Frankenmill: Bridgeport J head onto Victoria U2

[Pete O]

I wired the machine the other day to confirm that the RPC will run both the motors. The main motor is 4hp but I expect it will not be drawing much current when used solely for the power feeds. I had a look inside the gearbox while the overarm was out and confirmed that with the high / low range selector positioned between the two gears, the oil pump still runs so I can safely use the power feeds without the horizontal spindle rotating. If I ever have reason to take the main selector panel off the side of the machine, I'll bore a 'neutral' locating hole for the gear selector. The test run was successful and the old machine is nice and quiet when running in neutral with just the feed drives spinning, but the 1.5hp motor on the J head definitely needs new bearings, running it with the belt off confirms that the noise is coming from the motor.

I extended the ram into the position for horizontal milling; it's easy enough to slide the ram for the first 6" or so but when the weight of the new hardware starts to get further out it is very difficult to slide. I moved it outward by clamping a block to the table and using the Y-axis power feed to push against one of the arbor supports. I could slide it back in manually by pushing upward and inward. Ideally it needs a leadscrew arrangement but I doubt that it will be moved often enough to justify that; perhaps if I'm running short of projects sometime.