Gorton 9J came home to roost.

cathead

cathead

CATWERKS LTD
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Today was hauling day and the Gorton 9J 3700 pound vertical mill is sitting in my driveway.
Unloading was somewhat interesting but uneventful thankfully. There are several things to fix and
lots of cleaning to do so will be busy with this for a while. The serial number is in the 191 range
so I am thinking it is a war vintage machine. Also, I see it has a U.S. government data tag on it.
I saved it from the salvage yard as it was slated to be shipped out and melted down. I am going to need
a good oil can for this machine as there are Gits oilers by the score. These machines are somewhat top heavy with the motor up high and weighing at least 150 pounds or so. I will have to make a spot for it in the corner of the
shop or possibly build a lean to roof and keep it there. The biggest repair I see is the cross feed screw being
bent. Also I am going to be in need of several feed wheels. Anyway, it's all good fun and hopefully it
can be restored to operating condition with some TLC and a fresh coat of paint. Here are several photos
as we unloaded the machine from the trailer. We had no way to lift it so had to slide it off the back of the trailer. View media item 96082View media item 96083View media item 96081View media item 96084
The last photo shows a little frosting on the Y axis ways so hopefully it has some life left.
Also, I was surprised that the table other than a bit rusty had no marks, or drill holes in it.
 
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What a great restoration project, you lucky dog.
 
Yesterday was day one for the 9J mill. The Y axis is free now and looks reasonably OK. The quill was
my biggest concern as it was stuck pretty tight. After much disassembly, It became free and operable.
The crank drive for the quill was taken apart as it was stuck as well. The tapered pin was sheared so
had to make a new one for the reassembly process. The head part is functioning now so on to more
cleaning and work on the lower areas. The bearings in the head seem OK but time will tell I guess.
I am going to have to run a lot of oil through the bearings until any traces of rust are gone. The bearings
themselves look OK and are not rusted. Today looks to be a rain day so the machine is tarp covered
at least till the rain subsides. More later.....

By the way, does anyone have any tips for flushing the quill bearings out?
 
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View media item 96127View media item 96126I made some progress today. I did a repair on the X axis feed rod as it was bent and the support broken.
I brazed the cast iron support and straightened the threaded rod. I don't know what it is made of but it
certainly resisted my efforts to be straightened. It isn't perfect but generally pretty good now. The Y axis
after cleaning and oiling works like a dream. I made a new handle crank for the X or Y axis as it can be moved
to either position. Also, I took apart all the gearing and cleaned up inside the gearbox. There was a lot of swarf
in the gears behind the table. Here's a few more photos of my progress.


[ 2017 at 2:35 PM[/GALLERY]View media item 96128View media item 96129View media item 96130Above photo is of my brazing repair of the X axis support.









Also with all the disassembly, I learned what most of the controls are so when it
comes time to power it up, it won't be a big surprise.

Another thing, now I know why 4GSR(Ken) mentioned that cranking the Z axis crank is no fun!
I have to guess the table and gearbox ETC weighs 500 pounds or so!
 
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Ulma Doctor said:
what a beautiful piece of iron! :drool:
Click to expand...

Thanks! This thing really isn't that worn out. I can't see any appreciable wear on the threaded rods. Basically
it is in pretty good condition generally. It was outside for over a year and there was not one control that
wasn't rusted solid, even the quill was stuck. I managed to loosen it by putting a hydraulic jack on the
table and pushing up. Also, lack of general care was noted. Whoever ran this machine was a lower
eschelon machinist in my opinion. On the positive side, it came to me for pennies on the dollar.:)
 
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cathead said:
..............
Another thing, now I know why 4GSR(Ken) mentioned that cranking the Z axis crank is no fun!
I have to guess the table and gearbox ETC weighs 500 pounds or so!
Click to expand...
Each turn of the elevation handwheel is 0.050". Most mills one turn is 0.100". Thats why I mentioned you'll be there a while raising and lowering the knee. Ken
 
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