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Knee Being Installed Photo by Kay Fisher

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Knee Installed Photo by Kay Fisher

The inside of the knee was by far the most messy part and not at all fun to clean up. I would wipe out goop
and swarf and spray in some WD-40 and wipe some more then scrape gunk off. I thought it would never end.

Broken Bearing Cap and Replacement Photo by Kay Fisher

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When I took the knee apart I discovered one broken part - the bearing cap. I priced one through High Quality
Tools at $31.50 and decided to build my own.

Ram Before Photo by Kay Fisher

The only other part that I had to make was a table lock plunger, a little part about the size of a pencil eraser.
Somehow, I managed to lose it during disassembly, moving, and reassembly.

The above photos show the refinishing of the column and knee. The procedure is simple enough: clean it up,
chip off the bad paint, and apply new paint. The devil is in the details.

Turret Before Photo by Kay Fisher

This is the way Bridgeport finished their cast iron parts in 1947. First they apply a layer of black shinny stuff
that is very thick and acts much like our present day Bondo although with a considerable better finish. I
cannot say that Bondo will last 57 years or more in a shop but I can say that the skim coat that Bridgeport
applied was starting to lift in areas that had seen some stress and in protected areas.

I removed the old paint and their skim coat mostly by hand. I would have liked to just blast it off with some
easy method. I tried various sanders and wire brushes but in the end what worked best for me was chipping
with an old worn out straight slot screwdriver. My second favorite tool was a very nice wood chisel. Do not
cringe. I have a Tormek Supergrind and am perfectly capable of restoring the edge on the wood chisel to
better than new condition.

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Turret Bearing Ring Before Photo by Kay Fisher

I did not take any photos of the Bondo steps. I liberally applied a layer of Bondo brand body filler over the
entire column, knee, and pedestal. At that stage it was all pink. Next I sanded with power sanders and by
hand for hours.

Turret After Paint Scraping Photo by Kay Fisher

Then I filled all the imperfections with Bondo brand glazing and spot putty. Now it looked pink with dark red
spots. Then I hand sanded again, filled with glazing putty again and repeated this cycle three or more times
until perfect.

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Turret After Wire Brushing Photo by Kay Fisher

Then I sprayed Rust Oleum automotive primer (light gray) on the surface. Invariably this would expose more
imperfections that I had not seen so I would again apply glazing putty and hand sand. Then I added another
coat of primer, more glazing putty, and more sanding another three or more times.

Turret After Glazing Putty Photo by Kay Fisher

The last step was applying paint. The paint I chose to use was Rust Oleum gloss protective enamel (smoke
gray) from Wal Mart. I can’t swear that it is extra hard or lasts a long time when exposed to grease but it was
darn handy to buy and so far I have no complaints.

To bring out the shine of some of the cast iron surfaces – such as the graduations on the bottom of the turret, I
used a combination of a wire brush and an abrasive flap wheel. I could get the best finish with the flap wheel
but they wore out fast and good replacements were hard to find.

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Turret After Glazing Putty - Pass 2 Photo by Kay Fisher

Turret Finished Photo by Kay Fisher

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Turret and Ram Installed Photo by Kay Fisher

I cleaned and finished the saddle before I scraped it. After scraping it I decided to install a one-shot lube
system. In the end I had to sand and paint again to repair nicks and scratches from handling.

Saddle Before Photo by Kay Fisher

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Saddle With Bondo Photo by Kay Fisher

After spending many hours hand scraping 56 years of wear out of the base, knee, saddle, and table I would
hate to wear them down prematurely. I always wanted a one shot lube system but after I purchased the
manual lubricator and started looking into all the additional parts I would need - I started getting cold feet.
When I moved from Massachusetts to Arizona and the one shot lube project went on hold for over a year.
When I finished my work on the saddle I couldn’t bring myself to assemble it without a one shot lube system.
Here is how I did it.

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Bijur Lubricator Installed Photo by Kay Fisher

Buying the Parts

I started by calling Bijur and found out that the Bridgeport 9 point kit (No. K-1099) cost $469. After a little
sticker shock I asked the price of just the manual lubricator - $212. I also tried:

High Quality Tools, Inc.

34940 Lakeland Boulevard
Eastlake, Ohio 44095
(877) 372-9227
http://www.hqtinc.com

They have an excellent catalog that has a small diagram of the lube system available from Lube USA. You
have to order from “High Quality Tools” through a distributor. I have ordered through:

Rice Machinery
(401) 781-3010
www.ricemachinery.com

In the past, experts at Rice Machinery answered my technical questions. But even Rice Machinery wanted
$233.75 for the Bijur manual lubricator. So I purchased my Bijur Manual Lubricator from ENCO for $76. It
is model number 203 1500. They also have an ENCO brand for $39 - model number 203 1505.

ENCO
400 Nevada Pacific Hwy.
Fernley, NV 89408
(800) 873-3626
www.useenco.com

After watching the web and trying local hardware stores I finally determined it was possible to save some
money but it was not going to be a nickel and dime deal. One cost that stayed high was the meter units. Bijur
wanted $9.88 to $17.63 for the meter units specified in their kit No. K 1099. Another vendor (Trico) is listed
in the MSC catalogue but their meter units were approximately $10.00 each.

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Trico Mfg. Corp.

1235 Hickory Street
Pewaukee, Wi 53072-3999
(262) 691-9471
www.tricomfg.com

Lube USA had the most economical meter units fro $7.29 to $13.09, so I ordered all my plumbing and meters
from them:

Lube USA
780 Congaree Road
Greenville, SC 29607
(800) 326-3765
www.lubeusa.com

They were very professional yet didn’t seem to mind a small order from an individual. They also have an
excellent catalog. If you ask, they will send you a one page “Bridgeport Milling Machine 9 Pt. Lubrication
System” diagram that lists most of the part numbers you need to retrofit an existing Bridgeport mill.

Here is the part list of the items that I bought from Lube USA.

Qty Part # Item Description Price Each

1 185052 HTG-0 Flow Adapter $13.09
1 185002 HAS-0 Flow Unit $7.29
1 186101 Elbow Connector $2.94
11 106271 Tubing Insert 4mm $0.41
13 106254 Compression Sleeve 4mm $0.31
7 186252 Compression Bushing $0.70
6 186251 Compression Nut $0.70
4 106901 Tube Ends Elbow, Drive 3mm $3.77
10ft 106801 4mm Nylon Tubing, Natural $0.50
1 185009 HJB-0 Flow Unit $7.29
4 185010 HJB-1 Flow Unit $7.29
1 186404 PJ-7S Junction $13.09
1 106707 12" Flexible Hose 300mm $13.99
1 186420 PJ-3 Junction $4.14
2 186255 Closure Plug $0.69
UPS shipping $8.58
Total $138.67

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The part numbers that start with 106 are metric. The part numbers that start with 185 and 186 are English.
The output from the Bijur lubricator is 1/8” NPT as are the Bridgeport zerk oilers.

The list above is correct to the best of my knowledge. Originally I was a couple of items short and had to pay
additional shipping cost for a couple of small parts. I advise anyone ordering to order extra compression
sleeves, tubing, and drive barbs to allow for mistakes.

Measuring and Layout

The new Bridgeports have 12 inches of Y travel where mine has 9 inches of travel. I measured a new
Bridgeport mill and the lubricator was approximately 10.25” down from the top of the knee to the top of the
lubricator and 4.5” from the back of the knee to the back of the lubricator.

Because my knee is smaller I placed my lubricator 7.25” down from the top of the knee and 4.25” from the
back. I mounted all my hardware on the mill by drilling and tapping ¼x20 holes.

Lube System and Junction Photo by Kay Fisher

I also measured and stared at the flexible hose for quite a long time before I decided that I did not need the
14” flexible hose and instead ordered a 12” hose.

I also got a good diagram for a 9 point lubrication system from

Bijur Lubricating Corporation

50 Kocher Drive
Bennington VT 05201-1935
(800) 631-0168
www.bijur.com

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5 Port Junction on Saddle Photo by Kay Fisher

The junction should be located as close to the knee ways as possible because the tubing must make a sharp
bend through the new drilled and reamed ¾ inch hole into the top of the saddle. I wish I had positioned mine
about ¼” closer to the saddle.

Saddle With Holes Drilled Photo by Kay Fisher

Instead of running the lines to the old zerk holes, I cross-drilled into the existing oil paths and installed
(hammered in) drive barbs (elbow connectors) as per Michael Morgan’s suggestion. To make sure I didn’t
miss the existing oil passageways, I inserted brass rods through the old zerk holes and made sure that my
measurements agreed with my line of site observations.

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View of Saddle for Drilling Photo by Kay Fisher

I asked on the phone what size hole to drill for the drive barbs. The Lube USA fellow said 1/8”. This is
correct for the barb but I drilled a couple sizes smaller and worked my way out to 1/8”.

View of Saddle Plumbing Photo by Kay Fisher

To drill in the sides of the saddle I had to use a 90 degree drill adapter and screw machine (stubby) drill bits. I
just barely had room. If you don’t have a screw machine drill bit you can easily just grind off the end of a
cheap bit and make one.

One of my critical holes ended up just a bit little too large. I could have ordered the next size larger barb but
instead I put a layer of solder on the old one and then it fit tightly.

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5/32" Tubing and Fittings Photo by Kay Fisher

The photo above shows the 5/32” tubing with a compression nut, 4mm tubing insert and 4mm compression
sleeve.

Meters

I ended up using three #0 meters and the rest #1. A #1 meter puts out twice as much oil as a #0. I put the
small #0 meters on the vertical ways and on the cross feed acme screw. Now the cross feed screw gets about
7 drops of oil per cycle. The vertical ways create the biggest mess so I am glad I took Michael Morgan’s
advice and put #0 meters on them. I think since they are not under pressure from the weight of the table and
because the knee moves less frequently they require less oil.

Feed Nut Lubrication

To get oil into the feed screws there is a hole on top of the feed nut bracket. Normally you center the table
(with a mark on the saddle), remove a set-screw in the middle of the table and drip some oil through the hole.

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Feed Nut Bracket With Bondo Photo by Kay Fisher

I used bondo to fasten the 5/32 inch nylon tubing to the top of the feed nut bracket. Bondo was my second
method of fastening. My first was not successful.

Measuring for Feed Nut Oil Photo by Kay Fisher

After I fastened the tubing to the bracket I got to thinking it might not clear the bottom of the table. In the
photo above I set up some 1 2 3 blocks and measured the depth across the entire bottom of the table. It was
just a hair more than 5/32”. In hind site I should have ground a groove in the feed nut bracket with a Dremel
tool and laid the tubing in it to have more free space.

Modifications

In my case I elected to modify the original parts list from Lube USA “9 point lubrication system” for three
reasons.

1. I had an older mill with only 4 oil zerk fittings on the saddle.
2. I wanted to keep it clean so that adding a power X drive and limit switches wouldn’t have me cursing
the plumbing job, so I eliminated the outside plumbing on the saddle.
3. I had the saddle completely apart and it would never be easier.

Instead of the 6 port junction mounted under the saddle I had a 5 port junction. Note even though it is called a
5 port junction there are actually 6 outlets. Five to the side and one out the end – where I installed a plug.

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