Quill skirt on J head Bridgeport clone

[kvt85]

A question,  What is the quill skirt for on the J head bridgeport for.   What purpose does it have.   
On my clone it cannot go up and down with the quill as it gets in the way when the quill gets about half way down.

Any one good on them    It is the old pulley style  not the variable speed style.   Will be Variable speed with a VFD when I'm done I hope. 

Ken

[Carpenter84]

It is supposed to slide freely up and down with the quill. It's supposed to keep the slot where the quill lock nut/scale is closed when the quill is down. Without that sleeve the bearings and spline are open to the elements.

There are two tabs on the sleeve, can't remember if they are on the top or bottom, they're supposed to sit or lock into the quill to slide freely with the quill. If it's not, it's either not oiled, or the tabs aren't where they're supposed to be, or they're broken off.

Pull up a quill exploded view. All the clones are all the same. In fact, they're so close to the Bridgeport that OEM Bridgeport parts fit.
My First milling machine, a Taiwanese mill, has a whole bunch of real Bridgeport parts for the power feed I installed way back.

[PJB]

I have an original 1960 BP parts manual for J- head heres a pic of the exploded head and parts list.
Hope it is of some help to you. 
Looks to me like part #35 and its 2 pcs.  An upper, larger diameter tube telescoped over a lower smaller dia tube.   Hard to discern  from the diagram but it also appears the upper is held by small screw 276.
My 2J looks similar
Shawn may have mentioned it but the the quill stop knob #36 looks like it captures the lower tube to the quill.

 

[kvt85]

Thanks,  I will have to look at it and possibly order a new one.   Because it does not work right. or is set up wrong.   
Ken.   

This is the first BP I"ve taken apart.  used a couple but not worked on them.   

[Carpenter84]

Find a rebuild guide, there's lots out there. They're very easy to disassemble and reassemble. It's possible the sleeve is just out of alignment. Not necessarily broken. Also, the quill is not difficult to remove.

Pull the quill handle, clock spring, clock spring housing, pull the clutch assembly, pull the quill pinion shaft, and the quill will drop right out.

[kvt85]

This one is tight enough that it does not come right out.   But finally found the problem.   The person that had the thing apart prior had it in upside down and it had straightened the tab on one side and broken the other one.    Finally managed to get it somewhat fixed.  and turned it over, then managed to get the thing to slide up and down properly,    Thanks for the help.   
Kinda knew what it was supposed to do, but it was not working putting it back the way I found it.   
Also explains whey there was chips in the column area.    It had sealed bearings in it land that is prob why it did not tear them up. 

Ken
 

[Carpenter84]

Ya, upside down will break the tabs for sure. However, rest assured it will still work with one tab... Mines been running on one tab for several years now. Just make sure you regularly add oil to the quill cup.
Chips inside the quill is super bad news tho... Make sure you get those cleaned out. It'll score the quill, quill housing, spline, and could potentially get down into the bearing spacers, it could tear the seals on the bearings. All around not healthy. I'd be doing a full disassemble and clean if I found chips or swarf in my quill.
I get semi dark oil drips off my spindle nose (from the quill oil) and that makes me uncomfortable enough...

[chipwelder]

I have a Jet Jvm-4 and the skirt tabs have been broken off in a previous life, need another one and the factory says it's unavailable. May try and find one.

[kvt85]

if it is a basic clone of a BP you may want to try a BP one. 
Most of the parts I have purchased for it were BP,  only screws etc do not fit.