So, I bought a BP..

With the head off I don’t know but with it on it’s not a problem. Remove gibb take screws than hold lead screw Assy to saddle out slide table whichever way you like.
Maybe do everything but the knee. You can remove gibb on knee and allow it to tilt so you can pump way oil through till clear and clean.
Luckily mine came with a bijur Oiler workin no so I just had to add.
 
I picked up a 1971 2J Bridgeport a few months ago. The mill uses zerts for the ways and the previous owner used grease on it (glad he didn't use it very much!). I took the table, saddle and knee off for cleaning and I'm very glad I did. The grease did not clean out easily and I'm sure way oil would have never gotten through some of the passages. Some passages have multiple routes and the oil would have just taken the easiest route and never made it to all the ways.

I also tore the head down and went through that. There's a lot more to go wrong in a 2J than yours, but the good news for you is that you can do the job a lot quicker with a lot less work. I didn't take the spindle out (no need to since nice clean oil was coming out the bottom and everything was nice and tight/smooth), but I cleaned everything, re-packed the bull gear and pinion gear with new grease, etc.. From what I found (dirt, chips, crud, etc.) inside of mine I know I did the right thing. Now I know everything is clean and getting the proper lubrication.

Also, this is a hobby for me and I enjoy working on my new toys! :)

Ted
 
I took a good look at the belt housing and there is a LOT of caked on crud in there. Scrape it off with a putty knife level. So I'm going to clean at least that much out. I'm going to connect a VFD and test the motor and such to check for other issues in the head.

I think the spindle is fine, it's got a nice coating of fresh oil on it. I have an oiler, belts, and oil on the way.

The table is cleaning up nicely. I'll remove it and check out the oil passages. That will determine if the knee comes off. My luck, it will. But it is a hobby and I do enjoy working on the machine. And I'll be really upset with myself if I cut corners now and damage it due to poor lubrication. The trick is to avoid taking things apart that don't need it.
 
I was reading some info about rust removal on the exposed table and similar surfaces. They mentioned that it likes to flash rust when cleaned off. What are good ways to prevent that? Right now, the WD40 will help, but we all know that stuff isn't really the best option. I was thinking of a thin coat of way oil. I also saw a video where they used white lithium grease and spread it thinly.

It's not going to win any beauty contests, but I would like to keep the surfaces as rust free as possible without having to spray it down daily. :)

I think I have everything needed to do motor tests, so tonight I hope to run the main motor and the power feed motor to check for issues before I take anything else apart. Then I'll have a better idea how much work the motorized parts need.
 
I wipe my machines down after each use. Typically, there is way oil, spindle oil and my general purpose oil dripping off things as I go so that is what gets used. The rag gets oil on it from the wiping, so everything I wipe gets some kind of oil on it.... The oil just gets moved around! I really don't think it matters what you use, but I don't think I would personally use grease.

I don't like WD40 for a penetrating oil but I do like it as a general cleaner. I bought a gallon can and put it into a spray bottle. The first thing I do when bringing a dirty machine/tool/accessory home to add to my collection is spray whatever I'm going to start working on with it. It loosens up the first layer of crud pretty well and will help knock off the rust and keep it from rusting worse. It also work very well in combination with ScotchBrite for polishing. A coat of WD40 would work for keeping something from flash rusting IMO.

Ted
 
I use OILEATER best stuff I ever used to get rid of crud and wont hurt paint as all as you wipe with water after....http://oileater.com/ Not as calustic as purple power or other things.... And you dont need breathing mask to clean. Looked for and tryed alot of things before I found it....
 
Well, the motors are good. I fired them up with a VFD and they both run nice and quiet. The head has a slight rattle when back gear is disengaged. That seems pretty common with these. The power feed works and all the gears seem to move the table around. The highest gear stalls a bit, but cleaning and lubrication should help that.

The switch on the power feed motor is only breaking 2 of the lines. So one is always hot. I think I'm going to dedicate a small VFD to it and lose the switch. That way I can control it independently as needed.
 
This is what I found on my Gorton when I started pulling it apart.

20180214_183212.jpg
 
Liljoebrshooter said:
This is what I found on my Gorton when I started pulling it apart.
Click to expand...

Wow. That's some chips. Hopefully I'm not that full of them. So far there isn't a ton, but never know what might be hiding.
 
So. Much. Grease. I think I scraped a couple pounds of the stuff off with paper towels. Used pipe cleaners and brake cleaner to purge the passages. Put a solid coat of way oil on and reinstalled the knee. I think I'm going to replace the zerks rather than try to get the grease out of them. A couple were rounded off anyway and I had to use vise grips to get them off.

Used purple power and evaporust to clean up the smaller parts. They came out great. I'll get some pics. The handles and such look new.

It sounds like it might be worth the effort to split the nuts.
 
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