Lubrication of j-head when assembling

[Pete O]

I have a shipment of parts for the Bridgeport series 1 J-head on it's way, have been fiddling with the various components and getting ready to assemble the jigsaw; I'm hoping some of you blokes who have owned, maintained and overhauled these things will be able to give me some information about lubrication of the various mechanisms- I haven't been able to find much info on how to lubricate things as they go back together. In particular, the feed drive worm arrangement and the feed drive gearbox in the left side of the head where the cluster gear lives;actually the whole drive train of the feed mechanism. The worm drive cradle has three holes in the top set in a kind of basin, this looks like it is intended to receive oil but i can't see where this would be fed from, unless the quill oiler feeds this and it drips from there down into the quill felt cap. From what I can see, that oiler drips directly down onto the felt so the feed worm will miss out.  The little gearbox where the feed rate selection happens- should this be packed with grease or something? The feed forward & reverse clutch and bevel gears- how are they lubricated? The only thing I've been able to find specifically is that the drive housing where the back gears are located should be packed with grease. Any info would be appreciated.

[Dr Stan]

There are several PDF's of BP publications including those related to J Heads here:  http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/det...2099&tab=3

I found the feed unit for my Fray in one of the manuals as it was sourced from BP.

[Pete O]

Thanks for the link Stan. I have had a look through those documents and still am none the wiser regarding assembly lubrication; most are variations of the operators manual- so have info regarding in-service lubrication but nothing about rebuilding- and one that covers rebuilding is what I already have and mentions nothing about lubing the power feed train. Perhaps I'm over-thinking it and just need to give everything a light oiling as it goes together. I've emailed the guy at H&W machine repairs, which is where I've bought my parts, but no reply yet.

[Pete O]

I have been puzzling over this thing and trying to figure out how the heck the power feed system gets lubricated; I finally had a light-bulb come on this afternoon when I realised that by installing sealed bearings on the bull gear shaft, I have isolated the power feed system from the oil that it gets from above. Oil comes in via the top oiler and drips directly onto the teeth of the bull gear, then down through the bearings and into the reservoir in the top of the worm gear cradle, feeds the three moving parts in the worm gear cradle then runs down into all of the gear system of the power feed. I'll have to take those bearings out again and remove the seals, this will mean that the power feed train is oiled so I guess if I assemble it with oil it will be good to go.