SEMCO LC 1½ Turret Mill / FIRST LC-1½ (Bridgeport clone)

[Smouser]

Those are insane prices (for me).

If I was buying for a business or used my machines to make money then it might have been a different story.

My machine is not even a Bridgeport, it is a clone. No point in spending Bridgeport prices on it.

 

[dieselsamurai]

hidden costs of buying a used machine some you see are super cheap but part prices can stack up very quickly . If your lucky spindle is ok and wear on ways is tolerable for hobby/non precision use ,rebuilt Bridgeport 8k+ and easy to see why just a spindle leadscrews and nuts nearly 3k in parts

No way i could justify that so have to make do with what we can afford

 

[pressbrake1]

I’d stay R8 because of the prevalence of tooling.
If I really really wanted a nuisance I’d make a 40int spindle for it . Nose might have to extend down a bit to fit taper in

 

[pressbrake1]

I’d stay R8 because of the prevalence of tooling.
If I really really wanted a nuisance I’d make a 40int spindle for it . Nose might have to extend down a bit to fit taper in

Actually looking a no chance of 40int so I’d think of a way to create a drive face and register

 

[Smouser]

I am finally back onto the Semco mill.

Firstly, I got the Semco and Tom Senior out of the garage.

The Elliott then joined the milling machine party on the drive as the Semco will need to take the place the Elliott occupied.
The Elliott will be prepared for selling getting all the Int30/Iso 30/BT30 tooling together and then it can be listed so it can go.

I have now started to clean the Semco as it has loads of metal chips, oil, grease and grime stuck to it.

When cleaning the one-shot oiler, I found the oil sight glass broken.

I took it off to have a better look.

This is nice.

The sight glass was very brittle (perspex-type material).

Rough measurements

Does anybody know where I can get the above style oil sight glass?

 

[minimutly]

Is it hard to open the lid every now and then? You should see the oiler working, so when it doesn't, time to fill up.
I know, you want it right...

 

[Smouser]

Is it hard to open the lid every now and then? You should see the oiler working, so when it doesn't, time to fill up.
I know, you want it right...

It is not hard at all to open the lid.

But, I would have to seal the two holes anyway, might as well fit a new level glass indicator thingy.

 

[Smouser]

Been searching to try and find a 65mm centre hole oil level guage.

Found one on eBay for ~£20 but in the listing it says it comes from the manufacturer via airmail. I immediately thought that it is most probably from China.

I used the ebay image and image searched on Aliexpress on found it for £8.62 including tax.

I then thought I would image search the actual item I need.

Found one, except it was attached to a tank

I then used another image of the sight glass and pump and the whole unit appeared.

£21 included tax and delivery. Might as well buy new Chinesium.

Anybody else wanting a one shot oiler should search for "Y-8 hand operated manual pump" or Y-6 if you want the smaller version on Aliexpress.

They are so cheap, I am thinking I might "need" to convert a couple of other machines with one-shot oilers too....
Aliexpress also sells the whole kit with pipes, connectors, distribution block etc.

Example 1

For the impatient type, a Y-8 pump can also be had from Amazon Prime or another type cheaper manual pump.

 

[minimutly]

The world has truly gone nuts hasn't it.

 

[RichardM]

I was going to suggest making the sight glass out of clear acrylic but at that price I might buy one

 

[Smouser]

Brief update on the Semco

I installed the new Y-8 one-shot oil pump.
It is of lesser quality than the old one, the body is made out of plastic but it seems to work well. I still need to fix the T piece to the knee.

I rewired the motor to 220V DELTA as it was only a 440V motor.

The STAR point which I split and soldered three wires onto to make up U2,V2 and W2.

I made a thread here with some more information about the rewiring.


While I had the motor out, I gave it and the top casing of the head a quick spray job.
Nothing too crazy, I didn't strip the old paint or use filler to fill in the chipped parts of the old paint.

While the motor and top casing were removed from the mill, I gave the rest of the head a quick wipe-down.

I also ripped out all the old electronics, contactors and circuit breakers from the electrical cabinet.

Before:

After:

I then started to rewire the electrical cabinet with the VFDs which will be used to power the mill.

The mill can be powered up via the VFD but I have no control cables/switches installed yet. That is next on the list.

 

[Dave26]

Really liking this thread as I have just obtained the same mill but a 3hp model
Regarding the R8 taper, my old mill located firmly in the keyway on the collet, the Semco I now have doesn't seem to locate at all,just pulls up on the draw bar..
In the image you posted previuosly:

Is 7207 the pin for the keyway?
Cheers
Dave...

 

[dieselsamurai]

7207 is the code for the bearings

 

[Jelly_Sheffield]

How much was it to rent the gantry?

Last time I had to do this for my lathe, TedBar Tinker Hire were doing them for £119 a week, inc. delivery (which is nationwide).

It's not nothing, but a hard price to beat.

 

[Dave26]

Any ideas on what the keyway locates on to please?

Is it a solid pin, roll pin, etc?

Thank you..

 

[Smouser]

Any ideas on what the keyway locates on to please?

Is it a solid pin, roll pin, etc?

Thank you..

@Dave26,

I am away working away for the next two weeks so I can't check.
I think I know what pin/locator stud you mean, mine is pretty worn down and I remember thinking I will need to make a new one.

If you have not figured it out in 2 weeks, I will have a look for you.

 

[Agroshield]

Many, many Bridgeport owners in the past have removed the drive pin from up inside the R8 taper with no ill effects.

Unless you are doing a lot of heavy roughing, the friction of the taper is more than adequate.

The pin helps a little if you have a powered drawbar.

 

[dieselsamurai]

Any ideas on what the keyway locates on to please?

Is it a solid pin, roll pin, etc?

Thank you..

heres what you need beware of much cheaper ones from the east the probably wont fit dont ask how I know

ITEM 145 - 1137 Collet Alignment Screw (J139)

bridgeport parts,bridgeport spares, colchester spares,bridgeport mills, digital readout systems. Also buy & sale used machine tools. Newall, Acu-rite, Sino

www.bridgeportuk.com

theres a locking set screw too

ITEM 144 - 1424 Special Socket Set Screw (J138)

bridgeport parts,bridgeport spares, colchester spares,bridgeport mills, digital readout systems. Also buy & sale used machine tools. Newall, Acu-rite, Sino

www.bridgeportuk.com

 

[Dave26]

heres what you need beware of much cheaper ones from the east the probably wont fit dont ask how I know

ITEM 145 - 1137 Collet Alignment Screw (J139)

bridgeport parts,bridgeport spares, colchester spares,bridgeport mills, digital readout systems. Also buy & sale used machine tools. Newall, Acu-rite, Sino

www.bridgeportuk.com

theres a locking set screw too

ITEM 144 - 1424 Special Socket Set Screw (J138)

bridgeport parts,bridgeport spares, colchester spares,bridgeport mills, digital readout systems. Also buy & sale used machine tools. Newall, Acu-rite, Sino

www.bridgeportuk.com

Thank you, top man...