Member postings for vintage engineer

Heres the "big tool " I used to work , this is circa 1985 I was 22 yrs old and a couple of years out of my 4 yr apprenticeship and happily working in the turning section of a printing press maker in Kettering , then I was asked to train up on this beast because the bloke who worked on it was leaving , its a milling machine converted from a big planer , made by Futurmill a firm based in Brighouse Yorks , table size 12 ft by 5 ft and a 50hp motor , with the 8 inch facemill which you can see fitted a roughing cut on cast iron which is about the only material this machine ever did was full width of the facemill 1/4 inch depth at 30ft p/min feed , its max was 50 ft p/min , this machine did all the preliminary milling of the baseplates and sideplates for the presses , typical size of a baseplate was up to 6ft square and after the top and side surfaces had been milled (you can just see the side head behind me ), then a load of drilled and tapped holes ranging from M5 to M30 had to be done , when I first did an M5 hole I thought how can this massive thing do a tiny thread like this, but by using a sprung holder and getting used to using the fine controls on the pendant it became everyday stuff , sideplates were typically 4-6 ft long and 3-4 ft wide by 2-3 inches thick and the tolerance on all thicknesses was +/- 0.002" which it would pretty easily get to ,I worked on this machine for 6 yrs and I am glad I used facemasks from early on with it as the black CI dust produced was horrendous , every day you needed a new mask as a new mask put on in the morning would be black on the outside by knock off time, I don't know if its still working today as I left the firm in 1990 and havnt been back since so I might have to have have a peek in the shop sometime as its only down the hill from my house.

regards Geoff

In all honesty most of the vid in the orignal posting had little to do with machine tools.

Neil

Sadly, the Brits seem to be good innovators, but for some reason lack the sense to develop and exploit the invention, and either give it away (Gas Turbines etc) or we allow industrial espionage to make us pay royalties for using our own inventions.

Maybe someone thinks that it makes economic sense, that way;. I don't, but am only an Engineer.

If Britain had been paid royalties on all the inventions that we have given to the world, WE would own Europe, not the other way round!

Howard

If I can add to the 'embrittlement' idea:

This effect is known mainly on high tensile steel, and is caused when electroplating (such as zinc). When the steel is put under tension, hydrogen (from the effect of electrolysis) trapped under the plating percolates along the crystal boundaries of the steel, causing serious weakness. Just like a single drop of water can loosen the cohesion of a sugar lump.

If this effect happens in die-casting alloys in damp conditions, it may be because layers of different metals make tiny cells, generating small currents. This then creates the same sort of conditions as in steel. And the hydrogen comes from the water (even without electrolysis) as the metal - aluminium, zinc etc - reacts with moisture. This corrosion is called oxidation - the metal takes oxygen from water, and this leaves spare hydrogen ready to creep between the minute crystals.

The real problem is that neither the makers of model cars, nor those who made carburettors, or dashboard knobs, had any idea that their products would be treasured one hundred years later.

The same sorts of effects will destroy our favourite plastics, soon enough, don't you worry.

Cheers, Tim

But where does the hydrogen come from?

. As buying secondhand is always risky you might buy a new Boxford.

Thou=0.001" was introduced into engineering despite stiff resistance from the old guard. Chaps trained to work in fractions saw no reason to adopt new-fangled innovations. To them working beyond 1/64" was an unnecessary threat to their livelihoods and an attack on their self-worth. Old ways are always the best ways...