The drill of damocles?

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

About a month ago I bought a Harrison mill from off the Lathes website, I always regretted parting with my old Steinel horizontal when we moved a few years ago, and this was a similar size , not too far away and came with a vertical head. I had to strip it partially to move it from the workshop it had been in for many years, as I removed the coolant pipe assembly was surprised to find one of the screws had been cut short and was holding on by only a few threads, and the hole which would have been drilled through the wall of the gearbox seemed very shallow. As it is an ex college machine seeminly had little use work has been confined to fitting inverters, cleaning ,oiling and generally giving it a going over. Decided to reverse My original descision not to take the gear covers off as something was nagging about the shortened screw, imagine my horror when sticking into the gearbox through the offending hole was about 2″ of broken drill, even more horrific was that when touched by the end of a screwdriver the drill fell into the gearbox, bouncing off the gears! Just imagine if this had happened under power and the drill had caught between a couple of gear teeth, on inspection the hole was only tapped a couple of threads so I believe the drill has been sitting in the machine waiting to create havoc since the late 70’s. I wonder if it was an inept apprentice, disgruntled fitter or someone who just couldn’t be bothered who is the culprit, shame on you wherever you are!

[Brian WoodParticipant @brianwood45127]

And this had been waiting just for you James and your curiosity!

Sometimes these little  quirks of fate work in your favour, but being the  pessimist that I am I would cast my eye carefully over the machine just to be sure there are no other hidden extras waiting to leap out!

Enjoy your new toy   Brian

[Tony Pratt 1Participant @tonypratt1]

Slight aside, I am always amazed at how many ‘ex college/ex school’ machines there are advertised, is it a variation on the ‘barn find’ scenario?

Tony

[bernard towersParticipant @bernardtowers37738]

Thats the best sort of luck to have

[Tony Pratt 1]

On Tony Pratt 1 Said:

Slight aside, I am always amazed at how many ‘ex college/ex school’ machines there are advertised, is it a variation on the ‘barn find’ scenario?

Tony

Nope, it’s because the switch from manuals and older automatics to CAD/CAM/CNC over the last 50 years greatly reduced the need for manual machinists.  Far fewer jobs for them in industry meant there was little value in training large numbers of new machinists, so most schools and colleges got rid of their manual kit.   Now schools teach Materials Science and Design,  not metalwork.  There are honourable exceptions, but the days when every technical college in the country had a well-equipped workshop are gone.

Dave

[Dave WoottonParticipant @davewootton]

This one came from Carshalton college in South London, it came with some original paperwork and manual. as Dave says the days of training schools and technical college’s are sadly long gone. Which I suppose is why we can afford to buy these old machines at reasonable prices.

I’ve had a good look around the machine and it is very well built, but it looks like the final stages such as fitting the lo-volt light and coolant are not to the standard of the overall machine build. I’ve now ripped all the old wiring out  to fit inverters for table feed and spindle drive, the wiring was all original but very untidily done, lots of ringing of the conductor core where the insulation had been stripped carelessly, surprised there hadn’t been breakages, maybe all part of the industrial malaise and discontent I remember from the late 70’s/ early 80’s.Only takes one unhappy worker to tarnish a company’s reputation.

I remember stripping a Marlco indexing unit down some time ago, beautifully made and fitted, just needed a clean and oil, but very neatly scratched on the index locking ring was ” Built by the opressed workers of Scrooge and Marlco December 22nd 1968 merry bl++dy christmas” Disappointing christmas bonus perhaps? I’ve always wondered.

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