Last updated 1/16/2000
(Side note: I sold this mill in the summer of 2003 in favor a of a newer Variable Speed J Head machine in a little nicer condition. I put it into service as it was.)
I purchased a Bridgeport Vertical Turret Mill from a friend who acquired it from a high school auction. Just thought you'd like to go for a "ride" in the tearing down, cleaning, inspection and refinishing of the machine. I will replace parts as needed. I'll use this machine in my home shop. The specs on the mill are as follows:
Year of Manufacture: 1967
Type: V-Ram Turret Mill
Table Size: 9"x36"
Head: 1J, Stepped Pulley, 1hp
Table Travel: X=21" Y=12" Z=12"
This is are the before pictures of the mill. This mill
was layed over on its right side. The only damage suffered was that the
table lead screw nut was pushed out of the yolk, that and a bent table
handle. The contactor also suffered damage but was discarded.
Above is a picture of the knee and table. The following pictures are of us slinging up the J-Head and its removal from the V-Ram. This engine hoist I bought really came in handy, for unloading the mill and its disassembly. There are four nuts on the front of it. These are the same nuts that you loosen to tilt the head left or right.
Above is the V-Ram/Turret assembly after its removal There
are 4 bolts that attach it to the spider inside the main body. Above the
table was removed, simply by loosening the gib and removing the handle/micrometer/bearing
housing from the right side and then unscrewing the lead screw. There are
woodruff keys that engage the handles that need to be removed prior to
removal of the bearing.
Above, the saddle is being prepped for removal. Again, remove the gib, then the handle/micrometer/bearing housing and unscrewing the saddle leadscrew, then removing the feed nut bracket. Its already been removed. It sits in that rectangular opening in the middle of the saddle. See far left photo. Middle photo shows me scraping and wirebrushing the main body after stripping with aircraft stripper. Picture to the right is my father-in-law lending a hand scraping the knee. NOTE: Bridgeport achieved a smooth finish on their mills by filling imperfections with what appeared to be an epoxy filler, then followed by skim coat of a body filler then sanding the entire machine smooth. If you choose to strip with chemical stripper, you will soften this filler. It will then require you to completely remove all of it. You then either just refinish over the casting or apply a new skim coat of Bondo over the entire machine and sand smooth. This is the route I chose to go.
This was indeed the WORST and least favorite part of the job. Dealing with the stripper, scrubbing and wire brushing. Prepping the machine with a skim coat of Bondo and sanding it getting it ready the primer and paint. Well today, 11/24/1999, I finished cleaning all the castings down to bare metal. Next step will be to do the skim coat of body filler over the castings, sand, primer and of course refinish. Wait 'til you see the color I chose!
12/10/99
Above left, this is the mill after the "skim" coat of body filler, next is after the first coat was sanded and a second coat was used to fill low spots and imperfections. The third and forth photo shows the main castings after primer and after glazing putty was used to touch up minor imperfections. Folks, if there wasn't about 5 layers of paint on the mill, I would have never taken it down to bare metal. I have about 30 hours in the project so far. Best to sand down what you have and then repaint the machine...after all it is just that...a machine!
12/11/99
The paint is finally down. I got tired of trying to fix every tiny little imperfection. I've done autobody work before and I was shooting for absolute smoothness! All in all it seemed to turn out quite well. I think the color will mask most of the minor irregularities. The paint is Sherwin Williams Polyurethane Enamel. Very hard & durable stuff. It is a catalyzed paint. In otherwords, there is an additive that hardens the paint, that is mixed just before straining and pouring into the gun. Like the color? BRIGHT WHITE. I will let the castings stand for a week and assemble these parts, piece by piece into the machine's final resting place. I'll trim it out and then I'll be about ready to tear down and inspect the J-Head.
12/24/99
Castings are finally back together. Base is complete with the exception of a couple of handles. The machine fit in this corner very well.
I'm on vacation between Christmas and New Years, we'll see if I can find the time to tear down the J-Head for inspection, repair and refinishing. I'm itching to make some chips! So far so good.....
1/16/00
Well, today I fixed a boo-boo I made while reassembling the J-Head. There is a quill skirt that I had installed 180 degrees incorrectly AND upside down. I had to remove the quill, but thanks to Bridgeport Engineering, the whole job took about 2 hours to fix. Since I was very familiar with the head I knew exactly what I had to do to fix it. My home built (Thanks Fitch) rotary phase converter was complete and I was able to test fire the mill. It seems to run perfectly. Check backgear and power down feed (all 3 speeds), including the auto downfeed stop, and it all worked well. I must have put it back together right! I retained the ZERK system for lubing the machine, however I modified a standard grease gun removing the spring and plunger rod and using a bolt to plug the hole where the rod went through the cap. Filled it with WAY oil and gave the machine its first lube job. I also bought spindle oil and lubed the oil cups a couple times. I got ahold of an original Bridgeport vise with swivel base and cleaned it up today and repainted it as well. Hopefully tomorrow I make some chips!
Hope you've enjoyed the ride as much as I enjoyed working on the machine. I hope to learn a little about scraping as I'd like to clean up the Y Axis a bit so I can eventually get full travel.
