Gabe Brooks 1930's shop in Scottsdale, AZ

[woodchucker]

Must have missed this post earlier... Thanks for posting it Glenn, looks quite modern for it's early days. Quite inviting too.

 

[Glenn Brooks]

Mark, probably no relation - but who knows! We're on the black sheep side of the family. The actual access to the shop is through the front door of the small RR museum -docent on duty all times. Then out the back door to the machine shop which opens on a small self contained square. the back wall is a Pullman car train consist - static display- that encloses the rear. So the building is more or less contained within the museum area. They do trust people a lot as there is some small tooling out for public view, inside the shop. And a do not enter sign at the door -so one can only look inside, but not walk around inside the shop.

Yep, there must be some way to reverse direction with the belt drive system, but darned if I know how to do it.

Glenn

 

[Rustrp]

Yep, there must be some way to reverse direction with the belt drive system, but darned if I know how to do it.

That was my bit of trivia. The belts are laced on each end and held together with a pin. When the tension was released off the drive belt the machinist or operator, whatever the machine happened to be, had a pole with a hook which they could use to slip the belt off the line shaft pulley. They would pull the pin, then twist the belt and pull it around the opposite side of the driven pulley and pin it back together, then slip it back on the line shaft pulley. I can imagine if they were cutting left hand threads they had machines set to do this, because this seems labor intensive. It's interesting to see what happened to get the job done.

Some of the vintage lathes in the transition period to electric motors still used the flat transition belts. My Lodge and Shipley is older so someone fabricated a contraption, of electric motor, large V-belt pulley that that drives the three step cone which acts as the line shaft. The distance between the upper and lower three step cone is only about 30" and it doesn't have enough slack to twist the belt. For it to work (maybe) I would need to get a belt slightly longer just to use for reverse but I'm still not sure if there's sufficient space for the twist.

 

[markba633csi]

I like the Burgermeister clock on the far wall- I remember burgie. It was pale all right, but truly fine? (retching sound)

 

[woodchucker]

Being a Guinness guy, I would be retching too.

 

[benmychree]

That was my bit of trivia. The belts are laced on each end and held together with a pin. When the tension was released off the drive belt the machinist or operator, whatever the machine happened to be, had a pole with a hook which they could use to slip the belt off the line shaft pulley. They would pull the pin, then twist the belt and pull it around the opposite side of the driven pulley and pin it back together, then slip it back on the line shaft pulley. I can imagine if they were cutting left hand threads they had machines set to do this, because this seems labor intensive. It's interesting to see what happened to get the job done.

Some of the vintage lathes in the transition period to electric motors still used the flat transition belts. My Lodge and Shipley is older so someone fabricated a contraption, of electric motor, large V-belt pulley that that drives the three step cone which acts as the line shaft. The distance between the upper and lower three step cone is only about 30" and it doesn't have enough slack to twist the belt. For it to work (maybe) I would need to get a belt slightly longer just to use for reverse but I'm still not sure if there's sufficient space for the twist.

Nearly always, lathes of the line shaft drive type had a countershaft above with two clutches and a cone pulley on it; one clutch was driven by an open belt, the other a crossed belt for reverse rotation and a wooden lever to actuate either clutch; this was about always true on lathes with a lead screw for threading, as not all had a thread dial, and you had to reverse the lathe for threading to return the tool it its starting point for the subsequent cut. I have seen only one lathe, probably from the civil war era that was not so equipped; on it, the screw was used only for feeding, there being no provision for change gears, on it, the countershaft had only a tight and loose pulley for stop/start in the forward direction, It is nearly impossible to cross a belt as described above that was "open", as the belt would be too short, unless there was some provision to shorten the center distance. My first shop when I went into business in 1973 was mostly line shaft driven; when I had to relocate in the early 1980s it all went away due to the modern metal building that I moved into; some of the machines were converted, some replaced over time; when I sold out about 6 years ago, I was up to an average machinery age of perhaps WW-2 for the most part, and my home shop is nearly all 1940s and 1950s machinery.

 

[Manderioli]

I have been to the railroad park many times and have never seen inside the shop. Thank you for the photos. I need to go see this in person.

 

[Ray C]

What? No DRO on those machines? -And none of them are on benches with shimmed legs to remove the bed twist... Say it ain't so!

 

[benmychree]

If you want to see the real thing in California, go to the Railtown 1897 State Historic Park in Jamestown; during the "season" they have train rides through the countryside and their original shop is intact, with all the big machinery that you would expect to see in a locomotive shop, including, a McCabe double spindle lathe. I was given a personal tour of the shop by an employee who was a very high class welder, Norman Comer, who was welding a cracked tube sheet in the firebox of one of the locomotives. I do not know if visitors are routinely permitted in this shop, which is not in use any more, but perhaps if notice was given ahead of time, a visit might be accommodated. It is definitely worth seeing.

 

[core-oil]

My little "Grey Lady", (My name for my little Zyto of London 3&1/2" x 9" between centres screwcutting lathe) purely because I have given her a lovely new paint coat after I overhauled her, She originally had been a nice grey colour, This little machine which was built circa 1957, by the above mentioned company, was most likely one of the last batches of their lathe production, The firm manufactured wood working machinery for a little time after lathe production ceased I purchased this machine last year, sadly the countershaft iwas not with it, , At the time of writing I have just finished the production of a new countershaft with Fast & Loose pulley system & new cone, Hopefully if the snow clears tomorrow I will get to collect some angle iron ,for the construction of the girder work to set the countershaft drive above the lathe I must confess this is a trip "Down Memory Lane" from days gone past!, It is a sweet little machine
Thanks Glenn for the posting on the little Railroad Shop, The builder worked in a small area like me.