Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs
Moving a Bridgeport into the Basement
Bernd:
The day has finally arrived were I pick up my, new to me, Bridgeport. I'll document how I got it home, took it apart, moved it to the basement and reassembled it.
So to start this pic series off, below are some pics of bringing the mill home.
Had to move it outside to get it on the trailer.
Here is the mill at home finally.
A front view of the mill sitting on the trailer.
I've completely flipped the motor and picked up the ram. I discovered that it has a 4" raiser block. Nice.
Set the ram and motor down on some pallets for now. The trailer and mill will now fit into the garage. It's going to have to stay there till Monday. Going to the camp and close that for the winter. I'll be able to contemplate how I'm going to get it into the basement and reassemble it.
So that's it for now until Monday. I should have a post on moving the first part into the basement Monday night or Tuesday morning. Stay tune for the move.
Regards,
Bernd
Bernd:
The story continues with the moving of the ram into the basement and moving the mill into the garage for further disassembly.
First I prepared a pallet to make the move easier. I screwed two 2 X 4's to the bottom so that the rollers would roll better. I discovered this when I moved the drill press. The rollers kept getting stuck between the boards.
Removing the ram from the trailer using my handy lifting devise. I'm going to use those pallets and wood blocks to support the head on the pallet I added the 2 X 4's on.
I've put a couple of screws in each of the pallets to hold them together. Here I'm screwing down the blocks of wood as I level out the ram.
Once I had every thing level I used a couple of lag bolts to hold the ram. It mainly kept it from sliding off the blocks of wood.
All trussed up like a turkey and ready for the move into the basement. I added a bit more blocking to keep the ram from shifting around on the pallets and then strapped it down good and tight. If it tipped it would take pallets and all.
On it's way down. One minor problem though. The next pic will show it.
The pallet was wider than the ramp and it slide to one side.
I screwed an 8ft long 2 X 4 to the one side as a guide to keep it somewhat centered.
I then added a second 2 X 4 to the other side so it wouldn't ride down on the pallet boards and get hung up somewhere.
Success, It's down the stairs. You'll notice that the 2 X 4's are a bit black on top. Well, I added a bit of grease to make sliding down the ramp easier.
This part of the move is finished for now.
Time to get the mill off the trailer. The pic is pretty self explanatory as to how I did it. I was able to do this because the drive slopes up into the garage. The trailer wheels are blocked, there are blocks under the back side so the trailer won't tip up in front when all the weight is on the back. The tractor bucket is an insurance that that won't happen. Those are 4 X 4 oak planks I'm using. I wouldn't have used anything smaller or a soft wood for that matter.
A shot from the back side. I secured the mill so when I put the first roller under it, it won't take off on me.
The jack won't fit under the frame so I used a piece of wood and jacked that up enough to be able to put a roller under it.
Here's a better view of all the blocking and support as the mill is nearing the edge of the trailer. Notice I've got it chained and strapped off to a piece of pipe. Just incase it's a downward trip on the wooden road I made.
About half way there. I added the piece of oak 4 X 4 in case one of the so called wooden rails broke that it won't tip over completely.
And a bit of help from my friend the tractor to get it into the garage.
Next part is taking the table and knee off and to move them to the basement. Don't know weather I'll take both off together or separate them. I'll knew when I get to it. You'll find out tomorrow or the next day. So stay tuned.
I don't think I'll show the whole move down the stairs as it'll be no different than the other parts I've moved down. I'll hit on some of the high lights and then get back to detailed description when I finally assemble it.
Regards,
Bernd
Bernd:
As I mentioned earlier I would have a few more pics to post. What follows is an attempt to remove the table with the knee off the mill. I had problems due to weight and the fact I cut a strap on a sharp edge trying to pick that part of the machine up. Now I'm glad that it happened that way. I was forced to remove the table and cross slide. What I found wasn't pretty. You'll see what I mean as I continue this story.
First I had to get the mill back out into the driveway so I could position the bucket over the table and knee to try and pick both up. So I wrapped a chain around the column and pulled her out.
Once outside I made sure the mill was level. It would facilitate the pickup of the table. Remember my drive slopes down from the door.
Everything was loose. I removed the taper gib and was at the end of the screw feed. I used a couple of straps at each end of the table, as seen on the left end of the table, and a come-a-long. For some reason I just couldn't pull the whole works up. The straps were stretched way to tight. I didn't want to break a strap and have the whole thing come crashing down. So I went to plan "B". Remove table and then remove knee. I discovered this wasn't going to be easy. I thought all I had to do was remove the cross slide screw and pull the table off toward the front of the machine. WRONG! The nut under the table won't go through that hole in the front left by taking out the screw. DARN!
So back into the garage the mill went. Couldn't work outside since it looked like rain. So removed the screw and slid the table on to a tea cart after getting the correct height. I also broke the handle for the up/down feed of the table. That's another story for later. So off came the table. Unscrewed the nut under the table and removed the small cross slide.
Here's a pic of the cross slide/table nut and the four bolts that hold it in place. Notice the chips? They're stuck on there pretty good. They must have used a very sticky coolant on this machine.
And this is what I found under the cross slide. The is the gear set that turns the table screw. You almost miss it for all the chips that are piled up in there.
Did I make chips already. Naw. That's all the chips I removed from the inside of the knee. Unbelievable. This machine is the poster child for not using an air hose to clean off the table.
I'm now glad that I was forced to remove all of the slides and table. This will allow me to clean up the machine some before putting it all back together. It looks like it'll be a few days before I post more pics of the move. Have to do some cleaning first.
Regards,
Bernd
Brass_Machine:
That mill is identical to the one I learned on at the local vo-tech. Do you have the weight of that beast? I would love to get a Bridgeport into my basement... Unfortunately, my basement is way too small. I wouldn't even have the head room for something like that.
Eric
Brass_Machine:
Edit...
You have some cleaning ahead of you!
Eric
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