These tools are a few that I have left from when I used to run very large equipment. Here's picture from when I was a young man running the smallest VTL we had. We had them up to twelve foot chuck machines that were mounted in pits so the chuck was level with the floor.
I got a couple MoMax HSS blanks like the top one in your photo in a Craigslist buy. Brand new, never been ground. I kept one, and sent the other to my brother (he's a *real* machinist, I'm just a garage hack).
I wish I had a picture of the controls for the small VTL, it was something right out of Frankenstein's lab. Large exposed blade switches, dials and analog gauges. The drive motor was DC and there was a large generator that sat behind the machine that thru sparks when you started it. The machine is still in use today at another shop. That shop has the generator mounted above the machine to conserve space and it quite a light show when they start the generator.
I don't have any pictures of the larger VTL's but I did find one online of a similar machine.
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