The way it used to be (and still is)

[Cliff]

I really liked the video reminds me of when I started machining back in the early 70's. There is some good video's on UTube check out kef791 it is a one man job shop around Cape Cod.

 

[aarggh]

I really liked the video reminds me of when I started machining back in the early 70's. There is some good video's on UTube check out kef791 it is a one man job shop around Cape Cod.

Keith's a legend! What an amazing amount of skill he has in approaching any kind of job, and he puts up so much useful info. Myfordboy and Tubal Cain (mrpete222) are the other two standouts for me.

cheers, Ian

 

[gus]

Up to the mid 60s such machineshops with overhead pulley drive systems exist in Singapore.. Electric motors were very expensive then. A 20----30 hp main motor would drive a medium size shop.These electric motors would last a life time. Crompton Parkinson,Brooks,AEG,Brown Boveri etc.

Hard to believe Milling Machines,lathe,drill press and shapers are driven by same system.

Believe such shops still exist in China Towns of Bangkok,Manila,Rangoon,Malaysia,Indonesia etc.

All machineshops in our neighbourhood have overhead pulley systems. Pillow Box Bearing Pedestals are oil bath lubricated with a rider ring bringing up sump oil to the bushes.Oil capacity is sufficient for an entire year and topped up annually.They all gone now and taken over by CNC Machineshops.:wall:
Customer Steam Sawing M/c requirement are chalk drafted on the cement floor and recorded in foreman's notebook( not Computer Nbook).No drawings.

 

[Boxfordian]

Great vid, loved it

 

[Mosey]

When I was knee-high, there was an auto repair/machine shop in my little town. Steam locos still ran there (Jersey Central). The machine shop was powered by a big motor and line shaft overhead with leather belts to all of the machines. The head machinist was the daughter of the owner, and her hands were the color of grease as long as I knew her. All of the above was gone by about 1955.
I don't think she was marriage material, but she ran a mean mill and a large lathe.
Mosey

 

[gus]

Sent a link to my brother whose 87 and he worked in a shop exactly like that,including the belt drives,he said it brought back some very happy memories,he could almost smell it.
Don

Hi Don,

May I add on.Bet you ,your bro. may recall slipping the flat belt from idler pulley to drive pulley bare handed. And slipping back to idler pully pulling a roped lever to stop machine.Some of my uncles do this bare handed w/o hurting their hands.
Only at the age of 14 was I allowed to walk into this shop which was very hazardous with chips flying out and no beltguards!!!!

SingaporeGus.

 

[gus]

That's how I grew up except we had a cement floor and my Dad would draw his design on the floor with soap stone

Hi Rich,

Same happened here in our neighbour's machineshop In Singapore. Huge Steam Bench Saws were drafted on the floor with contribution from the customer. There were no drawings to look at.The foreman jots vital details into his hip pocket book. All parts were from shop standard. Drive pulleys are standard type from the next door foundry. Nobody wants a custom odd size pulley as you pay for the expensive wood pattern.
Shops gone by the early 60s.

SingaporeGus.

 

[Wagon173]

I've always suspected that if I was born about fifty years earlier, I'd have a lot more fun at work! I think you just confirmed it! I spend almost as much time doing paperwork and running computer diagnostics as I do actually turning wrenches my hats off to these guys! Thanks for posting!