- Joined
- Oct 30, 2019
- Messages
- 225
Slowly going through a few things on my new-to-me Bridgeport series 1 2J (1.5hp) mill, both of the originally-installed lights were non-functioning.
Perhaps someone can comment if these are an actual bridgeport accessory, versus if this was just something outfitted by the dealer
These are listed on the original bill of sale from 1972:
One of the lights didn't work at all, the other one would flicker as you cycle the pushbutton but would not stay on when fully cycled.
The first fully-inop light had a broken wire inside the head of the light, that was easy enough to fix but... incredibly dirty. These lights had every bit of their 50+ years of grime and oil all over the inside and outside.
When diagnosing the more nuanced behavior of the second light, I decided to put a lot of the parts at the business end through the ultrasonic cleaner while I looked into the switch.
If you had asked me, I was sure the original fixture was various army-fatigue colors. I had no idea the grime was responsible for the entire palette of colors
Turning to the switch, it seemed something was not functioning correctly inside. I drilled out the two copper rivets holding it together to see what was up, and put all the small parts through the ultrasonic as well to clean out oil and debris
It looked like the two contacts had worn to knife edges and were reaching past the end of the rotor, cutting into the plastic core of the rotor instead of making contact with the brass when it was done cycling. I cut the very tips of the contacts off, so they would make contact further up on the rotor. I wonder if back when this was new, the contacts had a bunch more material and a curve in it, which ended both wearing and flattening out over time. With the tip cut off, it seemed like it should work reasonably for the light duty these lights will see in the future
The switch was put back together with #2-56 hardware I happened to have on hand (and have actually used for a prior riveted construction non-servicable switch repair),
Perhaps someone can comment if these are an actual bridgeport accessory, versus if this was just something outfitted by the dealer
These are listed on the original bill of sale from 1972:
One of the lights didn't work at all, the other one would flicker as you cycle the pushbutton but would not stay on when fully cycled.
The first fully-inop light had a broken wire inside the head of the light, that was easy enough to fix but... incredibly dirty. These lights had every bit of their 50+ years of grime and oil all over the inside and outside.
When diagnosing the more nuanced behavior of the second light, I decided to put a lot of the parts at the business end through the ultrasonic cleaner while I looked into the switch.
If you had asked me, I was sure the original fixture was various army-fatigue colors. I had no idea the grime was responsible for the entire palette of colors
Turning to the switch, it seemed something was not functioning correctly inside. I drilled out the two copper rivets holding it together to see what was up, and put all the small parts through the ultrasonic as well to clean out oil and debris
It looked like the two contacts had worn to knife edges and were reaching past the end of the rotor, cutting into the plastic core of the rotor instead of making contact with the brass when it was done cycling. I cut the very tips of the contacts off, so they would make contact further up on the rotor. I wonder if back when this was new, the contacts had a bunch more material and a curve in it, which ended both wearing and flattening out over time. With the tip cut off, it seemed like it should work reasonably for the light duty these lights will see in the future
The switch was put back together with #2-56 hardware I happened to have on hand (and have actually used for a prior riveted construction non-servicable switch repair),
