Bridgeport mill restoration

[David]

Thought I would try to post some photos of my 1958 Bridgeport rebuild. This project took about 10 weeks to complete. It was a lot work but the results were worth it! The machine was sitting for several years and needed alot of cleaning. One photo shows the machine before I took possession and the rest are of the rebuild.

Thanks for looking.

David

 

[David]

Paddy

I chose not to have the ways rescraped at this time. There was some wear, mainly due to grease instead of oil in the passages! Suprisingly minimal, considering its age.

The gibs were cleaned and inspected and reinstalled and are tight, so no replacement needed.

The machine had about 25 thou. backlash when I brought it home. I split the feed screw nuts in half ( as recommended) and adjusted. Both now have about 6 thou. backlash and run smooth. Both screws and nuts were ok to reuse.

I replaced all bearings in head except spindle bearings. The spindle bearings were cleaned, checked, oiled and felt good, so I reinstalled. Will SEE?!!

It is hard to see exactly what you have until it is torn completely down. It is alot of work to do this type of rebuild. That said, I have about $300 in replacement parts, so I am happy with that.

David

 

[Pacer]

"It is hard to see exactly what you have until it is torn completely down. It is alot of work to do this type of rebuild. That said, I have about $300 in replacement parts, so I am happy with that."

That is a Soooo true a statement!

I am currently involved - deeply - in a rebuild of an Induma mill (Bridgeport type) and even when looking at the thing to buy, it was obvious that is was mistreated, only when I started the tear down did it really show its 'warts'. After probably a couple hundred hours, I just this week finished all the many, many problems it had (thank goodness Im retired!) and still have the cleaning/stripping/painting to do.

With your Bridgy looking sooo good, I can certainly appreciate all the work you had to have put in it - I hope mine will turn out so good!

Good work...

 

[HMF]

Beautiful job! This will definitely go into the restoration section of the home page with the articles.


Nelson

 

[David]

Thanks for looking and all the kind words! It really feels good to save a machine and bring it back to life. May pass it on someday to a young person wanting to learn the machining trade. I have a Keller elecric hack saw that I am going to post in the for sale section. It will be a nice machine to bring back to life also.

Thanks
David

 

[smallfly]

THAT IS A BEAUTIFULL BRIDGEPORT!!--i like the way it is on wheels--it moves around the shop--thats unique. iam right in the middle of the same rebuild on a 1969 bridgeport with a j-2 head. iam in s.w. montana and wondering if anyone of you guys out there has ever had the ''dovetails and or ways and or table reground on this type of mill. can't fnd anyone in mt. to do this type of machine work. that's why we call this place ''NO-WHERE MONTANA''- i can transport with trailer as mill is diassembled and cleaned.the areas with the blue dykem still have the ''FROSTING FINISH'' not sure how much work it is going to take to bring it back so i can accomplish accurate machineing?? ---my MAIN CONCERN is that the work is done correctly the first time as i just want to make chips and only want to do 1 rebuild. heck --i can see all the work this entails - doing it once is enough. thanks for looking and thanks in advance for your thoughts and advice. re steve t. 406-596-7960

 

[David]

It has been awhile, but I thought I would show my latest addition to the mill. I have looked for a DRO for cheap and finally located a Sony Millman. Not much at all invested in this add-on. (0$) Took about 4 hours to install and works really well. I guess sometimes good things do come to those who wait!

Thanks for looking

David

 

[Charley Davidson]

Very nice

 

[David]

Thanks Charley. I need all the help I can get running this thing. The DRO is a great tool for someone like me.

 

[Charley Davidson]

I need one badly myself