Bridgeport Journey

[Cgantner5150]

A few months ago I came across a Bridgeport for sale on CL. It was being sold by a local machine shop. Went and took a look and made a deal and had it delivered to my house (part of the deal). Thankfully a good friend in the neighborhood has a fork lift and helped me get it into the garage.



I had to rotate the head just to get it into the garage



She was pretty filthy and I am sure well used but she is mine. Now, I could have just put it to use and start learning how to use it, but I just can't seem to let things just "be". Let the resto/refurb begin....

Removed the head and mounted it to the welding table. Got a VFD and made sure it all worked before I started tearing the head down.



Decided to just rebuild the head so I bought "the book" and ordered the head rebuild kit from H&W Machine. Also had to order the reverse trip lever (what a beast to get the old broken one out). Stripped off all the paint and repainted. Used a lot of plastic bins and ziplock bags.



Changed all the bearings and belts and somehow got all the gears in the right place. Decided that the cover was beyond polishing so went flat black



Made a bracket to hold the VFD and the forward/reverse switch and rheostat for speed control.



The main part the mill will be in the next post.

 

[Cgantner5150]

Part 2:

The head was still mounted to the table so I rested it al out and everything is working as it should including auto feeds (whew).
So with the head done it was in the what came to be known as the elephant in the room.

I removed the ram and turret and found out the spider was broken in a couple of spots. Welded it back together with the TIG and seems to work just fine.



Removed the table and the the saddle and knee. Spent a day needle gunning and sanding the ram and turret. There was a lot of flaking paint on these parts for some reason. Miserable work.



The saddle was a piece of cake but I did have to replace the oiler lines that feed the feed nuts (which I also replaced). The knee was also pretty uneventful. Had some deep scratches and missing paint on the front around the Y and Z axis cranks.





At this point I realized that I had to tackle the main base. I was not looking forward to this part. I spent most of a day on getting it done.





Next we are on to reassembly.

Really important to note - the engine hoist and pallet rack were absolutely indispensable.

 

[Cgantner5150]

Part 3:

Reassembly begins. With the help of a couple of my kids and the engine hoist we started putting her back together. Used new felts and as I mentioned earlier, new feed nuts. Used grease on all the worm gears and on the surfaces that slide on each other.













I ran into a few more issues during reassembly. The end of the table gib was broken off and the adjustment screw was messed up. Ordered a new screw and "fixed" the gib (seems to work)



I also had to "repair" the Bijur oiler reservoir. I remembered about making acrylic "glue" using acetone and crushed up acrylic. Decided to give it a try because the bottom of the tank had some cracks. Made up some of the "glue" and also put about 1/8 inch of acetone directly in the reservoir. Swirled it around and made sure the cracks were closed up. Seems to have worked fine. I blew out all the lines and passages. Need to make a "T" handle for the pump.

 

[Cgantner5150]

I think I have a spot where she is going to live in the shop. I'm reorganizing and recovering from the resto (stuff is everywhere). I am leaving the 4x4 pressure treated "feet" across the front and rear of the base. The pallet jack is also going to stay in place for "storage".





Got some 30 LED sewing lights from Amazon and they seem to work well.



I am going to turn some brass "handles" for the quill lock and knee lock. I did one for the fine deed forward/reverse. Might even make some to replace the shop made saddle and table locks that came with the machine. You can see the brass one I made in this pic. Of course I had to clamp in a piece of scrap to test this out.

 

[Cgantner5150]

She cuts fine by my untrained eye.



Now to get to Houston to pick up the vises and Yuasa super dex that my step son picked up for me. Of course they need restoring also...... it never ends.

Thanks for looking.

 

[HanShotFirst]

C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S ! ! !

There are a lot of mills out there, but there's only one Bridgeport. When I bought my mill, I needed small, and Bridgeport's are a lot of things, but small isn't one of them. I see you went with the non-traditional navy gray rather than the very traditional day-glo pink with neon green accents.

VERY nice job on the restoration, looks fantastic. You're going to have a lot of fun with that.

 

[jeepinerdeep]

Well hot damn, that is sweet. You sure put the work in.

 

[anndel]

You are awesome and congratulations on your mighty fine restoration. Ms. Bridgeport is smiling ear to ear now!

 

[gdocktor3]

Ohhhh. That kind of Bridgeport Journey. I was going to say. I journey to Bridgeport, CT every day for work...

 

[MushCreek]

That's a LOT of work- nicely done! I've had a lot of mills apart, and I've never seen a broken turret spider- Wonder how they did that??

 

[tarmy]

Well done. Fine older Machinery like that can live forever with a little (alot) of TLC.

My dad was a machinist....and I have always wanted a mill...your rebuild made me want to go find an old mill and have at it.

Very nice mill and great job posting up your journey through the process...thanks.

 

[Cgantner5150]

No clue how the spider got broken, I'm just glad that it TIGed back together. I used Stainless filler and put it in sand overnight.

The worst part was probably the reverse trip. I ended up having to drill the head casting and forcing it out from behind. Of course then I had to use tiny files to clean up the bores. The trip lever wasn't just broken off, it was also split and spread part way longitudinally (best way I can describe it). I used PC7 metal epoxy to cover the hole I drilled.

 

[Cgantner5150]

Speaking of older machinery - according to the number on the knee it was born in 1977 and it's a 2hp vari-speed head. Just realized I never mentioned that.

 

[chruler]

Warms my heart. 40 years ago, I used to live 2 blocks away from where that machine was built. Sad day when they left Bridgeport.
Nice project.

 

[mike93lx]

Great job with the restoration.

 

[Firebrand]

Great job

 

[Firebrand]

Great job on the restoration! Those spiders can be damaged, far worse than yours was, just by lifting the machine by placing forks under the ram. Always seems like a logical place for riggers to lift but the internals are not truly designed for that loading.

 

[Cgantner5150]

Decided to take a break from organizing and cleaning the workshop/garage so I made knobs for the ones that were missing. Made them out of brass bar I got from the local salvage yard. Turned them on the SouthBend.

 

[nine4gmc]

Awesome job, looks even better on the computer than it did in the text! Love those sewing lights too.

 

[TheGrooveking]

Excellent machine, outstanding job in resurrecting a Legend!

TheGrooveking

 

[Cgantner5150]

Thanks everybody for the compliments. It was a long journey that took place while I was also renovating / remodeling / completely changing the kitchen for the wife. Have to keep her happy so she keeps feeding me. Haha. Poor woman cooked Thanksgiving dinner in the living room (long gas hose for the stove). What a trooper. Actually the same living room where I rebuilt the corvette's engine (with her permission).

Now I find myself interested is scraping - oh damn.