Looks good Spitfire! They are called Twist-Lock plug/receptacle.

Cleaned up good!

Put a piece of plywood on the table, fully retract the spindle back into the head, set the end of the spindle onto the ply, it should balance just fine, but support it with one hand while you use the knee to get the head to the correct elevation. Then use the X,Y to line up the holes and get those head bolts started. It works much much better than trying to do the job with an engine hoist. If you were talking about using the back gear on the head? Yes there speed limited, low rpm on the motor always when you have the back gear engaged. Since that's a variable speed head you might be hearing a worn plastic bushing rattle. BP's are well known for this issue. If my memory isn't faulty I think H&W Machine Repair has at least one YT video showing how to replace them. The parts are cheap, but a fairly involved job to replace them. Lot's of off shore R8 tooling comes with a M12 X 1.75 draw bar thread. It's one reason I refuse to buy any R8 tool shanks from a non North American supplier. Even with them I now double check the specifications to be sure it states the thread as being 7/16" x 20.

The mill looks great, and a big plus that the RPC actually works! IIRC, the original Bridgey power feeds were troublesome, but modern units are available. Very surprised that they actually make R8 collets with metric threads - good to know this!

...when I worked for Sikorsky Aircraft in West Palm Beach, FL Pratt & Whitney (on the same campus) switched from these Bridgeports to CNC machines - they sold the BPs for a buck each but the catch was you had to pick them up THAT day and haul it away...

Victory!!!

phone cameras are excellent for that kind of work...or any kind of disassembly/reassembly...

Amazing

We have all been there . It is an R-8 with a 12 mm thread. The real irritant is they do not designate the thread size on the import stuff most of the time. If they actually say for Bridgeport they are usually 7/16 X 20 tpi. I just bought some 12 mm all thread and made a draw bar just for the one collet I have that is metric.

GREATLY APPRCIATE YOUR INPUT LOOKING FOR A SMALL MINI cnc LIKE tormach TO CUT GLOCK SLIDES FOR CUSTOMERS WHAT ARE YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS GO MANUAL OR SOMETHING LIKE tormach OR langmuirsystems

It really bums me out when I get something off the shelf and someone put the wrong part in the shelf. I actually use dirty words. Good for you that you never learned them words.

Where is the push button on the quill stop ?

Great video. Enjoyed watching you work on the mill and your narration. Except did not like: gasoline indoors = suicide. Glad you okay. Please don’t make a habit of this technique. Another KZfaq machinist uses kerosene for cleaning. Except for that one thing, great video.