Mick's 70 Lowlight

Didn't get to do any work on the bus this weekend as I had another welcome distraction; I picked up a Bridgeport mill that I bought from work. For those who do not know, the Bridgeport is a universal milling machine with adjustable head, power head and this one also has power feed on the cross slide. This is a bit of an upgrade from my smaller mill and will increase my ability to make metal chips a fair bit. For the most part my smaller mill is good enough as it is large enough to bore cases and fly-cut heads and for the odd job I do in steel it works okay. Boring is a bit of a chore as there is no quill and no power feed so I have to raise the knee to bore which is hard work. The Bridgeport will certainly seem like a luxury in comparison. It is also big enough to take the 8" vertex rotary table that I own which means that I will finally be able to look at making some toothed pulleys for my blower kits (the rotary table is about a big as my little mill itself)

I also picked up a larger shop press. It needs a little bit of work as it has a leaky cylinder but is rated at 55 Ton. It makes my old 12 Ton shop press look like a toy. For the most part the 12 Ton press was fine for disassembling blowers and the odd jobs that it generally gets used for but on the odd occasion it gets close to its capacity.

Also received a delivery of goodies for the new engine including 1.4 ratio rockers, retainers, cut to length aluminium pushrods and a set of 90.5 P&Cs