I'm A Retired Machinist And A...

Treetop,
Welcome to the group. There is a lot of valuable knowledge here. Also, this is one of the most respectful groups that I know of. I'm also an industrial maintenance retiree. However, I mostly pulled wires and shuffled papers. If I had your problem (I wish I had), I would rent a drop deck trailer and a pallet jack to move the equipment. when on the trailer, attach 3 straps to each piece. I've hauled machinery in the past one rule is if you think that you need more straps, you probably do.

Brino & All,

Thank you for your kind words. The 5000# Cincinnati milling machine is a 1938 "Plain" MH2 with an independent over arm head. Serial#5A2P1F-52. It has a 1hp motor for the vertical head and a 5hp motor for the rest of the machine. The table is around 54" x 12". It is set up on VFDs to run the 3 phase motors on single phase power. The vertical head has variable speed control. Along with the mll, I have a 8" Palmgren tilt/rotate vise and a Kamakura 13" rotary table. Please see pictures below:

Coolidge & All,
Funny you should mention about my house tipping forward. The previous owner of my mill is a friend who moved to another state and had to sell it. He called me a couple of weeks after it got to my shop and asked me how it was running. I told him that my garage sank a foot in the ground...He believed me for a few minutes.

FS MILL9.jpg FS MILL2.jpg KAMAKURA ROTARY TABLE1.jpg
 
Its the Clausing MK2, 6 by 24. It came with a large Phillips chuck and a 4 jaw, still in cosmoline. It had been installed on a dedicated bench, there was no wear under the saddle. I paid more than most think they are worth, and I was disappointed to find that it had no crossfeed. I've done quite a bit on in in the 8 months I've had it. NOW it has wear on the ways. Oh. there was a problem with the lead screw, it had a bind in it. I had to shim the left end support out about .020 to get it to run free. Probably why it wasn't used.
 
Treetop said:
...

My old boss and I have built several FN FALs and AKs from kits back when it was economical to do, Now days, parts kits are getting hard to find and expensive!

Semper Fi, Treetop
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You have just barely scratched the surface on this hobby. Yep, kits aren't as cheap as they were. But i do think its still the good old days for parts kit building.
 
Congrats on retiring. I too started my shop late, having had access at work to whatever I liked was a shock when I left. As I've acquired machines I usually have been afforded the luxury of spending a day in the seller's shop taking the machine down to chunks I can handle. I bought an engine hoist, several HD dollies and Johnny bars and a trailer to move things.

I found that most used stuff needs a little TLC anyway so having to reassemble it before using it helps in familiarizing me with the machine and it's abilities/weaknesses.

This is a great bunch here.
 
Mark, after looking at the close ups of your Cincinnati, I'm sure that's the same model and set up that we had. According to the older machinists that were retiring about the time I hired on (mid 70s) our Cincinnati was bought brand new during WWII. Sadly, we sold it last year and bought a 1959 3.5" bar G&L horizontal boring mill to put in it's place. We already had a 4" bar G&L and assumed our tooling would fit, but it doesn't. You know the old saying about "assuming " something, right? :)

That old Cincinnati mill will cut anything that you are man enough to try! I have nothing but fond memories of ours.

Semper Fi, Treetop
 
Karl, what other parts kit guns have you built? We had lots of fun building our kits back in the 90s. My boss bought a Parkerizing tank long enough to accept barreled actions and he turned out some flawless Parkerizing jobs after the usual learning spell.

Thanks, Treetop
 
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The list of what you can build is HUGE. I most enjoy beltfeds and submachine guns. Make a lot of the parts from scratch. Why don't you cruise this forum and see what interests you most weaponsguild.com
 
Treetop said:
...wanna be Hobby Machinist!

I started my 4 year tool and die maker apprenticeship in 1972 and just retired this last May 31st, as a maintenance machinist. It's been a little over 3 months now and I'm going through terrible withdrawal symptoms. I had no idea how much I would miss having access to a lathe and milling machine!

I have found an old (1954) round ram J head Bridgeport and what looks like a similar vintage Carroll- Jamieson 16 x 72 lathe. They belong to my cousin, her husband passed away about 10-12 years ago and now she just wants them out of her garage! She lives about 200 miles from me, so I haven't seen them in person yet.

From the pictures, they don't look too bad at all. The lathe has a 4 jaw, two 3 jaw chucks, face plate and a what looks like a Jacobs collet chuck. It also has a steady rest. I didn't see a follower rest or a taper attachment.

The Bridgeport has a nice 6" vise, it looks like an old Bridgeport vise. Not many collets or end mills. It does have a nice Jacobs keyless drill chuck mounted on an R-8 collet.

I'm going to have several questions in the future because:

1) I have never moved large equipment. We always used professional riggers.

2) I'll need some on line tooling supply store recommendations because all we did was request tooling, within reason :), and a week or so later it would be in the tool room.

I'm sure that I will have other questions and I may be able to answer some members questions. I certainly don't have all the answers but I've been "cuttin iron" for a long time.

Thanks for accepting me into the Hobby-Machinist ranks. Treetop
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Welcome to the Group.

Where did you do your Tool and Die training? I was in my third year when GE closed their program in the early 80's. Anyway once you get cutting fluid in your blood it is hard to leave it behind. Sounds like your are off to a great start.

Not sure where in Texas you live in but are there are tool and material supply companies within 60-100 miles of your location? If so see if they have catalogs to order from. That way you can compare prices with the online companies.

Feel free to ask questions and answer questions. We have shop owners with little to years of experience.
 
Bill C. said:
Welcome to the Group.

Where did you do your Tool and Die training? I was in my third year when GE closed their program in the early 80's. Anyway once you get cutting fluid in your blood it is hard to leave it behind. Sounds like your are off to a great start.

Not sure where in Texas you live in but are there are tool and material supply companies within 60-100 miles of your location? If so see if they have catalogs to order from. That way you can compare prices with the online companies.

Feel free to ask questions and answer questions. We have shop owners with little to years of experience.
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Bill,
in 1970-71, then President Nixon was giving Marines with at least 6 months (I think...) of overseas duty an "early out". I qualified and was released from active duty in January 1971.

Shortly after that, using the G.I. Bill, I enrolled in a formal 4 year apprenticeship program with the National Tool Die and Precision Machinists Ass'n's apprenticeship program. Our shop and school was originally located on Navigation St., in the heart of Houston's industrial district, but we moved to a nicer location near the Gulf Fwy sometime during the early 70s while I was still in school.

I had always wanted to be a machinist since watching the machinist at my Dad's shop during late 50s and early 60s. They were mainly a fabrication shop but they had two lathes and one machinist. Sometimes they had to work 1/2 a day on Saturday and my Dad would take me to work with him. One of my earliest memories as a pre-teen was watching that machinist take an old rusty looking piece of steel and turn it into a beautiful, precision, working part. That fascination has never left me!

I knew right then that my life's ambition was to be able to do that for a living. My Dad wanted me to go to college and I wanted to go to trade school, so I did both! I have a degree in business that I've almost never used. Over the years I turned down opportunities for advancement because I would have to give up machining.

Right now I miss the "squeaking" sound of a properly ground end mill running at the correct speed in the Bridgeport. I miss the smell of smoking cutting fluid coming off a threading tool as it single tools a thread on the lathe, etc, etc, etc. I think you get the picture!

After I retired, we moved up to the Brazos river valley area of south/central Texas. I guess the nearest town of any size would be the Bryan-College Station metro where Texas A&M University is located.
 
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