Rutlands/Long Chang LC-1 project...

[Rennkafer]

Bought this a few weeks back for cheap (relatively). Picked this one up off of a guy who'd bought it to rebuild and CNC convert but who had lost his work facility and was madly putting machines into storage. For those not familiar, Rutlands (and a host of others including Sharp, Enco, etc) bring/brought in their own branded Long Chang LC-1's (sold under the "First" brand by LC themselves). This one is a step pulley model (the "TM" head), but I'm planning to run a VFD on it so I'll basically have a pair of variable speed ranges. They're decent machines (Taiwanese) and parts are readily available. I was surprised to find they were still making these, their website is in decent English, and they wrote back with a US dealer for parts right away (Sharp, amongst others). Specs here: http://first.com.tw/e_lc-1.htm

Kind of a mill "kit"





It's mostly in decent (but dirty) shape. Since getting it I've gotten the column/knee cleaned, the saddle cleaned and sitting on the ways, column cap cleaned and installed, and torn down the quill housing. Only stupid thing I've found so far was some rocket scientist had taken the quill end cap off with a pipe wrench because he didn't remove the set screw. Took most of the thread off of the end cap so that's on the replacement list. Fortunately the quill wasn't damaged. Same RS had replaced the spindle bearings with regular ball bearings rather than the correct precision angular contact bearings. Bearings have been procured and I'm making up a list of other items I'll need. From my parts pricing I'll be into it total about what a (cheap) used machine would normally cost around here but I'll have a freshly rebuilt head.

I'm currently getting down to the last bits of going through the Logan lathe I purchased in December (right before a 3 month out of country work trip), so once that's done I'll be continuing on with this.

 

[Rennkafer]

So since I'm about done with my lathe rebuild (that went on a fair bit longer than I intended since I decided to paint it) I started looking for parts for the mill head. Found out that since mine is an older version, Sharp (the US dealer) has no records on my particular serial number and won't quote any parts. Haven't had any success finding a parts head, so it looks like I'm faced with either finding a used Bridgeport head (same bolt pattern to the ram adapter), or buying a new import head.

Anyone have a spare J-head for sale or have any experience with Gromax or Eisen replacement heads?

 

[Rbeckett]

Do you have the OE manual and parts diagram that came with the machine? If you have the part numbers available from the diagrams then you should have no problem getting the parts you need from a dealer. It might be worth contacting the home office in Taiwan and explaining what you need and the difficulty you are having with the US dealer and they may be able to help you get what you need. They want to sell parts and to keep selling machines, so it is in there best interest to help you if they can. Worth a try anyway...

Bob

 

[Rennkafer]

Do you have the OE manual and parts diagram that came with the machine? If you have the part numbers available from the diagrams then you should have no problem getting the parts you need from a dealer. It might be worth contacting the home office in Taiwan and explaining what you need and the difficulty you are having with the US dealer and they may be able to help you get what you need. They want to sell parts and to keep selling machines, so it is in there best interest to help you if they can. Worth a try anyway...

Bob

Thanks for the reply Bob. The first thing I did actually (before I bought the mill) was look up the manufacturer to make sure they were still in business. After I purchased it I contacted them about parts and was directed to their US dealer (Sharp). Just lately I've gotten some imformation claiming that Sharp had bought Long Chang so if that's the case (and I have on reason to suspect that info to be wrong) I'm actually dealing with the manufacturer in Sharp, who seem to have no interest in helping.

Maybe I'll throw another email at Long Chang and see if they're willing/able to intercede. I'd really rather not buy parts out of Taiwan directly as with shipping they're probably more expensive than a new head.

 

[Rennkafer]

Well, after no reply from Long Chang, and another unreturned call to the guy I bought the mill from (to see if maybe he'd found a box of pieces somewhere) I broke down and bought a 2hp Bridgeport Vari-speed head from a machinery dealer on EBay. It's claimed to be working properly with good spindle bearings, so we'll see what it looks like when it arrives.

At least if it has issues, parts are available...

 

[Rbeckett]

Sometimes you are pleasantly surprised by the dealers and vendore in Taiwan and china. They seem to have pretty cheap connections to their postal services and manage to do a lot of very cheap or free shipping. I buy a considerable amount of stuff from china in my electronics hobby and have been averaging 9 days from order to arrival and have never had an issue with a lost package. I did have one issue with a poorly made item and they refunded the price I paid immediately with no hassles or questions asked. Just remember China and Taiwan are almost 12 hours different from the eastern time zone, so you may be trying to call them in the middle of their night. Anyway, that was just a thought, so please keep us informed of how it is going if you find a BP head and it fits.

Bob

 

[Rennkafer]

Thanks Bob... I'm fairly aware of the time difference problem as my wife is from the Philippines. My concern with shipping wasn't so much that it would get lost but more that the parts are a little heavier than most and would probably not be cheap. Didn't really matter since they didn't bother getting back to me and at this point it's a non issue since I found and purchased a 2J2 BP head last evening. The BP head should bolt right up as the bolt pattern from the head to the ram adapter is the same (I measured and checked with a BP parts supplier I've had good luck with).

I'll have more pics once the head gets here and I get rolling with the reassembly. Trying to decide whether to take the knee off for cleaning...

 

[LEEQ]

What does a 2j2 head bring these days, if you don't mind me asking? I would like to have one and it would be easier to upgrade the head and sell mine than to buy a machine and sell mine.

 

[Rennkafer]

Re: Rutlands/Long Chang LC-1/ Bridgeport 2J2 project

What does a 2j2 head bring these days, if you don't mind me asking? I would like to have one and it would be easier to upgrade the head and sell mine than to buy a machine and sell mine.

I paid $799 plus shipping. The price on this one was somewhat lower than normal, I suspect because it's a QC30 spindle rather than an R8 which is vastly more common (and much more in demand). Since I'm not tooled up at all I decided to just go with the QC30 and pay the somewhat higher tooling cost as I can spread that out over as long as I want.

When I started looking I was mostly looking at step pulley J heads and they were mostly between $1000-2000 (for R8 spindles).

Talked with the company I bought it from today, it's shipping tomorrow so I should have it within the next week.

 

[woodtickgreg]

I watched your lathe build, so now I will watch this mill build with great interest.