heavy lathe i ran

[Tracker]

started out on this bad boy....SMEDBERGS MACHINE south side Chicago...ya had to turn off the feed lever with a hammer while standing on the carriage....2/3 inside shop 1/3 outside its so long....was made for ORE SHIP SHAFTS in the 1800's....had to crawl inside engine to change gears....just thought some of might like to see HEAVY MACHINERY....I taught BENNY back in the day....they have since went out of business....used to press on 20 foot diameter bearings on the journals to with a 700 ton press that would rock the earth...once seen a guys ear taken off by a chain link that busted...one inch over and he woulda been dead...standing right next to me....whew

 

[Tracker]

Kenny was a good guy that looked out for people...old school...one more good place gone

 

[Tracker]

ran a 20 footer like this also...anyone else run heavy machinery

 

[racerx]

Never run the "big stuff" but I worked on some larger cylinder boring tools for CAT (and others misc stuff) as well as and some large stick tool holders seen in those videos. I miss the good ole days cranking handles.

 

[Tracker]

Never run the "big stuff" but I worked on some larger cylinder boring tools for CAT (and others misc stuff) as well as and some large stick tool holders seen in those videos. I miss the good ole days cranking handles.

the largest crank shaft I ever made had 4 foot lobes with a 4 foot swing....I took a cut once of 3/4 inch depth by 3/8 feed like in this video......you talk about moving the earth and the building....a locomotive would not of stopped that lathe...the chips would come off and sound like a baseball home run each time...and you had to wear a leather coat for protection and each time a chip would hit you a whiff of burnt hair and leather would smoke off your coat or hair....once a coiled chip sealed my eyelid shut one coil on top and one coil on bottom and skin cauterized shut....LOL

 

[racerx]

I like that counterbalance setup. A few decades ago my buddy told me he ran some big stuff at Finkl Steel in Chicago but I'm guessing it was not that big but I remember him telling me about the saucer size chips flying off the part that you would not want to be hit by even one.

 

[Tracker]

I like that counterbalance setup. A few decades ago my buddy told me he ran some big stuff at Finkl Steel in Chicago but I'm guessing it was not that big but I remember him telling me about the saucer size chips flying off the part that you would not want to be hit by even one.

yes they could kill you in a heart beat....I saved 2 chips from that cut I will try to post it up....as it would curl up it would break off in a semi circle and the chip would be so hot it would be molten metal glowing orange and on top of the chip each little tear a soild 1/4 orange ball bearing of steel would shoot off in a radial direction like rain droplets coming off a tire....o man o man.....I know how a VOLCANOLOGIST feels gathering samples in the cauldron but without a fire suit...I would haul away one wheel barrow full every half an hour of solid chips.....for 8 solid hours...steaming hot....one journal would take 8 hours just for one cut. I wish I could find one or had taken pictures of a 700 ton press SLAMMING on a 20 foot bearing onto the journal...the ground would shake each time along with the building supports on each side....you could see them physically shake the steel support rods that held the overhead crane cause the crane was lifting the bearing WHILE the press slammed it and each time the crane had to be jogged forward or a link would break...and that was like 50 caliber rounds going in all directions when one would pop....the heaviest load I ever craned was an 80 ton gear

 

[Tracker]

the last thing I made that I can show you is this on a big machine ...some of the old machines are more precise than the new ones....this as a prototype.... bad boy

 

[scott_l]

thanks for sharing, I have a small lathe and every once in while I'll catch a chip on the arm or what not and that gets your attention. Things that you are showing and talking about are beyond imaginable to most of us.

 

[Tracker]

thanks for sharing, I have a small lathe and every once in while I'll catch a chip on the arm or what not and that gets your attention. Things that you are showing and talking about are beyond imaginable to most of us.

awesome on the small lathe I wish I had one in my garage that's fer sure....becareful with any size lathe as you know....I've seen big ones crush people and limbs and small ones take off the top of a head or ram a file thru your chest....as with sledding as I tell everyone.....YOUR the pilot on this ride

 

[Tracker]

that huge VBM with table in the ground I retooled this nose cone on for C-46 in munster Indiana...remember when they would wobble a tad on the launch...it corrected that.... towards the end of the program

 

[skiroule]

This is good stuff. I’ve always been impressed with you operators that can do this kind of precision work. One screw-up could cost a company tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The last employer I worked for before retiring (which is also the same company that is developing the rail gun) once had a pretty large milling/machining operation in MN which occupied most of a 2 million sq. ft. building. When I got bored riding the desk I would walk down and watch the operators working on the milling setups. Some of these milling machines were big (8 meters) and could handle really large pieces. Sometimes they would work on a single piece for a couple of weeks or more.

Unfortunately all of the milling/machining operations and equipment were eventually moved to other plants in the country but at least the jobs stayed in the U.S. A little sad to see all that empty space though.

 

[Tracker]

This is good stuff. I’ve always been impressed with you operators that can do this kind of precision work. One screw-up could cost a company tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The last employer I worked for before retiring (which is also the same company that is developing the rail gun) once had a pretty large milling/machining operation in MN which occupied most of a 2 million sq. ft. building. When I got bored riding the desk I would walk down and watch the operators working on the milling setups. Some of these milling machines were big (8 meters) and could handle really large pieces. Sometimes they would work on a single piece for a couple of weeks or more.

Unfortunately all of the milling/machining operations and equipment were eventually moved to other plants in the country but at least the jobs stayed in the U.S. A little sad to see all that empty space though.

check out this bad boy for bearings now