Recent content by Oldwrench

Wow, and you didn't have to make the spacers...I still have a 5/8-16 tap left over from that...

Interesting, but I wonder what happened to the milling head? And why would you need a lead-screw-driven table? Drilling machines like the Burgmaster were intended for use with jigs on a smooth table. The jig held the part and guided the tools, you didn't need movement because with drill bushings...

We still have a pair of 1Ds which are kept tooled and fixtured for just one job. The operation isn't any quicker than on a Haas but there's zero setup time. Also have an OB on a production stand and table. We retired it when the part it made was discontinued, but it's such a cool item I just...

It's depressing to imagine what it must have been like working at ANY of the core US machine tool builders toward the end. Unless you're turning big shafts, the heaviest lathe in the world can't keep up with a decent CNC turning center. Just watching G76 thru the window made a believer out of...

Uhhh....not in the sense of fusion welding, the "welded" pieces will easily break apart. Aluminum is soluble in mag up to 10%, and mag is soluble in aluminum up to 10%—whence the common alloys of the two metals. No more fusion than that.

Don't think I mentioned it, but we use an air-powered coolant purifier. Roll it around from machine to machine and let it run all night. Don't remember what it cost.

Just have to share this. Years ago I was using a BP with a Spray-Mist setup (which was briefly all the rage). The little coolant tank began to stink. A friend turned me on to Rust-Lick additive, which cured it for about a day. It just got worse until I finally quit trying to treat it and emptied...

No, they don't spit in the coolant. Come to think of it I fired a guy about 20 years ago for spitting chew into a turning center. One reason all forms of tobacco are prohibited in the shop and offices. I worked at a place where an old cranky SOB would come in drunk. The big boss had tolerated...

Rancid coolant is probably a major (albeit unstated) reason for mahine shop employees leaving. Synthetic is expensive, but nothing says cheap-ass employers like turning on a machine that's been sitting and being enveloped in a miasma of drunk-puke stench.

Full synthetic coolant doesn't support bacterial growth. We've been on Hocut 795 for ten years, they just keep the level up and use a refractometer at every topping up.

Worth repeating in front of a congressional committee the next time the politicians are posturing for the cameras. "Want to know why there's a looming problem from AI taking over? A WORK ETHIC would have delayed it indefinitely. As long as robots offer the only way to free yourself from the lazy...

The drive to bring work in-house sells a lot of machines...

Don't feel bad. How a hone works is NOT obvious. The wedge and spring return was a very clever invention, as was the asymmetrical arrangement of the shoes vs. the stone(s) to prevent chatter. You would think that skinny little wedge would wear out, or cut a groove in its guide slot, or any...

Wow. Charley Vogelsong. A name from the past... One sure thing, that didn't come from China. Maybe Korean war surplus, made during Youngstown Sheet and Tube's labor dispute?

That's a plain-bearing machine, it has oil cups. I modified ours with two 1/4" copper tubes soldered into a large cup, elevated well above the journals so they stay flooded. Sorry I don't remember how to establish end play but I just tried ours and it won't move. Probably there's a thrust washer...