Bridgeport Question

[chips&more]

I had to get it pretty quickly and went over and moved it near the shop door with an engine hoist ...I was going to hire someone to get it from there as the hoist was close to useless and would never get it high enough for the trailer . No takers on the hire so I decided to build a gantry crane . That what you see around the mill in the trailer. It's wide enough to straddle the trailer and ten foot tall. It assembles in about 15 to 20 minutes and I bought a 2 ton chainfall . The whole show was less than $150 and was money well spent. The mill handles are surface rust. the table mostly oil and grease ...It looks better than the photo shows. I cleaned up one side and it looks good but it could go right into service the way it is , but i'll clean it up a little. I have a nice 5/8" jacobs chuck that needs an r8 adapter it's threaded 3/4 16 and I'm wondering if that's a bad idea to use a threaded chuck,probably it is a bad idea! I have other jacobs chucks but they are 1/2 "

I hear you on the concern for run out on a thread mount chuck. I also have a 5/8” chuck but can’t recall the last time I needed it? But good to have, can’t have enough toys! I have many many chucks in the piles, but I grab my favorite ½” Jacobs 99% of the time. I do not like the keyless chucks. My favorite chuck is not ball bearing either. Just a standard Jacobs. But it holds tooling true and for that reason, I use it and will never let it leave my sight. I would hunt down a chuck that holds tooling true and not be overly concerned about appearance and or other factors. I just realized a threaded chuck could unscrew on you when in use!

 

[jocat54]

I had to get it pretty quickly and went over and moved it near the shop door with an engine hoist ...I was going to hire someone to get it from there as the hoist was close to useless and would never get it high enough for the trailer . No takers on the hire so I decided to build a gantry crane . That what you see around the mill in the trailer. It's wide enough to straddle the trailer and ten foot tall. It assembles in about 15 to 20 minutes and I bought a 2 ton chainfall . The whole show was less than $150 and was money well spent. The mill handles are surface rust. the table mostly oil and grease ...It looks better than the photo shows. I cleaned up one side and it looks good but it could go right into service the way it is , but i'll clean it up a little. I have a nice 5/8" jacobs chuck that needs an r8 adapter it's threaded 3/4 16 and I'm wondering if that's a bad idea to use a threaded chuck,probably it is a bad idea! I have other jacobs chucks but they are 1/2 "

Care to share the details on your gantry build?

 

[uncle harry]

I had to get it pretty quickly and went over and moved it near the shop door with an engine hoist ...I was going to hire someone to get it from there as the hoist was close to useless and would never get it high enough for the trailer . No takers on the hire so I decided to build a gantry crane . That what you see around the mill in the trailer. It's wide enough to straddle the trailer and ten foot tall. It assembles in about 15 to 20 minutes and I bought a 2 ton chainfall . The whole show was less than $150 and was money well spent. The mill handles are surface rust. the table mostly oil and grease ...It looks better than the photo shows. I cleaned up one side and it looks good but it could go right into service the way it is , but i'll clean it up a little. I have a nice 5/8" jacobs chuck that needs an r8 adapter it's threaded 3/4 16 and I'm wondering if that's a bad idea to use a threaded chuck,probably it is a bad idea! I have other jacobs chucks but they are 1/2 "

I wonder if the threaded chuck configuration has an accurate register much like a threaded lathe chuck. If that is the case it should be capable of providing good run out accuracy with a suitable arbor.

 

[rafe]

Care to share the details on your gantry build?

Sure , what I will do is photo document the next set up will be a couple of weeks before I get to it. Here are a few flea market items i picked up today .....both indicators are good Starrett and Ames .0005's
the rest speak for themselves ....what is the piece (3rd from left) with the pivoting arm for? I think the one with the spring is fine adjustment. The black one with the allen heads (4th from left) has a dovetailed holder for my federal indicator, which was just dumb luck to find and was worth the 20 I spent for the lot (to me) I hope I didn't overpay...... Well I think I just answered my own question, that arm mounts on a dial indicator and will act as a lever on the plunger. Is there a specific purpose for that kind of set-up?

 

[Bill C.]

Here is the picture, The PO has been using grease not way oil ....How much of a problem has this caused? I really do not want to disassemble this beast. I think I'll just flush it out with way oil as I use it . It won't be getting set in the shop for a few weeks at least .....I'll likely pick up a rebuild manual from Wells . Does anyone have any input on them?View attachment 121986 All it came with was the criterion boring head

Remove one zerk fitting for draining and see if you can force the grease out with way oil into the other. Zerk fittings are good for pressure lubrication. Nice BP, I think most of us cut our teeth on that knee mill.

 

[tertiaryjim]

I've tried to flush ways and gibbs out on lathes as well as mills. It never worked!
Ya got to pull em apart to get all the crud and grease out.
Grease holds trash and turns into lapping compound.
If it was kept clean and well greased it might be in exceptional condition.
The ways would have to have been adjusted a bit loose to get grease into them.

 

[rafe]

Not much progress lately as other projects are taking precedence. I pulled off the table motor and cleaned it up ...the wires are cracked . the cable from that motor to the junction box has disintegrated rubber BAD ...that gets replaced the main wire looks good. I will likely just slip heat shrink tubing over the motor wires ....as it looks like a real bear to split the masters motor ....any one have experience with these motors? I'll test for continuity. They are cracks from being brittle and are intact whereas the cable is soft rubber that is falling apart . It's close to the shop now but still on the trailer, I am going to put it outside one of the garage doors and build a room around it....it's a bit crowded in there I could manage it ,but this will work better. On a footnote ,I saved a Snap-on valve-refacer from the smelter real nice machine in greasy but cleaned up to real nice working shape. good stones, all there....I'll be doing some heads as soon as the mill is set up ....

 

[rafe]

I tested the three wires going into the motor 38-39 ohms does this sound about right ?
I slipped heat shrink over them to keep them isolated from each other and the frame.

 

[rafe]

Care to share the details on your gantry build?

Pretty simple engineering really, 5 structure and 6 braces The feet have pockets that the braces(4) sit in (the braces are interchangeable) they get tacked with a screw to the posts.
The top braces sit in the notch you see and slide inside between the 2x8 header and get tacked with a screw in each
there is a 3/8"pin (4) through each leg top and bottom. Each foot and the header is bolted and that is about it.

 

[rafe]

The photo above shows the mill hanging in the air! It took about 1/2 hour to put it(gantry) back together. The mill is now on the ground there and covered up again. I was able to get some information on the motor and it should be fine. I slipped heatshrink over the cracked wires and should get plenty of service from it. I replaced the cord from the motor to the junction box and put a new cord from that box that will wire up to my phase converter the head cable was (is ) fine. It is going in front of the door on the right and I am going to build around it as the shop in kind of tight .....That is the plan for now but it could change again.