Old Mill

[Nitetimes]

In a past life in a far away land I ran a Blanchard grinder, it had a 3’ grinding wheel with a 5’ table… That would definitely classify as a dirty job.

I didn't think anyone else had ever even seen one of those let alone run one! They do a really nice job but can be extemely dangerous. I gotta ask this, did the guard on yours look like the one on ours?

[dhazard]

I never had the fun of launching a part of off the table, but when I was training my 1st replacement he launched two castings. The castings were about 18”x 30”x3” and tipped the scale at about 30lb. I had helped him set everything up and get it started, then I went to the throne room sat down, shortly thereafter was a loud “BANG” and I did an “O-$HIT” I did some quick paperwork and ran back to find the new operator sitting on the floor next to a big bulge in the guard. He was as white as a ghost, I ask him what the F**K happened, all he did was stammer, and point at his nut$. For those that have never seen a Blanchard grinder the table is just a little bit lower than your belt. When the shop supervisor got back to the grinder the new guy just looked at him and meekly stammered out “I quit” he got up and slowly walked out. I spent the rest of the day removing the broken grinding wheel parts and replacing them. The next day I set up two more casting and started the feed down, shortly after making contact with the parts I could hear that the parts sounded loose, I reversed the feed, just after the grinding head cleared the parts they slid out a little bit. (Once again for someone that hasn’t seen this type of grinder the table is like a 5’ record player with a 10hp motor turning the table and it spins at 33 rpm the grinding head is a 30hp motor with a 3’ grinding wheel that is lowered down to the table.) When everything stopped I grabbed a steel block on the table and could easily move it. The slip ring that takes the power to the magnet in the table had failed, the new guy had not had anything to do with the crash, but I never seen him again to let him know that. So Nitetimes did your blast shield look like it had stopped a grenade?

Regards Dan

[Nitetimes]

So Nitetimes did your blast shield look like it had stopped a grenade?

Regards Dan

As a matter of fact, several. I only launched a couple of small parts but a few of the guys I worked with had some 40-50lb steel blocks cut loose, wha a racket!! I figured you'd know what I was talking about there.
Those machines really did a nice job when used properly tho.
I tended to be pretty careful using it, I wasn't so concerned with the sheild or the lower parts but I really didn't want to change those stones!!
They didn't let too many people near that machine, they were antiquated but extremely valuble, you didn't find many of them in an area. To the best of my knowledge that was the last one around here. Don't know where it got to after the auction, but I know it didn't go cheap.

[rainjer]

I work for an aerospace company.

We used to have a machine we called the "Rise & Fall". In simple terms, it was basically a upside down table saw that used a 1" wide "blade". The Blade moved and the material was stationary.

We would cut 30' stringers that weighed 150 lbs a piece. They would be clamped with about 40 clamps.

One day we heard this really loud noise. When we went to see what was going on, the operator was standing there scratching his head & the part was no where in sight. The machine had grabbed it and launched it through both wall of the maintenance office, a chain link fence, was stuck in another wall.

The part was 50' away from the machine.

Needless to say, the installed some 3/8" aluminum & 1/2" rubber on the wall at the end of the machine. That wall had about 10 dents in it before the got rid of the machine.

[Nitetimes]

The machine had grabbed it and launched it through both wall of the maintenance office, a chain link fence, was stuck in another wall.

The part was 50' away from the machine.

Needless to say, the installed some 3/8" aluminum & 1/2" rubber on the wall at the end of the machine. That wall had about 10 dents in it before the got rid of the machine.

Sounds like fun! Did ya have any contests to see who could launch it fartherest? ( I know, I know, stupid and dangerous, but it does sound like fun) Kinda reminicent of the days we used to knock the valves off of oxygen bottles with a sledge, and see how far they would go, they make great torpedos! Come to think of it I'm amazed nobody ever got hurt doing that!

[asianflava]

Kinda reminicent of the days we used to knock the valves off of oxygen bottles with a sledge, and see how far they would go, they make great torpedos!

My welding teacher told me about some journeymen welders he saw doing that. He said that they would lay them on a pile of dirt, knock the valves off, and launch them into the bay. Also told us that they would do that when their checks weren't on time.

That's crazy.

[dhazard]

I found this on the web

R-8
Unlike almost all other collets, R-8 can refer to both a collet and a toolholder shank. For instance, on a mill that uses NMTB tooling, you could have both a collet holder using R-8 collets but an end-mill holder using the NMTB taper. On an R-8 tooled mill, the quill holds R-8 shank toolholders and is also the collet holder for R-8 collets. These collets will range from 1/16" to 1" and are available to hold round [max size 3/4], square [max 41/64], and hexagonal stock [max 17/32]. These are used in Bridgeport J-head mills and clones and many newer imported mill/drills.

It looks like my mill uses a R-8 collet system
Any ideas as to what make it is?

[dhazard]

I spent part of the day cleaning out the gears on the table. I found that storing a mill behind a table saw is not a good idea. After 5 hr of cleaning sawdust out of the gears and greasing, the table now moves as good as new. On several parts of the table I found “175” stamped into the parts, so I am guessing that this is the build number, but nothing with a name. One other thing I found all of the hardware in metric, so it looks like it is an import…

[asianflava]

My parents are moving overseas and they are getting rid of everything they can get rid of. I asked my dad if I could have his milling machine (just a HF cheapy). What do you know, that is one thing that he wants to bring with him.

At least he will split his firearms up between my brothers and I. He didn't think we wanted them so he already gave away the good ones.