Bridgeport for Beginners!

Why not a mig?
Edit: Whoops. Misread your post.
But while I'm here... Jason mentioned being concerned about the bearings being affected by the welding. Is there something to this?

Pete

 

FWIW, I used a mig just because that's what I had. If I had a tig available to me, I probably would have used that instead, the heat from tig is more focused and you have more precision.

There's a lot of current involved with welding, it's just good practice to have your ground as close to your work area as reasonably possible and to avoid running that current through delicate parts like bearings which could potentially be damaged if any arcing occurs there. It's one of those things, usually you will get away with connecting through a bearing and suffer no damage but the odd time you won't so, why risk it if there's an available alternative.

 

Rocco said it best. My mig is a POS. Plus you dont get weld splatter from tig. I've actually screwed bearings before. Fortunately I only screwed up a 6dollar wheel caster.

 

Got it. Thanks.

 

I backed the studs out with a couple of nuts I made thin on the lathe and machined a pin to fit one of the holes. Tapping it back and forth and the cover came off easily!! I should have gotten a lathe and mill years ago. Dont ever think you wont get enough use out of owning equipment. You will find how handy they are really fast!

 

lol.. Couple of light taps and look what came apart! Onwards and upwards!





Got the center cleaned up and painted.

 

You got that looking real good, your right that will be a great asset.

 

This is the Ellis exploded and it's apparently a dead ringer of the Carroll

View attachment 16274

View attachment 16275
Any obvious adjustments of shims?

 

Oh god, dont say shims.. I havent seen any yet. The spindle tube has a nut on the bottom. That adjusts the end float. But it's not coming out without some real surgery. I've dug most of the poop out and after clean up, I'll stick some vactra2 in it and hope like hell it doesnt piss on the floor.

 

It don't look like it has much wear and vactra2 is some thick oil so looks like you floor should be safe. I am constantly oiling my lathe and mill fighting the humidity. It looks the Ellis has worm adjustments on top so hopefully those are alright. That was a good surgery video on welding the washer and bolt on that broke off bolt hopefully you have the same on the rest. good luck.

 

Thanks Clay. I don't know how you guys do it in humid environments. I had some wild temp swing in the garage this past winter and walked out there and saw miles of ORANGE!
Took an hr with a can of WD and a fine woolie pad.

Speaking of rust?? Did I hear someone say Marvel Mystery oil is good for coating shiny stuff to prevent rust? I don't want a waxy long term solution, just something I can wipe down and come back 6months later and not find a ball of rust!

 

Yes I did read that someone recommended Marvel Mystery oil a bunch of times, but I believe oil is oil and use the cheapest I can buy and coat my stuff to preserve them. I do maintain a vat of vinegar for soaking rusty tools which the clean up is a mess but pretty good recovery.

 

My wife picked me up a quart of MMO at wally world. She got carded for it! WTF? Who knew ya had to be 18 to buy oil that looks like kool aid. And 18? She looks young, but not THAT young.

 

I only have three recommendations for applications in hi humidity Shoppes with cast surfaces. Johnsons paste wax, WD-40 dry lube with PTFE, and the third is any water soluble oil.

Basically it really comes down to the machine and how often you are using it.

I get very little rust in my garage shop when I keep the garage doors closed. I have a small dehumidifier that I empty when it turns off because it's full. I have air conditioning that gets rid of moisture/humidity that runs three hours a day every day or more. And… During the winter months where snow gets tracked into the shop I have a lot of heat to get it airborne and get it back out. This all comes at a cost that I might pay about $800-1200 a year for.

 

Lanolin? Never used it myself but heard proper 'machine' guys talk about it.

 

That sure is a pretty table!

 

I know its lathe related, but you guys watching this thread are the experts.. What sayeth you?
Trash it?? Because ME making a new one is not happening at this stage of my machinist career.

 

The best repair I've found that gives a new lease of life is seeing if any oil squirts out form under the base of the compound during cuts due to the compound rocking on the cross slide. Once that gets sorted then the cross slide screw and nut is next on the list. Your nut could be a lot worse, usually by that stage if you split the nut even further or replace it with new, there will be tight spots on the extremes of travel due to wear on the screw. It's well within your capabilities to make a new cross slide screw and nut, just takes a bit of patience. One issue I did have machining the nut was the threading tool deflecting on exit out the hole and changing pitch but I was able to counterbore the nut hole to the screw OD and fix it. It's a left hand thread so you'll be running the threading tool towards the tailstock instead of the chuck.