Scored this Bridgeport

[elmer]

Hauled this Bridgeport yesterday from Cleveland to my house in Michigan, 4hr trip.
Bought it thru a internet auction, it came from Bedford High school.
Haven't checked the serial numbers yet but I was thinking it is from the 50s or 60s.
Looks to be in decent shape after looking it over except for the green paint.
Anyway here are some pics.

 

[Provincial]

Does the DRO work? If not, cheaper to get a new set off Ebay, but the mounts should either work or need only slight modification. Nice pick!

Remove the "grease" fittings and check for grease in the passages. There should be oil in there, not grease. If you find grease, rig up a pump to force oil through the passages and get the grease out. Then use way oil from then on.

 

[driftpin]

Any tooling w/it? Looks like a good start but what do I know as a machinist? Nothing.

 

[elmer]

Have not taken the time yet to check the DRO.
I did check it for grease and yes it does have grease.
Could you please tell me more about rigging up a pump to get the grease out ? that would be great thanks

Does the DRO work? If not, cheaper to get a new set off Ebay, but the mounts should either work or need only slight modification. Nice pick!

Remove the "grease" fittings and check for grease in the passages. There should be oil in there, not grease. If you find grease, rig up a pump to force oil through the passages and get the grease out. Then use way oil from then on.

 

[elmer]

When making arrangements to pick it up I asked the contact person if there was any Bridgeport related items ,because I would be interested in them.

Any tooling w/it? Looks like a good start but what do I know as a machinist? Nothing.

 

[whateg01]

That looks like an old Bridgeport boring head or maybe a Flynn. Nice score.

 

[OccupantRJ]

If you want some deeper information, there is a Bridgeport repair group on Facebook run by an ex-Bridgeport employee and machine repairman, Tim Besmer.
Bridgeport milling machine use and service group is the group name.
The grease needs to go, and it will likely take some teardown as it did with mine. You will end up glad you did it. It needs to be lubed with way oil, and I modified a one handed grease gun to pump way oil into mine after I did a total refurb and paint on it.

 

[OccupantRJ]

Here is the modified grease gun to pump way oil. I removed the spring plunger and welded a cap over the end. Fill with way oil and use the gun upside down to feed the oil to the pump properly.

 

[slowtwitch73]

Agree that if there is grease, simply shooting oil after it will not get it out.

 

[elmer]

RJ That is a beautiful and clean looking Bridgeport that you have there. Thanks for the great advice will checkout the Bridgeport repair group.
Will get right on making a modified grease gun also.

 

[elmer]

Agree that if there is grease, simply shooting oil after it will not get it out.

OK I was afraid that would be the case, thanks for the advise.

 

[Sumboodie]

Been keeping my eye for one. Usually in the 5-7k+ area though.

 

[930dreamer]

I'm always looking but never stopping to buy. This a line from a song also. Nice score on the BP.

 

[Steve from Socal]

The gray head may be from another machine or rebuilt? You got a basic but useable bit of tooling, a few knee handles and a couple quick change lathe tool holders. That green could be a factory color?

 

[elmer]

That looks like an old Bridgeport boring head or maybe a Flynn. Nice score.

Here are closer pics. Are these both boring heads ? The one is stamped Bridgeport the other stamped ford.

 

[whateg01]

Here are closer pics. Are these both boring heads ? The one is stamped Bridgeport the other stamped ford.

Yes. The one stamped Ford is missing its guts

 

[OccupantRJ]

Been keeping my eye for one. Usually in the 5-7k+ area though.

I paid $600 for mine, then bought four more to sell to friends for slight profits, as I was always being asked to find machines for them. When it all washed out after refurbishing mine and renting the hydraulic lift trailer, I ended up with the machine free along with $300. The $300 paid for two VFD units for the mill and my lathe. In the end there were five happy mill owners.

 

[Sumboodie]

I paid $600 for mine, then bought four more to sell to friends for slight profits, as I was always being asked to find machines for them. When it all washed out after refurbishing mine and renting the hydraulic lift trailer, I ended up with the machine free along with $300. The $300 paid for two VFD units for the mill and my lathe. In the end there were five happy mill owners.

I've never seen a usable one for that cheap. Even 2500-3k is pretty low. Plus another $1000+ in shipping.

My drill press is shitting the bed. Looked at a replacement... may as well buy a mill cause $1000+ for a decent drill press is dumb!

I paid $2000 for a 13x48 lathe (think that's what it is) and it was missing the chuck, tool post and tailstock. Another just like it sold the year before for around double. Course if I put it in auction, probably sell for $500, cause that's my luck!

 

[OccupantRJ]

RJ That is a beautiful and clean looking Bridgeport that you have there. Thanks for the great advice will checkout the Bridgeport repair group.
Will get right on making a modified grease gun also.

@elmer, I should have mentioned that the grease gun was a Harbor Freight model. It is now listed as $12.99.

 

[Model A Fan]

I wonder if that high school lost its shop programs and that's why they sold their equipment?

 

[alfadan]

It's going to take a lot of pumping to clear the grease out. I took the table off and cleared out the passages and replaced the leadscrew nuts. There is a small hole in the middle of the table that was supposed to let you oil the yoke; while I had the table off I added oil lines to feed with the gun.

I suppose of you don't want to disassemble it, loosen the gibs all the way, take off the wipers and pump a whole bunch of oil through the fittings.

 

[elmer]

The gray head may be from another machine or rebuilt? You got a basic but useable bit of tooling, a few knee handles and a couple quick change lathe tool holders. That green could be a factory color?

This machine has at least two different gray color paint coats under the green.
The current green paint job looks like it was slapped on by a high school kid, runs everywhere bolts painted over etc

 

[elmer]

It's going to take a lot of pumping to clear the grease out. I took the table off and cleared out the passages and replaced the leadscrew nuts. There is a small hole in the middle of the table that was supposed to let you oil the yoke; while I had the table off I added oil lines to feed with the gun.

I suppose of you don't want to disassemble it, loosen the gibs all the way, take off the wipers and pump a whole bunch of oil through the fittings.

Not sure when but eventually would like to tear it down and do it proper.

 

[elmer]

@elmer, I should have mentioned that the grease gun was a Harbor Freight model. It is now listed as $12.99.

Yes that's the one I bought yesterday at harbor freight. Thanks

 

[deegee]

This works well, if you're not handy with welding a plug on the grease gun.

Push N Lube Pump for Zerk Base | 12PB20

The Push N Lube push style pump for use on Bridgeport mills with zerk fittings. The pump comes with a small unit of WO-150 Way Oil.

machinerypartsdepot.com

 

[RoninB4]

The boring head stamped "Ford" appears to have a different machine taper (B&S or Jarno?). Compare it to the other one marked Bridgeport with an R8 shank, they look different don't they? You'll have to determine which one fits your mil, the other one won't and shouldn't be forced to fit just because to spindle screw threads into it. The spindle taper has to match the tooling used or you'll damage the spindle taper. The Ford head also looks like it was mounted on the shank with a type of locknut to secure it, fairly common with industrial orphan tooling. Large shops often have a lot of mismatched tooling like that. The Bridgeport head isn't a Narex so you won't be getting tolerances in the +/- .0005 range but it's decent enough to hit +/- .002 if you're careful.

If you have any notions of using the boring head you'll want to evaluate the quill feed mechanism at all 3 feed rates and the kick-out as well. There's also a hand wheel for the quill feed that's missing with most BP's including mine.

 

[Provincial]

Hand quill feed wheels are quite useful, and generic copies are quite reasonable on Ebay.

 

[alfadan]

I turned an aluminum plug with an oring for the end of a grease gun. Metal is too thin for me to weld.

 

[whateg01]

The boring head stamped "Ford" appears to have a different machine taper (B&S or Jarno?). Compare it to the other one marked Bridgeport with an R8 shank, they look different don't they? You'll have to determine which one fits your mil, the other one won't and shouldn't be forced to fit just because to spindle screw threads into it. The spindle taper has to match the tooling used or you'll damage the spindle taper. The Ford head also looks like it was mounted on the shank with a type of locknut to secure it, fairly common with industrial orphan tooling.

It's hard to tell with the camera angle but it looks like a straight shank to me. My Flynn has a straight 3/4" shank that I stick in a collet. If it's not straight, it's got a super shallow taper.

 

[RoninB4]

It's hard to tell with the camera angle but it looks like a straight shank to me. My Flynn has a straight 3/4" shank that I stick in a collet. If it's not straight, it's got a super shallow taper.

-Maybe it's the light reflection in the photo that makes me think it's a taper. The only real way to say yes/no is to throw a caliper on both ends and compare the numbers. Some tapers really are shallow. I could easily be wrong too. Never used a Flynn that I recall, have used Narex, Wolhaupter, and others I can't recall. I have a set of boring heads that came with the Mitsui Jig Borer (Sumitomo?) that are a bit odd. Post a photo of the Flynn if you don't mind, would like to see it.

 

[Model A Fan]

I'll proclaim my own ignorance on this topic, but what does one make that necessitates such a tool? I love these big machines, but don't know what is user one for.

 

[OccupantRJ]

In simpler terms, a milling machine allows you to cut intricate features into blocks of material like keyways in shafts to attach a pulley, or to drill holes in precise locations, and do jobs like cutting an adjustment slot in an alternator bracket or such.
A lathe does basically the same functions in round objects like machining to a diameter, precisely bored holes, tapped holes, etc.
The use of the machines is linked to your imagination and ability to produce a solution with them by using the proper tooling.

 

[RoninB4]

I'll proclaim my own ignorance on this topic, but what does one make that necessitates such a tool? I love these big machines, but don't know what is user one for.

Nothing wrong with being unfamiliar and asking questions. True ignorance is not having the knowledge but in refusing to acquire it.

A milling machine, many types, is a fairly basic metalworking machine. Just about anything manufactured in metal, plastic, or composite has been either directly or indirectly touched by a milling machine be it a surface, shape, hole, or location. Almost all components of anything you can see or touch are either made by direct metal removal or have been created through a mold/die that has been on a milling machine of one type or another. A mill is also great for repair of broken devices. We will omit 3D printing for the discussion. With most metalworking machinery you either rotate the workpiece or rotate the cutting tool. A lathe rotates the workpiece, a mill rotates the cutting tool. This is a broad generalization and particulars are for a different discussion. Hope this helped someone.

 

[alfadan]

I have no mentor so YT videos taught me a bunch of stuff. Oxtoolco, Max Grant swan valley machine, Topper Machine are some excellent teachers.

And be very careful! The machine's lowley 1hp could easily rip the skin off your arm or break it and fling you around and it won't care a bit.

 

[LopezBart]

I'll proclaim my own ignorance on this topic, but what does one make that necessitates such a tool? I love these big machines, but don't know what is user one for.

I make parts for my projects on my Bridgeport that require:

• Accurate hole locations, either to a feature on the part, or hole patterns.
• Slots and cavities of all shapes and sizes, esp. with the aid of a rotary table.
• Flat surfaces.
• Large holes.

Now, what projects?

• Parts for my steamboats
• Our Airstream trailer...
• Motorcycle customizations
• Tools & machinery to maintain our 10 acres, like a trailer for our little Kubota, or a log arch, or ...
• And the ever present projects to make the mill and lathe more useful.

Once one has tools, projects seem to grow somewhat organically. Designing and making stuff is quite addictive; it's how I ended up as an engineer - even if I got derailed into writing software instead of doing mechanical engineering.

 

[RoninB4]

And be very careful! The machine's lowley 1hp could easily rip the skin off your arm or break it and fling you around and it won't care a bit.

+1 It also has enough HP to literally explode a cutter and throw shrapnel into your body. That's not an exaggeration, all machinery is dangerous because machinery doesn't care about you. Safety procedures are as/more important than how to operate. First thing I always looked for in an unfamiliar machine was how to Emergency Stop it. Be safe.

 

[whateg01]

Once one has tools, projects seem to grow somewhat organically. Designing and making stuff is quite addictive; it's how I ended up as an engineer - even if I got derailed into writing software instead of doing mechanical engineering.

I try to keep projects away from each other. I'm pretty sure they are breeding when I'm not looking

 

[LopezBart]

I try to keep projects away from each other. I'm pretty sure they are breeding when I'm not looking

So true... and tools cause more projects, because you need that tool holder holder.... and a rack for all those milling cutters, and ...

 

[elmer]

Gave the Bridgeport a quick paint job mostly because I couldn't stand the green color.
Put a strap around the base and drug it off the trailer. Put some 1" conduit under it and rolled it into the corner.
I don't have time now so it will have to wait to set it up and get it working.

 

[elmer]

It's hard to tell with the camera angle but it looks like a straight shank to me. My Flynn has a straight 3/4" shank that I stick in a collet. If it's not straight, it's got a super shallow taper.

The shank on the ford marked boring head is larger than a R8 shank and it is also tapered.
My machine takes the R8s.