My first Bridgeport

Janderso-

Thanks for the welcome and congrats!

The thing stuck in the head was the spacer for the drawbar- I got it out by taking a tap and lightly threading it, then screwing in a bolt, then using a long piece of round bar stock, tapping it out from the top of the quill housing. Took a few iterations as the threads kept turning loose. It's about 4" long, and hollow. For sure it's the spacer that sdelivery described just above. Without it the drawbar will not pull the collet up into the spindle. Just my bad luck that the dpo dropped it and the drawbar down the bottom of the spindle. It was precisely the diameter to slide on in then wedge in there good. I was worried for a bit till I figured a way to extract it.

The collets are R8 - they mount properly and I have an end-mill installed now-

I mounted a dial indicator on the way for the y-axis and measured the spindle as it was turning at minimum RPM. It looks like I may have 0.0005 max runout at the middle position of the spindle.

I removed the x-axis gib, nothing but filthy grease on there. I was planning on taking the table and saddle off and making sure all the oil lines were not plugged, now I have more incentive to do just that. No way to tell but I'm thinking this thing has never been apart for cleaning. It is truly filthy inside and out.

I have a video I can post of it running but need to figure out how to do that- apparently I can't upload directly to here - and I can't get it to come off my phone for whatever reason-
 
Removing the table and saddle for a thorough cleaning is a smart move, and well worth the effort. You'll be making chips in no time!
 
talvare said:
It sounds like the speed control was assembled improperly. I had mine apart several years ago and from what I remember, it is possible to assemble it so that it works backwards.

Ted
Click to expand...
The power of these forums is astounding! Thanks to Ted, I fixed this issue in about 5 minutes. Removed the plastic cover on the speed control panel, then the four cap-head screws and flipped the panel 360 degrees to get the chain running the other way, then reassembled. Voila! Fixed!

Thanks, Ted, for giving me this nugget!

Mike
 
Glad you got it all running! Am curious as to what sort of powerfeed you have on the Y, wanna post some pics?

Jon
 
IMKC7295.JPG
Here's the Y-axis- it's a Servo140 - the X is a Servo 100 -

JFQF7576.JPG
You can see the broken housing at the top - I glued in the
broken-off piece with JB-weld but I couldn't get the right side of the housing to hold- it's sprung.
I'm shipping these units off to be rebuilt.


RBGT2259.JPG
Used the backhoe to get it off the trailer-


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This is definitely the brute force method of moving the thing. It kept crushing
the rollers I put under it - didn't have anything stouter at the time.





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Here's the drawbar spacer stuck in the spindle- I had zero idea what this was when I got the
unit running and tried to insert a collet... My very first rodeo with a machine like this - I was not happy for a bit.

IMG_0932.JPG
Here's the culprit-

I've pulled the y-axis leadscrew and find it galled and worn by about 30% in the middle of the screw. Most likely means the X is in the same or worse shape. So going to replace them and the nuts. I've got an engine hoist I figure will hold the 48" table. Question is, will it hold the knee when I pull that to clean it and make sure the oil lines are clear? Anyone know how much the knee weighs?

Thanks to all!
Mike
 
I pulled my knee with an engine hoist, no problems. Strip it down to the bare casting, rip a 2x4 to fit through the Y axis screw hole Cut it the full length of the knee interior so it cant shift front to back. Use very short rigging and rig it so the casting hangs plumb. Don't forget to remove the knee travel limit screw from the column and it slides right off with the head turned 90°.

Pulling the table with a hoist is sketchy in my opinion. That's a long weight swinging around that needs to end up on a table anyway. Do you have a rolling table or tool box that will support the weight of the table? Pull the X bearings and lead screw, loosen the gib a little and slide the table to the right. Use the knee to set the table on the box, remove the gib once it's supported by the table and roll it out/off. This makes it extremely easy to reinstall too!
 
That Servo casting looks to be ok, I wouldnt worry about the crack in it.

You are gonna pull the knee off to make sure the lube is good? That seems a bit overkill, unless I am reading it wrong.

Jon
 
I do have a rolling ULINE cart that will hold the table- I thought to have that to set it down on. Thought to suspend the table with 4 chains to prevent swing but could just set it down using the knee- I'll need to flip it over to access the way surfaces to clean them.

Probably more worried about maneuvering the knee - maybe I'll just leave it hanging from the engine hoist to do the cleaning.
 
Regards pulling the knee - I guess I will pull it while the other stuff is off as I have the engine hoist. That way I'll know everything is clean and oil lines are open and functioning.
 
The knee isn't terrible to handle while it's off the machine, I left mine on cardboard on the floor. Don't try to roll it over the long way, front to back, you'll see what I mean.
Use a 2x4 bolted to the center T slot as a lever to roll the table while it's on the table.

My knee was cursed with slip stick, it groaned and chattered when moving up and down, even with the hand crank. The PO had the gib adjusted up so high/loose the wiper cover was pushed up, I guess he thought it was too tight. After cleaning the dried filth and replacing the oil meters, I could properly adjust the gib. Now it's silent and smooth!
 
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