Hey Grant,

Well, I didn't want to criticize success either, but there were a
number of "I wouldn't have done it that ways" apparent. At a
minimum, the head should have been inverted to drop the CG, the ram
moved back as far as possible, and then the head blocked to the
locked lowered knee.

Also, the 5/8-11 eye bolt used was waaaayyyy to long. Proper use of
an eye bolt here would be to run it in until the "eye" touches the
casting, and cut it off, if necessary, to do so.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On Sun, 29 Feb 2004 23:55:32 -0800, Grant Erwin
wrote:

You are damn lucky your mill got home OK. Two of your 3 tie-downs relied
solely on the position of the knee for tension. Bridgeport knees have been
known to work their way downwards while being moved, which apparently didn't
happen to you. One good way to go is to screw in a forged eyebolt with 5/8-11
shaft into the tapped hole on top of the ram, then to pass a tiedown through
that bolt and crank it down tight, then do fore and aft around the base.

Anyway, you got it home OK. I concur with your forklift method - it's what's
called out in the BP manual.

Grant Erwin

Richard J Kinch wrote:
I've updated two new photo essays regarding my Bridgeport machine at:

http://www.truetex.com/machinery.htm

Namely:

Moving and Hoisting a 2400-Pound Bridgeport Milling Machine.
http://www.truetex.com/movebpt.htm

Building a DC Drive for the Bridgeport Spindle
http://www.truetex.com/dcdrv.htm