For Jackie

[JMA]

Thought of Jackie Schmidt when I saw this.
Look at back end of tailstock

 

[338 Mollett]

6.5 Creedmoor ?

 

[ebb]

Whats at the back end of the tailstock???

 

[Fuj]

Is that a screw jack on the floor at the back ??

 

[jds holler]

There should for damn sure be a plate under that jack.

 

[cmysix]

look at the tailstock, it's half off the rails

 

[jackieschmidt]

That’s what you call using every available inch.

That is a big Niles/Bement/Pond lathe. They have been in business since the early 1900’s.

 

[Larry Koch]

Don't get Jackie all excited before Easter.
Could use it to neck turn 6ppc brass in a pinch.

 

[jonbearman]

I worked for Farrels in Rochester ,ny. One fun lathe I helped build was an 80 foot drive shaft lathe for the US Navy. I made a ton of money on that job and they moved me to building an air lifted steady rest.I put on about 20 feet of rotor racks which the saddle drove off of and this idiot I called johnny lathe put the rest on. They moved the saddle to test movement and when it got to where I left off it stalled a 200 horsepower motor. They started measuring and realized they were all on wrong. Sooooo they had me plug every dowel and threaded hole only to drill and set them up upside down. I made 80 hours bonus on that job alone and all was well.I also worked on a 120 foot borring mill rail and table and bed in Lachine quebec doing the instal.I scraped the ways for 6 months.

 

[Fuj]

There should for damn sure be a plate under that jack.

See the cracks in the concrete floor ?? LOL

In my younger days, I toured the Erie Forge and Steel plant
just north of me. It makes new, and refurbishes, shafting for
the US Navy's subs, carriers, and support vessels. The current
lathe will handle up to a 70 ft long forging sent up from
Leheigh Forge. I've seen the shafts come in on specialized
wheeled flat beds. Big chips !!

 

[jackieschmidt]

Mine looks like a tinker toy.

 

[D Coots]

I worked for Farrels in Rochester ,ny. One fun lathe I helped build was an 80 foot drive shaft lathe for the US Navy. I made a ton of money on that job and they moved me to building an air lifted steady rest.I put on about 20 feet of rotor racks which the saddle drove off of and this idiot I called johnny lathe put the rest on. They moved the saddle to test movement and when it got to where I left off it stalled a 200 horsepower motor. They started measuring and realized they were all on wrong. Sooooo they had me plug every dowel and threaded hole only to drill and set them up upside down. I made 80 hours bonus on that job alone and all was well.I also worked on a 120 foot borring mill rail and table and bed in Lachine quebec doing the instal.I scraped the ways for 6 months.

Stalled a 200hp motor....converting electric to diesel, that's 300hp...damn....

 

[Cecil S.]

As an young Apprentice Electricain I saw a lot of the heavy Industry in the Trenton NJ area. I was always amazed at the massive piece of steel being turned to pression measurements. I fear this is long gone from this country! And it shouldnt be!!!

 

[JMA]

When I was in my late 20's worked with a machinist who during WW2 worked Great Lakes Engineering
told me about running a huge vtl where he would get inside of the parts while the machine was running
and taking a boreing cut.

 

[ebb]

The tailstock looks to me like it has 2 giant nuts 3 times the size of my fist holding it in place and I assume that there are 2 more in the back doing the same thing. If that place is like my shop the jack is sitting there so that I won't trip over it while running the lathe. I am thinking that a lathe and piece of work that big and expensive would only get a competent operator and he knows what he is doing or he wouldn't be there.

 

[Bc'z]

View attachment 1541042

Thought of Jackie Schmidt when I saw this.
Look at back end of tailstock

Damn @jackieschmidt you haven't aged a day since this photo was taken.

 

[D Coots]

Some of the lathes at a certain Preimum barrel maker came from the UK and were built in the mid 40s and have been converted to CNC.

 

[jpjulian]

42 years since I worked in a machine shop........ What kind of tolerances is something that big held to?

 

[majohnson]

Came across the same picture and thought of Jackie as well. My HLV-H looks like a kids toy.

 

[ebb]

It may be bigger than yours but nothing makes yours look like a tinker toy. We split my tractor wheels on a Summit that my friend owns and I thought it was huge. I was mistaken.