The Home Machinist!

I just purchased a Scharmann horizontal boring mill, 3" spindle, 39" x 31", with table rotary table. Looking forward to this but can't take delivery until I have the shop space ready. It came with MiniWizard DRO (X&Y). It was built in the '50s.

I'm going to need a manual for this machine and know the there is an old BBS archive around that has some manuals available. Could anyone point me to this archive or possible provide some information on this machine??

I would appreciate any help.

Thanks

Steve

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Jet vertical Mill, Champion 12X30 lathe, Amer. Mach. Tool radial drill, 24"X60" LeBlond lathe, Scharmann 3" Hrz Brg Mill, Steptoe 18" Shaper, South Bend Shaper, Jet 14" Power Hacksaw, B & S (No.4 36") Gear Cutting Mach., Wm Pilton vert. Slotter, Enco 12" horz. saw, McEnglevan MP36 foundry furnace, Rockwell 14"X42" lathe, K&T 2H univ horz. mill

Holy Smoke! That's a nice big ol' piece of iron...I'm jealous...I think!
Mostly because I have no idea how you use a boring mill or even what they are actually for. I'm assuming some kind of boring operation but I've never even leaned on a machine like that.
Russ

Here's a couple of links to expore:


http://bbssystem.com/viewforum.php?f=12 ... 73a0ebdca6


http://www.practicalmachinist.com/ubb/u ... um/21.html

WOAH!!!!

The truly universal tool for doing virtually anything!

Did you get a large angle plate and tailstock with it?

When can I send my Steiger transmission housing down for a bearing bore job?

I'm happy to hear all the comments of approval. I am very proud to be the new owner of this machine. I found this machine on Craigs list, nearby in Kent WA, for $3500. Took my 78 yo machinist mentor with me who use to build this type of machine for Gidding Lewis (and owns a 1916 G/L Horz.Mill). He was very impressed and would gladly trade with me. Just to note, he has every type of machine in his shop and he uses his horz. mill the most, even more than the lathe. He even pointed out that the horz. mill can be use as a lathe but he doesn't recommend it if you have a large lathe available.

A bit more on the purchase. Ultimately the seller, being a great guy, offered to load and haul this 10,000 lb mill to my new shop, 125 miles away. He will leave it on his trailer while he goes to the Ocean on a week end and while I unload it. (that will be another story and pictures).

Why do I prefer the horizontal over a vertical? Several reasons. The very large work area. The greater spindle travel (this on has several ft), plus the additional table travel. The column height (Y). Spindle size (3"). And finally, when I supervised machine shop operation (without actually being a machinist, yep, that was me.) It always seemed that the Horizontal Mill operator could always sit on a stool while the Vertical Mill operator stood and had to do a lot of reaching to operate the controls or observe the work in progress. (just my thoughts and preference)

Yes, it came with a tail stock and a very large (~ 8" dia) face mill head. No angle plates but as a newbe machinest, that will be my first project. I plan to fabricate them from 1" steel plate and the face the square with the face mill. I'm thinking of making at least two so I can take advantage of the rotary table and have more than one project on the table at a time. I also know I'm going to need bigger and more tee nuts and longer studs, along with parallels.

My machinist mentor, Roy, now tells me that I will spend more money on tooling than I did for the mill. Well I already have a lot for my smaller Fray mill (indexer head, etc.), but the ultimately won't do for the very large jobs. At least I can go to Boeng Surplus, here in Renton not have to by-pass tooling that just seems too large for my needs.

Steve

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Jet vertical Mill, Champion 12X30 lathe, Amer. Mach. Tool radial drill, 24"X60" LeBlond lathe, Scharmann 3" Hrz Brg Mill, Steptoe 18" Shaper, South Bend Shaper, Jet 14" Power Hacksaw, B & S (No.4 36") Gear Cutting Mach., Wm Pilton vert. Slotter, Enco 12" horz. saw, McEnglevan MP36 foundry furnace, Rockwell 14"X42" lathe, K&T 2H univ horz. mill

What you REALLY want is a tombstone if you can find one at a reasonable price..

VERY RIGID....

I would (almost) give my right arm for a good HBM.

One thing that you will really want to consider, if you don't have it, is a DRO for the tailstock that is coordinated with the headstock. Otherwise, you will be spending hours getting things lined up.

We used to repair compressors and pumps on our HBMs, and would spend a major part of the setup time just getting the head / tail in alignment.

For that price, you got a STEAL.

Go make chips....

Now, if you can only find a way to shut down gravity while doing setups, and turn it back on when making chips....

I assume a tomb stone to be a large squarish block, similar to those on shaper tables. Perhaps with tee slots.

I'm just guessing.

Steve

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Jet vertical Mill, Champion 12X30 lathe, Amer. Mach. Tool radial drill, 24"X60" LeBlond lathe, Scharmann 3" Hrz Brg Mill, Steptoe 18" Shaper, South Bend Shaper, Jet 14" Power Hacksaw, B & S (No.4 36") Gear Cutting Mach., Wm Pilton vert. Slotter, Enco 12" horz. saw, McEnglevan MP36 foundry furnace, Rockwell 14"X42" lathe, K&T 2H univ horz. mill

Something just occured to me.!

I mentioned in my other post about the LeBlond 27" lathe I purchase for the scrap iron value of 2 cents a lb. I also purchase the radial drill for it's scrap value.

If this Schurmann mill weights 10,000 lb and I paid $3500 for it, then I paid 35 cents a lb.

Maybe should have dickered on the price, you think??

Nah! I know I got a good deal and the seller (shop owner) was glad it was going to a Home Machinist.

By the way. This shop is in desperate need of good machinists. If your in the Seattle area and want to work full or part time, he has a job and pays union scale. Met a couple of his best people and they really like the work enviornment. Just a basid job shop, not mass production. Good equipment, etc. Just a plug for a nice shop owner.

Me, Nah! I'm far from being a mechinist and I live over 125 miles away. Too busy with retirement.

Steve

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Jet vertical Mill, Champion 12X30 lathe, Amer. Mach. Tool radial drill, 24"X60" LeBlond lathe, Scharmann 3" Hrz Brg Mill, Steptoe 18" Shaper, South Bend Shaper, Jet 14" Power Hacksaw, B & S (No.4 36") Gear Cutting Mach., Wm Pilton vert. Slotter, Enco 12" horz. saw, McEnglevan MP36 foundry furnace, Rockwell 14"X42" lathe, K&T 2H univ horz. mill

10,000 pounds? Yikes...REALLY curious here...how will you get that big bugger in your shop?
I just moved the ol' OHIO mill into my shop. About 3500 pounds or so.
Tough ol' girl to handle...so much weight on one end. I'm betting that machine will be a challenge.
I used a 5100 series Gradall (it'll lift 20,000 pounds so the owner says)to get it in the door...that was easy. It's getting it turned and around the corner into it's place that's taking awhile.
Russ

I will tell you what...if you think you paid too much and want to get rid of that thing for what you paid for it, I will send a truck out YESTERDAY to get it.

Heck, I will even give you my credit card number to seal the deal...

You have NO IDEA how handy a HBM is...it has more uses than...never mind...

Yes, a tombstone is a large rectangular block with mounting slots / holes etc: on all usable sides and top.

You can put jobs on every side and top just flip from one to another by spinning the table. They are very common in high-production, where you also have pallet changers so that you can pull the table off and push in another one, complete with ready to go jobs.

Thanks for the offer and reassurance, but this HBM is not for sale. (well everthing has it's price).

The seller has offered to deliver the mill on the same trailer that he used when he purchased to a few years ago. It is a full deck trailer (above the tires) so it is high. However I have full access to three sides for a fork lift. He is willing to leave the trailer for a few days so I have time to rent a forklift or block/crib it off and down. I'd rather pay a couple hundred more for a forklift than deal with cribing from that height.

My shop is 24 ft deep, with a large sliding door. Enough overhead clearance inside and at the door to get it in. The column is a little over 8 ft tall and I have about 10 ft under the inside beams. After coming though the door I have to turn 90 deg. between columns that are 12 ft on centers, So I will have to "Hook" the spindle extention around the column since the mills over all length is about 12 ft.

I'm unsure of the strenght of my shop floor but the mill has a good broad base. I'm considering bedding some rebar into the old slab and then pouring a 4 in. re-enforced pad for the mill. Since the rotary table has already increased the working height to what I consider 'uncomfortable', I will raise to worker plateform with a 'duck board plateform' or just deck it over to keep the chips where I can sweep them up (yah! right!). I really want to be able to work from stool on long machine operations.

I'm really anxious to get it set up since I just had to travel 160 miles roung trip to do a HBM job on my friend (Mentors) mill. Modified a forklift steering column gear box to fit my fork lift. Never even had to remove the steering wheel and we both sat on stools to do the job (kinda like setting at the bar while the machine makes chips. Have to be sure to put coasters under the beer cans if you want to sit them on my mill table.)

Steve

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Jet vertical Mill, Champion 12X30 lathe, Amer. Mach. Tool radial drill, 24"X60" LeBlond lathe, Scharmann 3" Hrz Brg Mill, Steptoe 18" Shaper, South Bend Shaper, Jet 14" Power Hacksaw, B & S (No.4 36") Gear Cutting Mach., Wm Pilton vert. Slotter, Enco 12" horz. saw, McEnglevan MP36 foundry furnace, Rockwell 14"X42" lathe, K&T 2H univ horz. mill

My basement is 6" thick reinforced...

4" with rebar may be OK, but if I were going to cut out a section of floor for the unit anyway , I would make it a LOT thicker...have a footer JUST FOR the HBM...say 12" or so.

We used to put in slabs for everything at least that thick, if not thicker..but then it was someone else's money...so juggle accordingly.