Bridgeport restoration 12 -- A Beautiful Shine!

[@HuibHoogendoorn]

The red background on the head looks very good Kevin. And your suggestion for making two cartboard pieces for mounting the head is a bether one. Have a nice and joyful christmas time. And a healthy 2024 for everyone.

[@KevinToppenberg]

Thank you! And now, as I think about it more, I wonder if a narrow cardboard box, with the holes going through each side would do even better, because it would keep the sides from shifting relative to each other. Anyway, too late. Ha! Thanks for the feedback and the kind words. :-)

[@terrymoorecnc2500]

When Bridgeport was on Lindley Street in CT, the J heads and the 2J head belt housings were machined on Yasda 120 Horizontal Machining Center Cells. There were 3 of them at the time when I used to visit. Over the years, Bridgeport tried to get out of polishing those belt housings and the marketplace just railed against them. The CNC versions like the R2E series, V2XT's and Explorer 26 machines all had painted belt housings. The J heads were the least noisy heads Bridgeport ever produced. The 2J heads were perpetually noisy and required varidisk bushing maintenance on a regular basis. Bridgeport tried every trick in the book to conquer that problem finally ending up with turcite bearings for the varidisks. They were marginally better then the old plastic bushings. The motors came from US Electric Motors which is now a NIDEC company which makes very fine motors. Bridgeport heads are a lot easier to fix on an engine stand.

[@KevinToppenberg]

That is some pretty cool history. I would love to have visited the Bridgeport factory. Incidentally, I have a South Bend lathe that was sold and delivered to Bridgeport Pattern and Model Co on 50 Reamer St, Bridgeport Ct on 5/31/35. I got the sales records from the lathe serial number. Thy purchased it just before the release of their first big product, the Bridgeport universal milling head (i.e. a head without a column etc to mount to) in 1936 and before the production of the first full Bridgeport mill in 1938. And then the company renamed itself to Bridgeport Machines, Inc, in 1939. I think the location on Reamer St was too small, and that is why they moved. But it is still not from the location on Lindley St, where you visited. Very cool!

[@terrymoorecnc2500]

@@KevinToppenberg There is a lot of machine tool history from that part of the country, EB is right next door in Groton and Moore Special Tool is at Sikorsky Field in Bridgeport. I knew a lot of the folks up there right up until they closed.

[@KevinToppenberg]

Sorry for the delayed reply. Can you tell me what "EB" is again?

[@terrymoorecnc2500]

@@KevinToppenberg EB stands for Electric Boat, in Groton CT.

[@KevinToppenberg]

@@terrymoorecnc2500 Thanks!

[@camillosteuss]

If you are ever in need of a detailed aluminium polishing guide, Jafromobile has some great videos... The same applies to any metal really, well, most of them, i suppose mercury would not play nice at room temperature, but yeah... The guy isn`t a machinist per se, but he is an artist in his own right... Heavily focused on vehicular area, but definitely worthy of praise as an honorary machinist... Also, that pulley bearing in the cap sounded like it wanted some fresh grease... It could have been just the wooden table beneath it resonating the sound and making it more pronounced, but usually, bearings are near silent, even when on a wooden table, lest we are talking some specialized bearings with built in tolerances for heat expansion under spring loads or similar stuff that kinda behaves like a Formula 1 engine with all the requirements of preheaters, warm-up run cycles, oil circulation and so on just to get into working tolerance of submicron performances... That tag removal was damn close to turning into a major cut... The tag plate shielded your palm, but that could have gone ugly in a hurry had the Providence not graced your efforts... I usually use a needlepoint centerpunch(solid) and just whack a point into the dome of the rivet and drill it out with a small drill, handheld... I tore my way through a few tag holes and had driven a wood chisel into my hand once, and a screwdriver on another occasion, so i don`t really mess with the rivets any more, i just drill them out and the plate just gets left hanging off the drill as i pull it out from the last hole... Now the fact that this whole body is alu casting may render that a bit tricky, as everything is aluminium there, so the drill could just wonder as it saw fit if you weren`t careful, but you can always just drill through the domes and drill out the shanks of the rivets after having had removed the tag safely... Knocking out the rivets is always a bit of a pain in the ass as you have to swing a hammer of some sort against a punch, often in proximity of machined surfaces on the part, and even more often in a space as confined as a tea cup, rendering an already bothersome act even more annoying to execute nicely... It may be just my own perspective, but i prefer getting a new pack of twisted shank brass rivets and just using those to replace the old ones... Making ones own partially hollow shank rivets is also a nice move if you can get a dolly behind the hole or if it`s a blind hole, as those really grip very nicely, kinda like a hollow bullet, once they hit the solid part, the hollow section deforms in a chaotic way and binds either inside a hole or against the back wall of the part... Especially if you make them outta copper... They are soft, but the deformation will harden the rear section and copper`s elasticity aids the retention quality... Disgusting to make(it`s turning of copper and drilling with very small drills, need i say more), but worth the effort if you need custom rivets of high grade... Also, kudos on using the car wax... I quite like it on all machine painted surfaces... The amount of oil and coolant and dreck that gets deposited on the paint by machine operations is ridiculous and the car wax protects the paint from all of it while easing any cleanups of the surfaces... It`s not as good as a rust/oxidation barrier, get some rust inhibitors for that, blondie and stefan each have their own favorites, both of which are supreme in that department... The wax is great for paint, but it won`t give as much protection as a good clear coat would have to a bare surface... Also, the buffing compound is grease based, so make sure to wipe the head down if you are going to touch up the paint or if the wax behaves inappropriately... Warmest regards, Steuss

[@KevinToppenberg]

Steuss, yeah, as I was watching myself with that chisel pointed towards my hand, I too was cringing. I didn't even think about it. I need to be more careful! Thanks for your comments and feedback. :-)

[@camillosteuss]

​@@KevinToppenberg Np, just saw that and was glad that it didn`t result in any major crap... Wood chisels are amazing at ending up inside human body parts when used without full attention... Don`t ask how i know... It`s not like i`m a safety advisor, as i partake in reckless moves myself on occasion, but we have to be careful, if for no other reason than the fact that life is hard enough with all body parts intact... All the best!

[@doingstufforatleasttrying4843]

Looks amazing……. Honestly the oil lines look great.. I should be getting to mine soon. Someone painted my top gray. I debated leaving it but I removed it with some paint stripper and it’s not too bad. Anyway nice job….

[@KevinToppenberg]

After you got the paint off, did you have that dull aluminum finish that I had? If so, then sanding and polishing like I did might bring some shine to it. But at some point, functional is more important than pretty. Ha! Thanks for watching.

[@doingstufforatleasttrying4843]

@@KevinToppenberg Yes it’s the same as yours, actually I think worse. 🤣🤣🤣Mine is a 1954 round ram H head (only 1/2 hp still 3phase). I did replace the bearings because mine was loud.just spinning it by hand. I’m not a machinist but, I am learning at 54( only because of a disability but I can still get around. I will be putting out some videos soon. Just bear with me. Again, not a machinist just learning a new skill. And enjoying it at that. You really did an amazing job. Extremely detailed and dedicated……👍👍👍

[@KevinToppenberg]

@@doingstufforatleasttrying4843 I also am not a machinist. I'm 56 yrs, so we sound like a pair of kindred spirits. When you do post content, it should notify me as I am subscribed to your channel. Sorry to hear of your disability, and am glad to hear you are still getting around OK. Best wishes!