Bridgeport Rehab - or How To Lose Your Wife In 10 Days

[mmcmdl]

My wife said no more machines back when we moved 2 houses up the road . ( 1993 ) The machines have been coming and going steadily since then , and she's still here . She rolls her eyes every time I go out on an adventure not knowing what Ill be dragging home .

 

[Firstram]

I also considered doing the split nut mod for the lead scews but decided to just continue with reassembly. Seems easy enough to get the nuts out if I want to do this in the future, but for now I just want to get this thing making chips as soon as possible.

I wish I had split mine 3 years ago, when I had it torn down. Just do it now because something else will keep you from getting back to it!

 

[Shotgun]

I'm with @Firstram. My Bridgeport CNC is going slow, because I want to make sure everything is exactly the way I want it. Too many times before I've been in a hurry to get to making chips, and then just learned to live with the constant irritation of the thing I didn't like.

It's like moving into have uncompleted house. Ten years later, there will still be a sheet serving as the door to a bedroom.

 

[jmiller]

I wish I had split mine 3 years ago, when I had it torn down. Just do it now because something else will keep you from getting back to it!

The band saw and lathe are just sitting right there with nothing to do... Probably jealous that the mill is getting all my attention...

 

[jmiller]

I'm with @Firstram. My Bridgeport CNC is going slow, because I want to make sure everything is exactly the way I want it. Too many times before I've been in a hurry to get to making chips, and then just learned to live with the constant irritation of the thing I didn't like.

It's like moving into have uncompleted house. Ten years later, there will still be a sheet serving as the door to a bedroom.

I'm a General Contractor by trade. They say a contractors house is never finished. I have baseboards missing from when I redid the flooring, unpainted trim, even a section of my fence is just a sheet of 7/16 plywood (its behind the shed, you can't even see it unless you go back there) .

I can hear my wife now "Can you finish the trim before you start a new project!? Why is that section of fence so ugly!? You never split the lead screw nuts on the Bridgeport like you said you would!"

I better just do it now lest it gets added to the honey-do list, or as I like to call it the honey-bucket cause all those projects sound like bull****.

 

[jmiller]

So I split my nuts. Easy enough. Freehand cut them on the horizontal bandsaw. My parting blade was wider than the kerf existing kerf.

Chucked them up in the lathe and faced them off. Only took a few minutes.

I remember the Y axis in particular had .040+ backlash before I took it apart. Interested to see just how tight I can get it now.

 

[mmcmdl]

So I split my nuts.

I didn't split 'em but I froze them off today ! Going from 93 to 53 today was quite a shock . No more shorts and tee shirts in Canada for me .

 

[jmiller]

Got a little carried away today and completely reassembled the knee. I still need go in and fine tune the backlash and gibs.


This mill came with an old Textron Bridgeport DRO. Ive been debating on whether or not to attempt to clean and reinstall it. The buttons are pretty wore out and I cant find the manual online so Im not sure what functions it offers let alone how to use them. And Ive heard it can be kind of iffy getting these things back on and working properly.

 

[mmcmdl]

The mill is looking great ! From the base , it's most likely a similar year of the one I have . Mine is a VS head model which requires more attention than a pulley head . Great job in your posting on the progress .

 

[jmiller]

I am definitely a boy that was never taught self control. I know I'm jumping the gun a bit but I just cant wait any longer. I must feed the beast.


This is just temporary so I can check the function of the head. I will do a proper enclosure and add some circuit protection later. I wired the VFD to the original power cable and rewired the forward/reverse switch to bypass the selector.

The lower terminals are jumpered to the upper terminals so this is essentially wired directly to the motor. The switch still looks original but serves no function. All control will be through the vfd for now. Made a cord that will plug into my welder extension cord to the 220 outlet across the garage. I will eventually run a new outlet to the wall behind the mill for power.