Tool gloat, Finally found a mill

[cadwiz]

Finally, after a year of searching I found a mill in my neck of the woods, actually only 20 miles away. Was home for the weekend from my plant startup and saw this listed in the classified's. I bit on it and brought it home this weekend without incident. 1981 Varispeed. Mechanically it looks in good condition: spindle's tight, ways appear in good condition, no visible wear on any of the lead screws, and the table's in great condition. It has a Bijur oiler, some kind of mist lubricator, and the standard collet set and rack. Only thing missing is the fine quill feed handle. Planning a ground up cosmetic restoration since it's already disassembled. Never took one of these apart so I hope I can figure out where all the pieces go.

Cadwiz in La

[DancingBear]

Congratulations on your find! Enjoy!

Walt

[JRouche]

Outstanding. Good for you. That is a good year. The vari-speed is a real nice feature. Keep us filled in and keep the photos coming. JRouche

[A.K. Boomer]

She's a big boned girl (not a bad feature for a mill!) but she's going to be a sweetheart, good for you, have fun and dont worry --- you dont get much simpler than a Mill, look for earmarks on everything and she should go back together no prob.,,, nows the time to concider psychedelic paint and possibly growing an afro?,,,.... dont get her all put back together and then be stuck with the shoulda/woulda/coulda's take it from a guy who's been there....

[japcas]

Glad you found a mill. Good luck with it. One question, why did the previous owner take her apart? Was something wrong with it? I could live with the bad paint if it was in my shop as long as it was still making good parts. Surely there would have to be some reason they would tear it down like that.

[IOWOLF]

Great find,May all your chips be blue.
Oh and paint it Grey like it is supposed to be.

[rockrat]

Looks like a winner. Good find. Just dont drop it on your toe!

rock-

[pcarpenter]

Good luck with it! Mine is still mostly apart a year later as I went through *everything* cleaning thoroughly and repainting. I am held up on re-assembly only by some scraping work on the knee that I have mentioned here recently.

Get your digital camera and take pictures as you go for orientation information and get hold of the electronic copies (pdf) of several vintages of manuals floating around the web. There is a link to a fairly recent (80's) English manual up on the Practical Machinist site. The manuals are OK only for a complete parts listing and diagram, but pictures may be better for some things that are not detailed in the diagrams. I have the head diagrams stapled all over my shop walls along with blow-apart parts listings from some of the Bridgeport parts places as a second reference with pictures of the parts instead of a drawing.

Keeping all the parts for some small section together helps too. There are lots of really similar set screws all over the thing, for example. Keep them separated and there won't be any wondering which length goes where etc.

If you find you need any specific info on disassembly, send me a message or email and I would be happy to help. I have acquired a lot of info along the way. I scanned in an earlier manual and have it in a (large) PDF if you need it.

Good luck!
Paul

[wierdscience]

Good haul!

[cadwiz]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I've already downloaded several copies of the various manuals. Unfortunately, studying is about all I can do until after July. I'm stuck in Arkansas on a plant startup that's progressing SLOWLY! I get a few days off here and there but that's mostly been spent making up with the wife for being gone (she's growing the honey do list daily).

As for why it's apart. The owner advertised a Bridgeport and other 3ph equipment. When I called he said he had a Series II CNC, grinder, lathe, etc. Told him I wasn't really interested in the CNC and he said he also had the 2J2 that he'd already torn down for restoration for his home shop. He said he had too many machines and could be pursuaded to part with it so I pursuaded. He said all he could find wrong so far was a buggered knee gib, which he has already repaired. He thinks the power down feed may not be working but he hadn't gotten into the head yet. I figured what the heck, this is the only mill I've found available in La and was fortunate to find it only 20 miles away (my machine scrounging skills are still in the infancy stage). I took a chance since it was torn down but I'll have fun getting it up and running.
Get ready cause I'm sure I'll be posting many questions later this summer.
Cadwiz in La