Why does nobody talk about the 0.005 tolerance mess on the old Bridgeport?

Honestly, I was running a job on a 1972 Bridgeport at my shop in Boise last Tuesday, trying to hit a 0.005 tolerance on a bracket. The quill feed started slipping mid-cut and I blew the spec by a mile. I shut it down, checked the manual, and found the worn pin in the feed mechanism. Ngl, I had to hand-scrape the part back to size over two hours. Has anyone else had to fix one of these old feeds, or is it just time to retire the machine?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai5647d ago

Man, that whole "fix it with what you have" thing is everywhere now. Tbh, it feels like everything from cars to kitchen sinks is built to be thrown out, so we're all becoming shade-tree machinists. I see it with my neighbor trying to keep his old mower running with homemade parts. Sometimes the old fix works great, other times it just kicks the can down the road until it breaks worse.

blair_stone71mo ago

Saw a post on Practical Machinist where a guy just welded a new pin from drill rod. But is that a real fix or just asking for more trouble later?

ninamartin1mo ago

That guy on Practical Machinist probably saved himself a hundred bucks and two weeks waiting for a part. If you get the heat treat right on the drill rod, it'll last just fine.