New Project - Hardinge BB4 Horizontal Mill

[AR1911]

A few years ago I was invited by a friend to his father-in-law's shop, where he was liquidating "all the junk" in case I was interested in it. The only thing I saw was a cute little horizontal mill. But another guy had already called dibs on it.
But I kept in touch, until recently I heard the guy was ready to sell it, having done nothing with it.

So long story short, here's what I ended up with:


It was made in 1943. It needs a motor and some sort of mount.

It came with the tooling you see here. The only major item missing is the dividing head, though it has the base, tailstock, drawbar and a couple of mounting centers for it.

Fortunately it came with the original vise, collets, drawbar, and two arbors.

I have spent the last week cleaning and stripping everything. Updates to follow

 

[AR1911]

Easy stuff first. This little worklight appears to be OE, though I can find no photos of any other BB4s with this, or any other light. This one cleaned up nicely and even works. New cord. It mounts to a hole in the knee, right side next to the dovetail. You can see the bare stalk in the photo above.

 

[raykehrhan]

Hello

Great that you where so persistent.. those are nice little mills, I had one and liked the way it was built. It had its own base with a little 3 phase motor in it, with multiple pulleys controlled by two levers on the mill itself.. Ridged and accurate..

Looking forward to seeing your restoration..

Ray

 

[AR1911]

Allegedly the previous owner got the OE motor and mounting plates with it, but says he doesn't think he has them anymore. I will probably use a 1-HP 3-phase with VFD, on a hinged plate.

I am a bit concerned if that will give me enough power. The OE setup had some reduction in the pulley system. I am pretty much stuck with 1-to-1, with all 3 belts transmitting the torque. I think the OE motor was smaller though.

 

[AR1911]

Cleaning parts, just about ready for paint.



The table was a pleasant surprise. Nary a mark on it.

 

[AR1911]

Bit of a problem here with the vise. It came with a chunk broken off, but retained with a screw. Not sure what function the screw's original purpose was, but currently it's holding the broken piece onto the base. The vise works fine like this.



I have glass-beaded the fracture and it's ready to re-join.
The plan is to use silver-solder. Does anyone here have experience with such a repair?

 

[AR1911]

Hello

Great that you where so persistent.. those are nice little mills, I had one and liked the way it was built. It had its own base with a little 3 phase motor in it, with multiple pulleys controlled by two levers on the mill itself.. Ridged and accurate..

I have had quite a few machines apart in recent years. This is both the smallest and the best-engineered to date. It's like a Swiss watch.

 

[AR1911]

Mostly painted now. Decided on a chalk blue color that once adorned Chevrolet engines in the 1950s.
Waiting for a $2 thrust bearing while I decide what to do about the vise.

 

[mattthemuppet2]

you're making great progress, thanks for the pics! I'm using a similar colour for my Craftsman lathe - it really pops out. I'm still not 100% convinced I made the best choice, but it'll be a lot better to look at than it is right now.

 

[AR1911]

Yeah, I feel the same way about the color, but I just didn't want another gray machine. I think I will like it once I get it put together.