found mill

Been on the lookout for some machinery for a while. Been a machinist since 74. Was able to use equipment at work after hours until about 2 years ago. A couple of punks ruined it for everyone with petty macho BS. Scored a Bridgeport that is tooled out. Got it home in pieces last night. Needs a little work but nothing that time and elbow grease can’t fix. Ran the number and suprise it a 74 the year I started my career as an apprentice. Flashlights are fun but Gunsmithing is my passion. Built my own receivers from barstock and have done several conversions over the years. The last major one being my Saiga 500S&W semiauto rifle. Now to find the right lathe.

nice find willie, with a mill and a lathe there won’t be much that you won’t be able to build! Especially good news that it came with a lot of tooling. As I’m finding out, the tooling is a big %age of a machine’s value!

That's good to hear, Willie! It sounds like you and that mill were meant to find each other and I know it couldn't have a better home. Good luck with the lathe hunt! :)

didn’t ChicagoX have a lathe in the classifieds? Not sure if it’s big enough but it should be a whole lot easier to find space for than a monster South Bend :slight_smile:

It's only a 9x20; I would think gunsmithing would need 30-plus inches of carriage travel to accommodate rifle barrels and the like.

If not, it's still available. :)

Congratulations on the find.

Thanks guys for the positive responses. :slight_smile:

In a perfect world a 14x40 with a 1.5 thru hole and taper attachment would be ideal. Was able to pickup a 5HP 3Ph motor for a ”homemade phase converter” from the guy for an extra $50. Hopefully it will cover my lathe needs.

Nice find! Can't wait to see what you build in the future.

Nice! Congratulations on the find. It certainly sounds like you're the right man to get it. I know from some of your builds that we can expect great things from your hands. I just hope you are better at taking pictures and showing/telling the process to everyone than I am. Then this site will gain a ton of knowledge :-)

Update…. Series 1 J head step pulley q
Came with the following and more: DRO x&y, old style BP vise, collets, super spacer with insert plates (Hartford chuck for you Yankees), two right angle heads small and large w/ steady support, dividing head, tailstock, tapping head, boring head w/ 10(?) bars, several Jacob and albreich chucks. Power feed in X needs work but came with an extra motor. Lots of cutters and clamps. Christmas in August but a bunch of work.

Sounds like maybe you don’t need a book but if you do, Lindsay’s technical books has a title called A guide to renovating the Bridgeport Series 1 J head Milling Machine. No.91641

Thanks for the tip. One can never have too much information on any subject and many ways to skin a cat. I’ll look for it asap.

I only understand what ~1/2 of that stuff is for, but that sounds like an awesome collection of tooling (especially the DROs!)

Update just ordered manual on Ebay. Thanks again!

Ended up ordering both 1J and 2J manuals. Got both yesterday. Ordered the 2J cuz I went back to the guy whom the 1J mill was purchased to pickup some tooling for my buddy. Scored a 2J2 variable speed 2HP head with quick change Kwik 200 series w/ 20 tool holders. This head was mounted on one of those horizontal/vertical mills as a replacement for the crapped out original head. Worked at a shop one time that had a similar machine dubbed ”Bridge-innati” ( Cincinnati Bridgeport hybrid). The guy was fire selling everything cuz he sold the propery and had to remove or lose. We struck a deal and pulled the 2J2 head. He had a long bed 17” lathe that was too big for my Man Cave. Even contemplated cutting the bed in half (behind the center support & remounting the leadscrew etc) and it was still to long. Can’t buy them all.

Your gearing up pretty good Willie. Too bad about the lathe, that had to hurt a little.