a little noise shouldn't give you many problems, assuming proper installation, etc...


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## Hukshawn

So, last night when I ran the mill, I flooded the spindle with oil. In the gits cup and down the top of the spindle from up above. Tonight I come out and most of that oil has leaked out, which I expected... What I didn't expect it was to be black with shavings... 
*Queue record scratch...* 

Now, i cleaned this head, spotless... So it's not old dirt. 
I had the mill running, on and off several times over the course of about 10 mins listening to the little noises of the bearings, trying to pin point where it was coming from. 
So, I'm panicking thinking I've ground the bearings into dust somehow... 
I pull the spindle out, all the grease has leeched out of the new top bearing, fine, I plan on oiling regularly anyways, it was bound to happen, but the spindle and bearings are clean. Oily, by clean. So where the heck did all the shavings come from...?! 

Note, I used the brake numerous times last night. 
So begs the question, can the brake dust and fibers mix with the oil squirted down through the top of the mill (as per the instructions printed right on the head, oil weekly from the top...)
	

		
			
		

		
	




Is it possible the brake dust mixed with the oil and poured out the bottom? Has anyone had that happen?


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## 4GSR

You would be surprised at what can leech out of a bearing that you thought you got cleaned and put back together.  The oil you are using, I assume is the ISO 46 oil, will help extract hidden debris that you though got cleaned out earlier.  I doubt any dust from the brake would be getting down into the bearing this early in life after rebuilding.  Ken


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## Hukshawn

There was a LOT of filings...


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## Hukshawn

Uhhg. That vise is sooooo bad... I can't get any accuracy out of it. 
Looking at getting this 
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B01MA...0409&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=6"+milling+vise&dpPl=1&dpID=41tAfTBhnPL&ref=plSrch

This old Tony bought and reviewed a very similar vise and gave it good reviews. It looks the same, and likely made by the same manufacturer just stamped with a different name.


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## Hukshawn

Bit of an update.
The mill is fully assembled, and running. I added igaging DRO's, I wasn't going to use igaging and look for a glass scale unit, but, i caved as i ran out of money and couldn't find something affordable. I left all the quill power feed guts out to slowly rebuild it all. I have been having a dilemma over a dividing head/rotary table/spin indexer to make the gears i need.
I borrowed a friends 8" rotary table to give it a shot. With the bolt circle calculator from LMS, i was able to use the degrees to hog out a gear. The first of many hopefully.









This gear is part of the clutch assembly. My goal right now is to have a functioning fine feed knob, and worry about all the clutch and power feed down the road. So, the worm gear and face gear (I'm sure all my terminology will be all wrong...) seem to have been fixed by a hammer and chisel mechanic years ago, but it seems intact and complete. So i made the connecting clutch gear, my plan is to put a key way in it, use a valve spring to compress the two together, and have some kind of release mechanism to allow me to run the fine feed knob when i want and disengage it when I want to use the handle on the other size. But its a start...


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## markba633csi

I'm a little confused- is this a Bridgeport product or some type of hybrid?  Or is the whole thing a clone?
I've never seen one quite like it
Mark S.
ps Oh I see it is a clone- never mind.  Kinda cool machine actually.  Rare.


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## Hukshawn

The machine is a bit of a mishmash. The j-head is an exact copy of a Bridgeport pulley drive head, the tables are the same, but the body and column are totally different.


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## Hukshawn

SPARE PARTS!!!! 
$180, 30 minute drive, good chat with a very nice fellow with 1 leg. 
He had a Bridgeport quill and head he bought 10 years ago for one reason or another. Reduced the price for me quite a bit, and tried to give some of my cash back once I got there, I refused. Looks like the power feed is intact and working. The missing parts are parts I have and are in better shape, but the missing clutch and broken gears are all here in this replacement. I'm thrilled!


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## Hukshawn

The story with this head is, it was picked up by a scrap guy. He was just going to scrap it. Then the guy I bought it off took it off his hands. 
Boggles the mind how there's guys out there who couldn't care less about something when it could be so critical to someone who needs it.


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## Hukshawn

These spindle bearings might be good, too. I just took the spindle out. The bearings were frozen, but I flooded them with oil and freed them up. They are a little noisy in my hand, but not crunchy with no detents. I assume the noise is from all the crud in them. I'll clean them all up and see how they are. I might have a spare pair of bearings too! Or I can send them to someone in need.


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## richl

Man, you really worked hard for this machine. Glad to see you are almost there. Great looking machine.


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## Hukshawn

I have been able to harvest a shmorgishborg of very healthy parts from that Bridgeport head. The gears were PACKED in very gooey, smelly, grease. But thank goodness, cause they would have been rusty and seized if not. I'll clean everything up soon and start getting it all installed on mine. 
I considered cleaning up the Bridgeport head itself and using it instead of my clone, but, that seems like a lot of work. But time will tell. Then I'd really have a frankenmachine on my hands.


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## rrjohnso2000

Devcon metal epoxy can fill in that vise, get some jaws and you will have a very ugly but functional vise.

Nice work getting her cleaned up. Very glad you looked for spare parts.


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## gaston

doesnt appear to be a "bridreport clone" more like an early "jet round column  mill drill or clone . what make is it??, and I hate to hurt your feelings but for 1400+ id say you got " hosed" I had a "clapped out one simular and was glad to get 200$ for it !! 
looks like you bought your self a real learning experence I hope you can source parts to get it up and running. ,keep posting your hard work


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## Hukshawn

It's a First mill. There's lots of them. 
And yes, considering the condition, I got hosed. I'm aware. And yes, a learning experience. It's running now. It runs really quite well. It's not actually as worn out as it appeared. There was just a lot of broken parts in the head. Like I said before, someone crashed the quill power feed, either more than a few times, or once really really hard. Like, walked away from boring a hole for a half hour and came back to find the thing exploded. Then a mechanic just scrap most of the parts.


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## Hukshawn

gaston said:


> doesnt appear to be a "bridreport clone" more like an early "jet round column  mill drill or clone . what make is it??, and I hate to hurt your feelings but for 1400+ id say you got " hosed" I had a "clapped out one simular and was glad to get 200$ for it !!
> looks like you bought your self a real learning experence I hope you can source parts to get it up and running. ,keep posting your hard work


You know, your words kind of stuck with me for the past few days. I hadn’t actually considered myself hosed at any point. I did talk the guy down $200 and I felt I had a decent machine. I knew from the start that I was going to rebuild the machine. How else do you learn and familiarize yourself with something better than tearing it down and rebuilding it. 
Even when my wife got upset with me cause I needed to buy tooling to build tooling to fabricate replacement parts because it was too expensive to buy them. 
Even when I said myself that I was sold a lemon.
I still hadn’t considered myself ripped off. 
I saved up the money, I drove 3 hours to buy this machine. I brought it home, and now it’s mine. No matter what condition it was in, it was MY machine now. 
I guess I just didn’t look at it from the outside or from a purchase standpoint. I took immediate ownership of this machine and made it my own. And now, it runs great, I have the parts to fix the power feed, I have many plans to improve the machine, add other power feeds, build tooling, and I will likely own this thing forever. 
I guess, as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Am I crazy? Likely. Aren’t we all tho? We picked an incredibly expensive, time consuming, and ridiculous hobby! 
My wife reads... that’s what she likes to do. Sit, and read. Library books, in fact. Doesn’t cost us a dime. Me on the other hand, well... we don’t talk about that.


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## Dabbler

Huckshawn I'd say that after your rebuild you will be very happy with it.  It seems to be a clone of one of the small british mills with Bridgeport head clone for the spindle - for the US market.  It looks like it was from the 70s, because in the 80s they just copied the BP.  What's important is that you can turn good qulaity steel into good quality chips.  Some of the guys here just can't imagine how lean the pickings are here in Canada.  I've seen Chinese BP clone mills go for $7000 at auction - that were totally abused!

I paid North of $3000 for my 9 X 49 BP clone, with a broken down quill feed.  However it had a 1994 Mitutoyo 2 axis DRO one it.  And the ways were in good condition.


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## Tozguy

I don't see how anyone can say it was a good deal or not without being there from the start before the bidding.
No two persons will value things the same way.

Shawn, that's a lot of machine for the money. It seems to me that you got a lot of enjoyment from it so far and that it will be very useful for you. That's not crazy to me.


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## Hukshawn

Dabbler said:


> Huckshawn I'd say that after your rebuild you will be very happy with it.  It seems to be a clone of one of the small british mills with Bridgeport head clone for the spindle - for the US market.  It looks like it was from the 70s, because in the 80s they just copied the BP.  What's important is that you can turn good qulaity steel into good quality chips.  Some of the guys here just can't imagine how lean the pickings are here in Canada.  I've seen Chinese BP clone mills go for $7000 at auction - that were totally abused!
> 
> I paid North of $3000 for my 9 X 49 BP clone, with a broken down quill feed.  However it had a 1994 Mitutoyo 2 axis DRO one it.  And the ways were in good condition.


Was built in '89, the motor/pulley, head/quill, and tables are exact bp copies. Only odd parts are the column and base. 

Thanks for the kind words.


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## RandyM

Shawn,

I too am on your side, it is difficult to judge anything completely when buying used. I am sure we all have that same learning experience with a used car. I really like your attitude that you feel you still go a fair deal. Placing value on things is a completely individual thing and no matter how hard you try there are others that are so frugal that then will never understand our point of view. I bought my used 1959 Bridgeport for $3500 and have yet to see on the great wide web anyone else pay that kind of price for one. I even tore it down and completely redid it, every nut and bolt. I am an extremely happy camper no matter what anyone else thinks. What people seem to forget is we are playing in an industrial hobby. I think the used machines are really good value to help us do what we like to do.  Keep up the good fight. We are all pulling for you. You'll have a very nice machine you can be proud of.


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## Hukshawn

Well, here are all the parts I salvaged from the old cruddy Bridgeport head.
Im happy that everything fit. Some parts needed to go together and weren’t able to be mixed. for example, the feed engage worm gear and handle needed to go together. I couldn’t use my mills handle with the Bridgeport’s work gear assembly, it fit, but was very tight making shifting difficult. Put the Bridgeport’s handle on and it was very smooth. Same with the two clutch gears, they seem to be matched. Not in the teeth, but in their size. Seems the First’s clutch worm gear is shorter than the Bridgeport’s. With the clutch installed, engaging the feed did nothing, it didn’t reach the teeth. With the washer installed, it was too far out and I couldn’t get the clutch cap on.




Here a short video of the feed. I’m terrible at one handed filming. I don’t do too many videos.
I’m aware my spring is too tight as the quill springs back up on its own, and I have everything swimming in oil right now.

Also, everything to do with my quill dro scale is completely in the way of the depth stop screw... gonna have to move some of that stuff around.


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## Hukshawn

Also, it seems the trip functions are finicky... I have the push rod sitting in place under the trip plunger and I can push up on it with the handle of an Allen wrench. It trips the plunger but the clutch doesn’t always fully disengage. I put a heavier spring in the clutch arm spring push pin thingy and it helps push the clutch arm over but it’s not fool proof. Sometimes when I trip the clutch it just keeps feeding cause the clutch won’t fully disengage. Is that clear as mud? Have I just confused everyone? 
Anyone have experience with that? Is there an adjustment to help the clutch fully trip every time? That’s not really something you don’t want to work 110% of the time. I’m sure that’s how this power feed got chowdered in the first place... should I just put a heavier spring in till it trips completely every time?


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## Hukshawn

OR... since the clutch does trip, will the stopping force of the depth stop kind of kick the clutch out the rest of the way? Am I banging my head off a wall over nothing because I don’t have the depth stop installed properly?


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## Hukshawn

Well, it's complete. The sketchy tripping was solved by cleaning up and swapping the trip handle assembly for the Bridgeport one. Then it worked great. 

So, from totally smashed to now working perfectly.






The different colour handles are from the Bridgeport head. 






I'm really happy. This frankenmill is 100% functional now. 
My next projects on here are a power x axis feed. 
I have a small 110v winch that I'm going to use the gear motor from, I'm going to make a variable speed pulley and use that as my x axis power feed. That should be a fun project. 

I also have the empty Bridgeport quill and power head. I may clean them up and see if someone wants it or just keep it for that one day down the road if I ever wanted to switch to a full Bridgeport head on a Taiwan mill. 




Big change!


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## RandyM

Shawn, It's turning out great! You'll now be able to make and modify all kinds of things. Let the projects begin, and it looks like with a power feed. Nice job!


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