Page 2 of 2

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 5:20 pm
by SteveHGraham
Great video. But the questions are piling up.

How do you anchor machines on dirt? What do they do when rain soaks the ground? What do they do when it's 20 degrees out?

The line shaft is interesting. If the motor poops out, it must kill every machine in the shop.

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2015 5:46 pm
by OlderNewbie
Wow! Thanks for the link.

John

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2016 2:58 pm
by pete
Yep it is a great video RCW.
There's been links around about this video for quite awhile now on a few forums so I've watched it a few times. Very well done and more than interesting. One of my favorite videos in fact. I do have to admire the people in this video. A tough way to make a living if there is anyone else in the area they have to compete with. It does show there's a lot of truth to it being more about the man operating the tool that can be more important than the tool itself most times.Old tech works just as well today as it did when it was brand new. I draw the line at going back to using those rocker tool posts though. I still use the old cigarrette rolling paper trick as an edge finder once in awhile even though I've got better than that. And most times still do a part lay out, but there's still lots of shops doing that today. Those old machinists are or were a smart bunch who had to do it the tough way.

I should probably start a new thread, and no I'm NOT trying and throw this one off topic. But since anyone who likes this type of video about what I guess could be called old school machining is already here or will be. Then they would more than likely enjoy something a bit older in technology as well. But they aren't the same type of video as the the one in this thread. Just do a search on Youtube for Old Time Steam Powered Machine Shop. I think he does have a couple of machines that do have electric motors as back up. But the majority of the equipment, tools, and techniques are as much as possible kept period correct. I haven't done a search so that series of videos may already have been mentioned somewhere on Chaski. For anyone who doesn't have access to or has had some type of formal education involving machining, Youtube is starting to have a lot of very good informative machining videos. A few terrible one's as well to be honest. I sure don't think they replace the forums and good referance books, but it's a good addition to them. Another that's really good is Clickspring. Even if you have zero interest in clock making and I don't at this point, there's a lot to pick up and he uses a great many traditional and highly skilled hand methods, the same for a lot of the tools and techniques. He does professional quality videos in my opinion. His videos also show what can be gotten out of a fairly inexpenive off shore lathe and mill if you try. So if you did like the video in this thread I'm sure you'd enjoy the one's I've mentioned just as much.

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sat May 27, 2017 7:20 pm
by celtic1522
Great video which reminds me of our local blacksmiths workshop when I was growing up 50 plus years ago, gone now but health and safety in my country would kill it now, too much belting and exposed shafts etc. Many thanks!

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 12:32 pm
by Nelson
Wonderful video. I wish I was alive in the days when shops like this were churning out parts all over our great country.

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 1:58 pm
by Steggy
dly31 wrote:Hard to understand how they can do anything with no DRO or QCTP in sight!
Until the latter 1980s, I had never used a lathe, mill or surface grinder that had a DRO. The "DRO" was that funny little collar with all the numbers and graduations, and yes, it was possible to work to several tenths if one was careful and the machine itself was up to it. American industrial might (that is, the industrial might we used to have) was not built with DRO-equipped machines.

DROs have made machinists lazy, in my opinion, and in some cases, have reduced their competency.

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 2:20 pm
by 10KPete
Back in the '80s I had a bunch of work done on some down hole tools in Texas (where else?) in shops very like that one. No foolin' around with those guys, a hand shake was a bond and a commitment. Man looks you in the eye and says he'll git 'er done and you just know he's good for it. A handshake is better than a New York contract!!

I sure do miss those times....

Pete

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:13 pm
by Harold_V
BigDumbDinosaur wrote:DROs have made machinists lazy, in my opinion, and in some cases, have reduced their competency.
A price one pays for "progress".
I've always taken great pride in the skills I was forced to attain in order to be proficient in my chosen trade as a machinist. In my day, the closest one could get to operating machines without direct intervention would have been to be assigned to automatic screw machines or hydraulic duplicators, neither of which were not commonly found in the average job shop.

To this day, I have NEVER operated a machine equipped with a DRO, nor do I care to. The move to my sole CNC (a Haas tool room mill) was (a well rewarded) sacrifice enough. :-)

H

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 5:07 pm
by Nelson
10KPete wrote: A handshake is better than a New York contract!!

I sure do miss those times....

Pete
That wasn't always the case, Pete.
A New York contract isn't worth squat NOW.
Most people here are transplants from heaven knows where, and they lack any integrity whatsoever.
I'm a native, but I'm anxious to get out of here, move to someplace with values.

Back when I was a kid, there were machine shops and factories all over Brooklyn.
When people said they were gonna do something back then, they darn well did it.
Or they got a punch in the nose.
I worked as an operator in a manual shop on a Hardinge second operation turret machine.
I didn't know squat-still don't- just knew how to run through the tools and then cut off.
The owner was an old Polish guy who wrestled in the pro-wrestling circuit when he was younger.
You didn't bs that guy, and what he said, he did.
Those people are gone now. And their relatives live in other states, mostly down south.
I stayed, I don't really know why.

I watch that video- it reminds me of the old Polish guy's shop. Manual stuff, people working together to make something.

Re: Great video. You'll be glad you watched!

Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2017 6:28 pm
by 10KPete
Yes, Nelson, you're right. I really meant to say, and should have said "paper contract". I suspect that there are still some folks out there that work the old way. Probably more than I suspect!

Let's face it; if you need to shackle the guy with a detailed contract then maybe you need another guy!

"You betcha" and a handshake.

Pete