PLEASE HELP in cleanup of bridgeport

Well, I do enjoy reading and have learn alot from this list. I
posted this message on a machinst list but didn't get far with any
help. I actually had meant to post here but was late at night and
was too tired.

Have just finished making space in the garage and moved in a
bridgeport J head mill. I will be working on the electronic for CNC
conversion, but did not want to do the mechanical conversion of the
mill also (1st time around on this). This mill was previously used in
cutting graphite for heater elements and has a collection of suity?
oily grunge all over. The painted surfaces are not to bad. It is set
up with ball screws and size 42 SloSyn steppers. Serial number around
~150000 puts this mill around 1975?. This mill also has a oneshot
oiler system installed. I have a manual on the way.

In spot cleaning on the ways I was quit pleased to discover chromed
ways, so far where ever I have cleaned and checked I see the scrape
marks. I would have thought graphic would be abrasive to the ways. Is
graphite too soft to easily damage the ways? If they are chromed is
it safe to assume they were flamehardened also? Were all bridgeports
of that vintage flame hardened and chromed ?

Next step is a real good cleaning. The one hand crank on the Y axis
(left-right?) doesn't feel very smooth and I am thinking of the
graphite in and on the ball screws. Yes, its all over, and up under
the table on the screws. What is the best way to clean these ball
screws. Now I am going to guess - DONT TAKE IT APART! If my guess is
true then does one just flush it out, wipeing down the exposed shaft
and moving the nut from one side to the other, repeating this till
its all cleaned out?

Am I best off removing the table from the sadddle (yah, this is heavy
stuff). Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated. Is there
any way to tell if this was factory CNC motors/screws or a retrofit
from some other company?

Thanks, Stan Krumme. KO6YB