NICE! I'm subscribed.

 

Hmm.... Some assembly required. :laugh:

 

Loll. It should be interesting. Ill be assembling the head in the morning after work. Hope I remember how it all goes!

 

I redid a 1960 Bridgeport J a couple years ago, I will look for the pictures, but I think I lost them in the divorce also........it came out nice, took a long time. You find lots of things that need fixin when you start taking something apart...

 

My next machine purchase is going to be a bridgy. Very nice job on the rebuild! Looks great! Are you going to run 3 phase?

 

Great job. I can appreciate the time and effort you have put into this project, having recently completed a lengthy restoration project of my own.I love it when somebody saves a piece old iron and puts it back to work.
Here are some pics of my restoration of a 100 year old Becker Mill that was being loaded on to a truck for the scrap yard before my cousin and I rescued it.

Ready to be assembled!!

 

Here are pics of the finished mill.

 

Thiel-Metal-Fab
Did you have to scrape the ways in or were they in fair shape. Nice looking work so far by the way!

 

yes rescraped the knee ways & table ways and polished ,im still working on the y axis and waiting for a new gib . very time consuming . i did not frost any of the ways . although i wish i would have .

 

tool junkie - very impressive work , they definitly dont build machines like they use to ! how much time u figure u have in the becker mill ?

 

At at a guess- 150 hours+.

I had to take it down to the last nut and bolt and to the bare castings and then bondo and sand everything smooth ,as the castings under the mystery sludge( where there was any) were very rough.Then I had to design and build a drive system for it( it was originally driven by overhead shaft), build several missing parts with a couple of grainy pictures as reference and repair the broken overarm clamp.
I have to say though that this was one of the most satisfying projects I have ever undertaken and I have an amazing tool to show for it.This beast will easily hog off .100" at a wack from a 4" wide steel work piece and hold tolerance to within .001" across the whole travel of the table.They sure built stuff to last.
I hope your project goes well, and post progress pics when you can.

 

Mr. Thiel,

Thats a beautiful color, and you clearly do very good work. Looking forward to seeing more of this

 

Before 15" Clausing Drill Press. Total rebuild, bearings, belt, chuck, sand blast and powder coat, works like a champ, worth the effort because it's a variable speed.

 

Before 15" Clausing Drill Press. Total rebuild, bearings, belt, chuck, sand blast and powder coat, works like a champ, worth the effort because it's a variable speed.
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u also do some very nice work , no doubt about it! awesome stuff .

 

KO LEE Tool and Cutter Grinder Rebuild

 

Current Project Under Way--16" South Bend with 7 foot bed, it's a beast!

 

I like the Bp round ram. My first mill was an old round ram.

I must say, though, I hate the color! That is just me. I prefer the original machine tool colors.

Keep up the rest of the good work but I will never allow you to paint my home

 

guess its one of them colors , u love or hate lol .

 

nice builds guys love seeing old machines saved and taken care of :drinkup:

 

I hope you didn't take my comment about the color in a negative way! I have a section of my shop with blue but all are welder and the racks they reside on/in.

You are doing a good job with the rebuild. Can I ask, how did you clean the components? Everything is really clean and sorted. Make sure that when you go to reassemble, that you use the correct lube depending on location.

If you have any questions, there is a fella that goes by Sidecar580 over on the PM website. He rebuilds Bridgeports all the time and is very good at what he does. He was very helpful when I rebuilt the head in my variable speed Bp.

Keep up the good work and stay with it.

Grant

 

oh. No. I definitely didn't take it in a negative way. Everyone has there preference Of color. Least ur honest. Lol

 

Love it!

I'm always watching clist for a bridgeport... always lusted after one.

 

Talking about colors I noticed many of my bought tools and carts are red with black trim. Is red and black like that standard color? After I started looking I was amazed at how much stuff was red in my shop.

 

parts washer , tool boxes , air compressor , belt sander . i see ur point lol red & black is pretty popular so it seems

 

more updates , not a real lot , but got the spindle bearings etc all setup and installed , pinion drive and return spring , some of the feed drive .. and also threw one in there of the KURT VISE i just got done restoring , need the decals though ?................................................. the caseings on top are just setting up there , trying to decide if i should paint or polish the aluminum ???? any sugestions

 

Beautiful! What kind of paint did you use?

 

I vote for a polish on the aluminum housing!
On another note, if you ever have a problem with your return quill spring lock, you can put a small neodymian magnet on the large clocking nut close to the quill lock. Works so much better than the original spring! ;-)

Another mod I did on mine was I took the quill handle off and put on a wheel about the size of a small sterring wheel. It allows much finer control over the quill as there is no slop in it.

Grant

 

do u have any pics of that mill and setup?

 

When I redid my J Head, I polished the upper belt case (whatever its called) it wasnt as tough as I thought. Nice job to do and have a couple beers and relax......haha. Machine looks great! I did the traditional gray (I used Rustoleum Machine Gray I think its called, brush and roller) You learn alot about your machine and how it works by taking it apart like you did, plus find any problems.

 

Okay I'm gonna try polishing it... so far I've learned a lot about this machine and millls in genral .thanks for all the compliments guys

 

got some more picture updates of the mill project. just so everyone knows im only 25 and money is a limiting factor in how fast i can put this thing together. but i think thats a issue with everyone and there projects for the most part. just gotta make or rebuild each piece. it would be nice to just go buy all new parts. but thats just not possiable. iill get pictures posted up in the next hour or so.

 

okay , have more pics of progress ....... still a long way to go it seems lol . enjoy