Bridgeport Belt Replacement

[threepiece]

I’m not sure how common this is, I have never seen it done before. I thought some of you fellows would find this valuable.

Being alone, on a ladder and struggling with a 50 pound motor was not appealing to me. So I came up with this plan and so far it has worked extremely well. Installing the new belt and motor may prove differently.

The trick here is to determine the mast length. You need enough travel on the Z axis to clear the pulley drive on the motor shaft. After it has cleared, the X axis can move the motor aside so work can commence.

Look how the rear T slot is inline with the motor.

[threepiece]

The second pictures shows the motor moved to the left by means of table travel. I can leave it here until ready for install.

[toprecycler]

Nice idea. I’m going to have to steal that! I have a Bridgeport that I actually will be changing the whole head out on.

Maybe put a top rotating arm on the top like a jib crane, and then you can use it to load heavy pieces onto the table.

I remember seeing Abom 79 when he got a toolpost crane for his big lathe to help change out the chucks. It seems like it would not be strong enough, but when you actually figure out how much pressure to actually take to make a heavy cut with carbide, the tool post are a lot stronger than we realize.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by toprecycler

Nice idea. I’m going to have to steal that! I have a Bridgeport that I actually will be changing the whole head out on.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You might consider a different plan.

What I did once years ago was make a simple fixture that attached securely to the T slot in the table. Basically it was a rod (I believe 3/4” diameter and about 12” long) that mounted vertically.

With rod in place and tooling removed from spindle I moved the table controls so the rod passed up all the way into the spindle bore. I then removed the attaching screws for the power head and lowered the table.

[greywynd]

I’ve seen pics where a jig is rigged up, to then crank the head and ram up, to install a riser. Never saw one for the motor before. Nice thinking.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[threepiece]

Originally Posted by toprecycler

Maybe put a top rotating arm on the top like a jib crane, and then you can use it to load heavy pieces onto the table.

.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I have a special made cart to store my heavy mill tooling. This cart has two tiers which closely match the uppermost and lowermost positions of my milling machine table.

I simply position the mill table accordingly, secure all four jacking screws on the cart and slide the tool off the cart onto the mill table.

The cart stores a 16” round, 12x12 square and a 12” tilting rotary tables , dividing head, tilt table, tilting vise and indexing chuck, several angle plates and some special bar stock.

The jacking screws are extremely important to secure the cart to the floor. I once failed to jack the cart before I started pushing the big rotary table off. The cart moved and the RT almost went down.