T-Man 1066's shop adventures

[T-Man 1066]

Haven't posted much here for a spell...

This part is a base plate for a custom machine I am building for a customer. The plate is 1-3/8" thick, 28" wide and 120" long. On my scale it weighed about 1385#.

The mill only has 4' of travel, that is why the plate is hanging so far off to the left in the first pic.

Never mind the mess, the shop is pretty packed. There are actually two grinders under the mezzanine.

I will periodically add more pics as I finish up this machine. Hopefully not too boring for you guys.

[SparkyPrep]

Not boring at all. Fascinating.

[T-Man 1066]

Nothing to do with my shop, but this is a pic of the tool room at NCR, National Cash Register, in 1904.

Love all the windows for natural lighting. No night shift going on here... Also no OSHA. You either had common sense, or only about 7 or 8 fingers.

[SOCOM42]

When I was age 12, I started running machines just like the ones in this NCR picture.
Overhead belting was a common feature around here, in the Worcester area, even right into the 1970's, some even later..
Shop my father worked in still had them right up till he retired. Just looking at the picture makes me "hear" the belts slapping all over again.
There was a company called Forbes and Myers in down town Worcester, owner would let s kids come in and make stuff for ourselves (weekends) on his machines. Company made custom electric motors and grinders. I put together a couple of handguns out of scrap parts from H&R. Old man Forbes was ancient to us! But a real nice guy.
No, he was not a Ped. either, Some of the workers there started the same way.
When he died he left millions to Worcester Tech, and his Mansion next to the school, which is still used today as a dorm for students,
has 20 rooms in it and is something like my 13 rooms on the next street over from his, that I sold 48 years ago.
There is a St. Vincent hospital sitting on top of where his factory was........

[T-Man 1066]

Back in 1992 a friend of mine asked me to help him pick up some machinery. The feller died, his widow wanted to clean out the house. It was a small 1300 SF house, maybe 50's era, in Rockford, IL. He was retired from Barber Coleman (Think gear hobbing machinery), and had a lathe, grinder, and horizontal mill, all line shaft driven, in his basement. Power supplied from a 240v 1ph electric motor. We completely stripped out all the machinery, and all the line shafting, etc.

In the other side of the basement, was a small airplane he never finished. Never knew what happened to that...

[red442joe]

Excellent thread!!!
Please keep it up!

Joe

[SOCOM42]

The best tapping shit, I have ever used, was also used in the screw machines that I made form and shave tools for.
It is re-sulphurized lard oil. Problem is that I am deathly allergic to it Skin blistered like hell, just like poison ivy.
I still use it, even when single point cutting threads, Screw shops would spin the chips to extract the oil to use it over.
We were making 20 MM projectiles by the thousands.

I should correct myself here, We made thousands of 20 MM projectiles every day, 24 hours a day.
Also made in the same place on another line, driving bands for 40 MM grenades, again by the thousands a day.

[T-Man 1066]

Yep, one of my best friends had a screw machine shop. Rockford Greenlee 4 and 6 spindle machines. Largest two were 2-5/8" cap. Lead screw threading. Very familiar with the benefits of re-sulphurized oil. He had a Tolhurst chip spinner. Oil wasn't cheap then, even less cheap now.

Another shop I worked at in the early 90's had 16 Acme Gridley 8 spindles. At least 4 or 5 of them were 4-1/2" bar capacity. Went through ALOT of material, making CV joints - automotive. Good times...

[T-Man 1066]

Yall know I drill holes in metal for a living, you could say. I have 5 manual Bridgeports, 3 CNC retrofit Bridgeports, and my Okuma CNC machining center. I have a horizontal boring mill. I have 7 drill presses. One benchtop, two free standing drill presses, and my 30" radial arm drill. And 3 working drill heads from an old delta gang drill. I have 10 electric or pneumatic hand drills. That is alot of equipment to put holes in metal, right?

So I used T-Man 1066 anti-reasoning, and decided I needed another drill press.

I have been wanting to buy a mag drill for about 2 years, but used prices are high around here, even at auctions. So I said the hell with it, and pulled the trigger on a Scamazon chi-com one. Time will tell how well it lasts, but I was able to push a 5/16" drill through 1-3/8" steel plate, no pilot hole, without breaking the magnet. Nice thing is it is only 15#'s which is nice when I need to do overhead drilling.

[1skrewsloose]

Those are really nice to have, at the plant I worked at we hand one with a 1/2" chuck and a smaller one with 3/8. Super handy, so much less effort to drill holes. Used them almost daily, always some new crap they wanted hung onto an IMM.

I've wanted one for a long time, instead of taking the work to the drill press, bring the press to your work.

[1skrewsloose]

Just to add, it always amazed me how many people don't know how to drill a hole properly, they think high speed drill and run wide open!? Proper pressure and speed and the material should come off in a spiral, slow sometimes is faster, more efficient. my .02.

Long as I'm on proper tool usage my other gripe is seeing someone use a metal file like its a piece of sand paper.

[T-Man 1066]

Just to add, it always amazed me how many people don't know how to drill a hole properly, they think high speed drill and run wide open!? Proper pressure and speed and the material should come off in a spiral, slow sometimes is faster, more efficient. my .02.

Long as I'm on proper tool usage my other gripe is seeing someone use a metal file like its a piece of sand paper.

Exhibit A of a decent drill chip. 5/16 in low carbon steel. Dormer TiN coated jobber drill.

+1 on the file. Also needs a handle if using it on a lathe. The tang going into your palm or wrist will hurt. 100% guaranteed!

[T-Man 1066]

Needed to drill a 5/8" hole through 1-3/8" steel plate. Mag drill would hit the motor and miss the hole location, so had to bust out the big drill press. By radial arm drill standards, its pretty small, but by home shop standards its awesome! It only weighs about #3000-ish, so I can move it around with a pallet jack. It brings a smile to my face everytime I use it!

[Hawg]

That is a beast of a drill press!

[1skrewsloose]

It only weighs about #3000-ish, funny, like as much as a small car, to drill holes!! Love it!!