Universal precision Boring head

Got a Univ. precision Boring & Facing head. Made in Bridgeport Conn. Cant find any paperwork on this or Co. Want to see what toolin came with it & also If I can remove B&S shank? It has a square slide & only 1 3/4" tool hole sticking straight down. Anyone got one? Looks like It might have one factory bar with it bent into 90 D. Box says its supposed to face up to 16"

Greg:

I have two of them. They were popular at The Washington Navy Yard and when the Gun Factory closed they showed up all over town. One was given to me by an old Navy Yard guy, it's the one with the No.5 MT shank. The other one has a No.9 B&S tang drive shank.

The tools are marked "Precision Universal Tool Head"

"The Precision Tool Co, Brooklyn, New York"

Check your serial numbers, mine are:

2- 3463
2- 4915

The owners of the company retired to Clearwater Florida some time in the 70's and took the rump of the company with them. They reconditioned 2- 4915 for me and sold me a new wooden box for it.

The shank and the head are all one piece. The boring slide is driven by a pinion to a rack on the under side of the slide.

There is a big threaded collar that has a rack on it's inside. That rack meshes with an idler that meshes with the slide drive pinion. as the threaded collar moves axially on the shank, the slide moves across the head.

The mechanism that you see on the outside of the tool controlls the nut that moves the theaded collar. It is all on ball bearings so the tool can turn but the slide will only move when the little hand knob is rotated.

This is the setting knob and it also controlls the out feed facing feature.

If you are experienced with fine mechanisms and are patient, you can take the thing apart and see how it works. There are a zillion 7/32" balls in there (ask me how I know the size) so be careful.

No, you can't change the shanks without going through Much pain and terror.

I use the B&S no 9 shank with a 9 B&S to 40 MMT taper adapter.

I am saving the No 5 Morse shank for The Boring Mill of my Dreams.

I have no idea of how many of these were made. The company was always small. The first two digits of the serial number might indicate the year of mfg. I know that neither of mine are younger than 1950.

As to being marked "Bridgeport, Conn." I have never seen one so marked and the owners of the company never mentioned that they were in B'port.

Yes, Bridgeport has always made machinery, but it would surprise many people to know how many fine mechanism shops were located in Brooklyn. The place was like Switzerland with a funny accent and a wonderful baseball team.

If you have a serial number lower than 2- 34, the company might have started there. If it is higher than 2- 49 the company might have moved there before going to Florida.

You don't have a "from" tag. You might not know that Bridgeport, Conn is for all intents and purposes, a suburb of NYC, although not as fancy as Darien and Stamford.

oooooh, did I say that!

If you have the 90 degree bent boring bar, do you have the adapter for it?.

The adapter not only is held to the slide by the normal retaining screw, but it also has it's own allen head screw that fits into the slide to help hold it.

If you don't have the adapter, don't try to ue the 90 degree bar. Don't.

If you do have the adaptor but don't have the installation instructions, I will e mail them to you.

If you don't pay attention when installing the adapter and the 90 degree bar, you will have an horrendous wreck.

I have used these heads and also have used the Wohlhaupter heads. I have a preference for the Precision Tool Head.

I think I am going to catch hell for that remark!

Hope to have been of some help.

I have serial No. 2-6127. It has Brooklyn address. MT #4 shank.
I had a complete set a while back. They feel like they are made of silk.

I am always on the look out for one with a MT 4 shank to modify with a metric interal thread for my Hauser jig borer.

I have two of these also, I bucked the MT4 taper off and bored and threaded out to a 7/8 x20.
This head is such a pleasure to use and as JCHannum said as smooth as silk.
One word of warning -Do not turn adjusting crank hard past its range as it will jam.If you plan to take it apart I can Email you pix to help you.
Rob

Sorry Guys, Ive been working in field 16-7. Jim, the box it came in said Conn. on sticker & it was crossed out & Brooklyn handwritten over it. But tool is definately Bridgep Conn. on it. Its 3:00 AM & dont have tool with me for SN. the 90 Bar I got with it looks to be factory, but dont have the other part your talking about.This Head looks like new.Has 2 little brass cans 1 empty & 1 with shear pins & the rest I got looks like homade (Alot of straight brass reducer bushings). Actually I was wrong about shank.Dont know what it is. Has a very sharp taper,with woodruff keyslot,(no flanges at large end.I dont know much about the bigger shank tapers,which brings me to Robs reply,Do you mean you cut shank shorter & bored & threaded it? Isnt it very hard? I would like to do that,But I tried once on a (Ithink)Cat Vflange shank & couldnt do it with my worn American Lathe cemented carbide. I havent checked the shank hardness yet. I want to be able to run it on a 1 1/4" straight or R-8 shank. I would appr. any pictures, paperwork Emailed to [email protected]. I only got the 1 l bar with What else come with besides shear pins? Thanks Guys.

OK,

In the brass cans there should be one or two oval head countersunk screws, one or two small shear pins, spare tool holder set screws, the special allen head cap screw that holds the 90 degree adaptor to the face of the boring slide, a grease adaptor that screws into the head and also screws on to a grease tube, and last but not least, a spare bevel gear for the feed out knob.

I guess the company thought you were going to take the thing to Mars.

As far as I know, the shank isn't hard. The tool is a one piece structure from the very front of it to the rear of the shank.

If you want to modify the shank, you can hold the front of the head in a four jaw chuck and support the shank end with a center.

I have seen them turned down to a straight shank and flatted for a Weldon type end mill holder.

There night be enough meat on yours so that you can turn an R-8 configuration. The largest OD on the head with the No.9 B&S taper is 1.073.

The tool's mechanism is assembled around the central body of the outer shank, All that is held in place with a threaded collar. The thread major diameter is 1 3/4"

If you make a perminant alteration to the shank no part of it can be greater than the root dia. of this thread otherwise you won't be able to take the thing apart.

Jim, I got the thing on Ebay for 75.00. I thought it was a cheap foriegn thing that I could remodel into a facing head for my linebore machines! After receiving it i was surprised. this is probably the nicest thing I got in my shop. Any Idea what they costed new?

Of course they were never cheap. I'll venture to guess about 300 1940's dollars. I have seen asking prices that high fifteen years ago.

They are in the same category as the Wohlhaupter UPA-3.

The funny thing is that up to 1971, the German Mark was cheap in this country so the Wohlhaupter sold for between three and four hundred, depending on what you ordered with it.

Hard to believe that it was the el cheapo import alternative to the American brand.

Universal made only one head that I am aware of.

Wohlhaupter was smart in making a family of boring heads. The little UPA-1 is a jewel and the big UPA 5's 6's and 7's are made with adapters that fit the front of the spindle sleeves of mighty horizontal boring mills.

Overall, I am happy that there are enough of these boring heads out there so that they really aren't that difficult to find.

The Universal heads are like Monarch 10ee's in that they were expensive in their day, but I never cease to be amazed how many are "out there". I've owned a few Universal heads, and keep running into more of them at auctions. They usually go for next to nothing at live auctions as the locals don't know what to make of them.

Greg
I think your missing the little 90 degree adapter block for the tool bar.I dont have a photo of it but Ill send you some photos of my "shank conversion" in a couple of days.
Rob

I have a 3/4" 90 deg block for one of these, clearly marked Bridgeport Conn. see photos. the patent is 1934, mine says "pat pend" but I found others with the patent number. if you need this thing, get ahold of me, I'll probably list it on ebay, I don't think I need it, I have a Wohlhaupter head that has a 40 taper shank that fits my mill.