BCA jig borer

I picked this little jig borer up a couple of years ago but never got around to rebuilding it because I was busy doing woodworking machines. I have finished all of my wood machines so fancied a section for metalworking.

I've always liked the BCA's but they go for decent money, until one day this came up on facebook for £110.

[img]https://i.imgur.com/47KNHCp.jpg[/img]

Very nice

Thanks for adding picture, is there a walk through for adding pics

There is, here. Very necessary because how to post pictures isn't obvious!

Dave

You paid £110 for that?! You stole it!

Amazing what bargains you can buy, when you take the opportunity when it arises and not necessarily when you need it.

Mark has a fairy godmother!

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This is one of those rare occasions upon which we are in total agreement.

MichaelG.

Very nice score indeed! A loverly old machine to behold, before you even get to using it.

Wow £110 ? When I read that I thought it was a typo!

At least it's gone to a good home Mark.

I would love one of those, but normally they are 10 times what you paid!!

Enjoy the new addition

Regards

Derek

You will be telling us next that you got a full set of collets with it

Phil

It looked very tired when I got it, all I've done is strip it and give it a nice paint job in 2 pack, I cleaned and stoned the surfaces. I still need to sort out the belt support, the original support had been snapped off and was not there.

Sadly Phil it only came with one collet. It was one of those I'll just check on facebook to see if theirs a jig borer. It was listed for sale for £60 and when I rang up the guy said someone was calling in a couple of hrs to view it. So I offered more money and said I'd be there in 15mins.

And heres my little pattern makers lathe.

Mark

If the belt support has been damaged maybe a simpler drive system could be implemented using a lightweight brushless DC sewing machine motor. Since the BCA is a precision jig borer a 500W BLDC sewing machine motor has more than enough torque/power. Also being a fraction of the weight and size of the BCA induction motor it could be mounted on the head assembly and directly drive the spindle. Since the sewing machine motor comes with an electronic servo speed controller you may only need a single motor to spindle pulley ratio as the BLDC motors can produce very high torque even at low speeds.

CS

Nice workshop too! Yes that patternmakers lathe will be right handy for any little patterns you need to make.

Never seen one of these.

Genuine curiosity and ignorance, what are the features that make it a jig borer rather than a vertical miller ?

Thanks clive never thought of that, I was thinking of adding a vfd to improve the speed. Apparently this version lacked speed but ive not tried it yet. The bearing setup is a tad weird in these.

Chris, to be honest I dont know, I think they are just really accurate little millers hence why they were used in instrument making

Mark

I had a Mk3 BCA to which I had intended to fit the BLDC motor. However a watchmaker friend lusted after it so I sold it to him and fitted the motor to my 1770 Pultra which works exceptionally well.

CS

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I’m not 100% certain, but I think BCA called it a ‘Jig Mill’ [which implies some sort of middle-ground]
Wishful thinking evolves it to be a ‘Jig Borer’

Whatever the case … I think you might enjoy reading this: **LINK**

http://www.lathes.co.uk/bca/

MichaelG.

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P.S. __ In the spirit of Crocodile Dundee:

http://manuals.chudov.com/Pratt-And-Whitney-Co/Jig-Borer-Positioning.pdf

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 16/11/2022 21:21:40

You've made a lovely job of it!

My BCA came from one of "our" trade advertisers, complete with a bulky inverter of owner-built provenance I did not like to trust too much, so I replaced its motor with a Newton-Tesla 3ph outfit. This did entail making an adaptor-plate, but a piece of 3/4" thick PVC proved ideal for that.

(I can't remember what I did with the original motor....)

I've made chuck-holders so its table will take EW and Myford chucks, but these assemblies hog most of the head-room. Need re-thinking!

The machine might be better for making larger-diameter, lower-height components from plate, such as pipe-flanges and shallow trays.

'

For setting the table to centre my usual trick is a short piece of brass bar in a collet, of close sliding fit in the central hole, then moving the table until the bar will just slide into the hole. Not perhaps as accurate as using a DTI but so far what I've used it for has not complained about the last thou. My last task for it was making a blower-ring, as a 2-part assembly with a concentric, internal passage entered by holes for the three nozzles; and side inlet connection.

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Clive -

I like the sewing-machine motor idea. That could be just the thing for my EW lathe. This does have a modern 240V a.c. motor but a sewing-machine motor might be quieter running as well giving the extra speed control. (And the ability to fit reverse, for use in screw-cutting as the lathe has a one-piece lead-nut?) It's also a candidate for making a power-feed for the milling-machine.