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Things not to do with a Bridgeport head?

OK. I've now got my hands on a bare Bridgeport J-head. It looks pretty cheap and cheerful and it's clearly 'seen a bit of action' in its time, but there don't appear to be any major horrors as per the recent advice I received on this N.G. Before I strip it to see what lesser problems need sorting I thought I'd give it a good workout under bench power to find all the rough edges. I don't have a manual, so are there any do's and don'ts regarding switching the various feed and drive options under power? Can I switch to/from backgear under power for instance, or engage or change power feed settings under power? Basically I want to be able to run the spindle and try all the various options and combinations to find any glitches, but I don't want to strip any gears or pins out of ignorance.

Cheers,

-Neil F.

Reply to
neil f
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No everything is change whist stationary, turn by hand if not engaging. Only exception is the 2J head where the variable speed has to be changed under power because of the expanding pullies.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Reply to
John Stevenson

It's the head you put me on to, Charles. I got it for a reasonable price, and as I say, it seems 'well used' but OK at first inspection. Mind you, it's very difficult to do much testing when a head is lying on its side on a pallet, albeit with power connected. If it turns out to be dodgy then it was close to cheap enough for me to just put down to experience.

I have the sectional head drawings from the Frugal Machinist site, plus some downloaded exploded parts illustrations from one or two Far East 'Bridgeport' replacement parts importers. Their parts may not be up to much but their sales pictures are quite instructive ;-)

As you say, I'll have to get hold of a head manual. Unfortunately there seem to be a number of different versions of manual with varying numbers of pages and types of diagrams. Anyone suggest which version would be best for refurbishing an Adcock & Shipley made J-head?

I'll be mounting it on a Tom Senior Major horizontal - the later type with prismatic overarm. I can't fit a complete Bridgeport in my workshop (well, not with me in there as well), so this combination is about as much chomp per cubic foot as can be squeezed through the door. As it is, the top of the BP motor will be only 4" from the ceiling!

-Neil.

Reply to
neil f

Neil, email your snail mail addy tomorrow [ email down at present ] and I'll pop a CD in the post.

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Reply to
John Stevenson

Spin the head Dumbkoff. Getting late was it, need some sleep ? or more like been out boozing AGAIN

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Reply to
John Stevenson

Not a big problem if you can swivel the head, but if it's going to be fixed, you'd be well advised to make some provision for removing the drawbar from below - make sure you're able to remove the nuts from the top & drop it out.

Neither of my mills has enough headroom to remove the drawbar, but luckily both have swivelling heads.

Cheers Tim

Tim Leech Dutton Dry-Dock

Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs

Reply to
timleech

I'm hoping to acquire R8 tooling that all has the same thread, then I won't need to remove the drawbar at all (assuming there's nothing that requires running without a drawbar - can't think of anything). Is there a 'standard' R8 thread?

-Neil

Reply to
neil f

Charles, judging by the drawings I've got it looks like the head will split into two self-contained units by undoing the three bolts around the central skirt. Leaving a separate drive/backgear section and a lower casting with all the complex bits in it.) Then I'd be left with some much easier lumps to shift around and store - pending the arrival of a manual. Is this correct?

-Neil.

Reply to
neil f

Reply to
Andrew Mawson

In article , John Stevenson writes

But, but, but.. Then you'd have to *re-tram* it!

Guilty as charged SAH! And now I'm buggering off to Spain to spend a few days lying on the beach, with knotted hankie flying proudly, letching at all the wobbly bits.

(sigh)

It's a tough job, but someone has to do it.

Cheers!

Reply to
Nigel Eaton

Can't help with the gear but I recently moved a Bridgy for a friend and when we took the head off the worm was broken in two and the gear damaged. I know he bought a new worm and 4 tee bolts from Bridgeport in Leicester at a cost of around 65 pounds new. The gear was redrilled and spun over so the damage was at the bottom. There is another firm that does Bridgy reconditioning in or around Bridlington, they do the shows with a recon one, these may have a source of S/H bits.

Company: Bridlington Remanufacturing Services Ltd Address: Lancaster Road Carnaby Industrial Estate Bridlington East Yorkshire YO15 3QY United Kingdom Telephone: 01262 674466 Fax: 01262 606738 Email: snipped-for-privacy@bridreman.fsnet.co.uk Description: Bridgeport approved remanufacturer of Bridgeport Turret Mills & Knee Type CNC machines. Keywords: REMANUFACTURER BRIDGEPORT TURRET MILLS CNC MACHINES

This was on Chris Heapies page in June #9742 Posted: 23rd June FOR SALE: Bridgeport and parts for sale.

Frank Jay, Burnley, 07986 782978 frank snipped-for-privacy@btinternet.com

Drawbar thread and all attachment threads on Bridgy's is 7/16" UNF

-- Regards,

John Stevenson Nottingham, England.

Reply to
John Stevenson

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