Mobile Army Machine Shop- then and today

[HMF]

The US Army mobile machine shop, 1943:

 

[Pacer]

That sure looks like a fine set-up -- have to wonder what "we" paid for it. And the sad part is, in 3-4-5 years (if that long), it'll be shuttled off in some corner of a base and left with a door or window open, uncovered, and sit there to be auctioned off in 15-20 years after the electrics are ruined and totally out of date, and everything else rusty and dusty.

 

[Tony Wells]

Impractical. Does the government actually own any of these, or is that from a prototype or sales pitch?

 

[mikew67]

That sure looks like a fine set-up -- have to wonder what "we" paid for it. And the sad part is, in 3-4-5 years (if that long), it'll be shuttled off in some corner of a base and left with a door or window open, uncovered, and sit there to be auctioned off in 15-20 years after the electrics are ruined and totally out of date, and everything else rusty and dusty.

Pacer, I think you have it right -- but not just for the military. I just bought a Mitutoyo CMM (coordinate measuring machine) off the surplus list from SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center -- a research facility funded by your tax dollars and mine The good news is that it only cost me $80. The bad news is that it sat unprotected from the weather on a loading dock for many years. My first step was to use about a gallon of EvapoRust to remove the rust from the (formerly) very precise THK linear ways and bearings. The balls were unrecoverable (but easily replaced). The electronics are missing. It was only used for a couple months -- until they determined that they couldn't use it successfully for beam alignment.

I'm still optimistic that I'll be able to recover it to a level useful for an HSM (i.e., some semblance of its former accuracy).

Mike

 

[mikew67]

Just for grins, here's a picture of a corner of the machine shop onboard the USS Midway, a late/post WWII aircraft carrier, now docked as a historical display for the GAP (Great American Public) in San Diego harbor. Looks like the Navy got to carry heavier iron

Mike

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[Tony Wells]

Heidenhein makes good scales that you could most likely repair your CMM with. I've worked on Boice and Hansford CMM's a bit. Mostly pretty straightforward.

 

[mikew67]

Heidenhein makes good scales that you could most likely repair your CMM with. I've worked on Boice and Hansford CMM's a bit. Mostly pretty straightforward.

Tony,

Thanks. I'm hoping to recover the existing scales. The linear scales, the read heads and the preamps are there and appear OK. I just need to reverse engineer the preamps and go from there. (Anybody have any inside info on Mitutoyo CMM electronics? My main issue is with rusting of the linear tracks. Plan is to dissolve the rust (done) and hone the tracks with diamond paste.

Mike

 

[Tony Wells]

I have a copy of some older, but still useful, IMO, software for CMM use. I'd have to think about the interface a bit, but as I recall, it's not too complicated. This software is PC based. It comes from Caliper Designs.

 

[mikew67]

I have a copy of some older, but still useful, IMO, software for CMM use. I'd have to think about the interface a bit, but as I recall, it's not too complicated. This software is PC based. It comes from Caliper Designs.

Tony,

Thanks. Any info on the electronics and hardware would be especially useful. (I plan to rewrite the software, since it'll probably run on an embedded system.) But the software would be useful, too, especially insofar as it helps me define the interface hardware and timing.

Mike

 

[Tony Wells]

I'll dig it up, Mike.