Watch out for coolant mist buildup in old Bridgports

I stopped by a buddy's shop in Akron last week to check out his '82 Series I and the whole area around the head was caked in dried coolant mist. It was trapping chips right against the way covers, one of the guys said he had to rebuild a saddle after it sat like that for 2 years. Anyone ever deal with this on older machines?

3 comments

3 Comments

colethomas10d ago

My dad had a '79 Bridgeport in his garage back in Ohio and I remember him going through this exact thing back in '04. He used a shop vac with a little piece of window screen taped over the nozzle to catch the mist before it settled, worked okay but you had to stay on top of it every few days. The real pain was the coolant would get into the little oil cups on the side and gum them up, I had to soak one in kerosene for two days just to get the ball bearing to move again. Your mileage may vary but that dried mist is no joke, especially if the shop gets humid.

daniel_cooper349d ago

Yeah but that window screen trick would only catch the big droplets, the real fine mist still gets through and settles everywhere. Those oil cups on Bridgeports are a pain even without coolant getting in them, I had to rebuild one on my '87 model just because the spring corroded from sitting. The humidity definitely makes it worse, it turns that dried coolant into a sticky paste that's way harder to clean off.

nina_hall489d ago

Oh yeah, the little oil cups on the side are like a magnet for that gunk. I've heard the window screen trick before and it's about as reliable as a screen door on a submarine when it comes to the fine mist. That's a solid two days of kerosene soaking though, sounds like a fun weekend project. Humidity just makes everything ten times worse, turns that dried up mess into a sticky goo that laughs at simple rags. I swear sometimes you're not just maintaining a Bridgeport, you're fighting a losing battle against the shop's own air.