B-port clone rebuild

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Hukshawn]

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.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[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?

 

[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?

 

[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!

 

[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!