# Some serious machining.



## 65535 (Jul 6, 2009)

http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/guides/William_Doxford_and_Sons#The_Manufacturing_Process

Just thought some of you guys might be interested in this. I'm sure Barry and a few others have seen it. I heard it made rounds on Prac. Machinist.


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## Bushman5 (Jul 6, 2009)

WOW!  

thanks for posting that! i emailed the old man and sent him the link.


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## 65535 (Jul 6, 2009)

Gotta love the machines, chips from turning the size of your arm, metal shapers rolling chunks of steel off the size of your fist.

Amazing stuff.


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## DaFABRICATA (Jul 6, 2009)

Thats just NUTS!!!

I bet the most common thing said there is "Hey, can ya give me a hand?"


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## Illum (Jul 6, 2009)

reminds me of the scene you see in the movie Titanic showing the boiler room and the overhead cranks:wave:


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## cmacclel (Jul 6, 2009)

I didn't see any chips on the floor! Unreal that was 125 years ago. Thanks for posting this! I have been looking at the pics for the past 20 minutes.

Mac


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## precisionworks (Jul 6, 2009)

Awesome photos, none of which I've ever seen. 

The 6" Lucas horizontal boring mill is the largest I've been around (yes, that's me on the platform)


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## gadget_lover (Jul 6, 2009)

And not a pair of safety glasses in the whole series of pictures. 

Barry, I'm not sure where the 6 inches of your mill are measured from. Frm the bottom of the table to the ground?



Was that 60 inches? 6 foot?????

Whatever it is, it's mighty impressive.


Daniel


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## precisionworks (Jul 7, 2009)

> where the 6 inches of your mill are measured from


Daniel,

A horizontal boring mill is usually described by the diameter of the "bar" or spindle, and the Lucas spindle is 6" (152mm). Spindle can extend 48" out, and is driven by a 40 hp motor


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## ICUDoc (Jul 7, 2009)

Great link thanks!


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## wquiles (Jul 7, 2009)

Awesome - thanks for sharing :thumbsup:

Makes the flashlights we make seem so small and insignificant - more like little kids toys


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## Mirage_Man (Jul 7, 2009)

That was awesome!

Look at this pic. The guy is standing on the lathe carriage. Check out the size of the chips below!


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## rmteo (Jul 7, 2009)

Wonder if you could build one of these engines with those machines? 

http://people.bath.ac.uk/ccsshb/12cyl/


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## StrikerDown (Jul 7, 2009)

Those chips look more like large flex conduit! :twothumbs

Look at the chuck!

WOW


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## 65535 (Jul 7, 2009)

rmteo said:


> Wonder if you could build one of these engines with those machines?
> 
> http://people.bath.ac.uk/ccsshb/12cyl/




I remember seeing some of those images. Pretty impressive engine, I imagine that the engines they are building at that shipyard re probably not much more than 500tons.


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## rmteo (Jul 7, 2009)

> Total engine weight: 2300 tons (_*The crankshaft alone weighs 300 tons.*_)


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## 65535 (Jul 7, 2009)

I was referring to the original post.


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## precisionworks (Jul 7, 2009)

> Look at the chuck!


That's actually a specialized face plate with adjustable dogs - each dog acts like the jaw on a 4-jaw chuck. That's a Niles, almost identical to the Niles we had at the mining repair shop. Slowest speed was 15 rpm IIRC, but 15 rpm seems pretty fast when the part is 18' in circumference 

A shop down the road was for sale, and a potential buyer was there inspecting the equipment. A decent sized part came off a big lathe, rolled down the middle of the factory floor, and went half way through the front wall. For whatever reason, the buyer backed out


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## Search (Jul 8, 2009)

That's amazing

Not sure if anyone noticed, but there is no telling how many eye injuries they had without safety glasses. Being in a machine shop is one of the few places I wouldn't go in without.

Too many kids in high school had metal shavings in their eyes.


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## Patriot (Jul 8, 2009)

That is unreal!


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## 65535 (Jul 8, 2009)

Search said:


> That's amazing
> 
> Not sure if anyone noticed, but there is no telling how many eye injuries they had without safety glasses. Being in a machine shop is one of the few places I wouldn't go in without.
> 
> Too many kids in high school had metal shavings in their eyes.



Wouldn't matter, most of the chips coming off those machines would take off your head, might as well work comfortably if it doesn't matter.

Plus these guys know what they are doing. It's not hard to have good spark and chip control.


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