Newbie is an understatement

[dubbouehd]

Hello all. Very new to this forum as well as machining all together! I have always had interest and have just purchased a clausing lathe and a bridgeport j head mill. I have seen both pieces in action and all is good as far as I know. The fella that had them hit hard times and let them go for what I think is pretty cheap. The bridgeport is a 1968 series I? I know it is 1968 by the serial number. The table is 36" wide and 9" deep. It also has a Newall Topaz mill DRO. EVERYTHING works great and the table has been resurfaced. The clausing is a 6903. If I am measuring correct it is 24" between centers (from chuck jaws to live center tip with tailstock back even with the end of the bed). And the swing is 9" (diameter) from cross-slide to center. He also came off of some R8 tooling for the mill and a vise. And a PHASE II quick change tool post for the lathe. He is a real good guy and claims these machines are in great shape and are spot on. I gave $1,200 for the pair. Opinions?
I will be on here ALOT for some help getting up and running. My VFDs are on the way. I ordered JNEV-101-H1 (1hp) for the mill and a JNEV-203-H1 (3hp) for the lathe.

lathe.jpg (5.21 KiB) Viewed 3283 times

mill.jpg (6.78 KiB) Viewed 3283 times

[ken572]

dubbouehd,

Welcome to The Home Machinist.

I would say you got a SUPER DEAL

It would be nice if you could put your EARTHLY LOCATION
in your profile so it will show up under your name to the left of
all of your post's.

Did you get all of your manuals with the machines.

We have a GREAT GROUP of people here that
are alway's willing to help each other.

Ken.

[wlw-19958]

Hi There,

Welcome to the group! You have jumped into the Home Shop Machining
with a vengeance! I own a 6900 similar to yours.

The 6900 is listed as a 14" lathe. The "swing" of a lathe is usually measured
from the bed and not the cross slide. Make sure to check the VS pulleys
and their bushings. These wear out and need to be replaced periodically.
If the bushing is allowed to wear out, the epoxy coating on the inner hub
of the VS pulleys can be damaged and this is expensive to repair. So,
check yours.

The hydraulic speed control is identical to the system used on the Clausing
5900 series lathes, Parts for these aren't expensive. There were two different
types of the master/slave cylinders used on these. The most common problem
with the speed control is air in the hydraulic system. This condition causes
the speed control to creep.

Good Luck!
-Blue Chips-
Webb

[dubbouehd]

Thanks for the welcome ken and wlw. And thanks for the info wlw. Ken, I have put my location in my profile!

[Metalman]

I gave $1,200 for the pair. Opinions?

We have a saying here regarding great deals that I can't repeat "It's like a xxxx xxxx, you can't beat it".
The DRO on the mill was a great bonus. Good luck with them and enjoy.

[Dave Sohlstrom]

In Portland Oregon you would pay twice that amount just for the bridgeport. Good buy.

Dave

[SteveHGraham]

Enough small talk. Start making a mess.

[RCW]

dubbouehd:

I'm jealous!

What are you going to build? Full-scale 155 mm howitzers, G-Scale locos or a hit-and-miss engine to pump your well?

In any case, welcome to the forum!

Bob

[TGriffin]

You got a steal and a couple of very nice machines to learn on. I spent a lot of hours on that model of Clausing and it is a nice lathe to use. The Bridgeport is also one of the most versatile mills around and there is a ton of tooling available for it. Hopefully you got tooling with the machines because it is very expensive to buy by itself. There are quite a few videos on my YouTube channel that will help you learn how to use them.

Tom

[JackF]

Welcome dub,

To the Home Shop Machinist realm. This is a disease for which there is no cure.

Jack.