'Dual Dragon' Vintage Machining Centre

Gary Ayres

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Hello.

This thread will document a project in which two vintage horizontal milling machines will be combined to form a unique 'machining centre'. The project will be a long-term one, as I'll be developing it at my workshop in France. I only get over there three or four times a year, and when I do I have plenty of other things to keep me busy, so this thread will develop very slowly indeed.

The base of the Twin Dragon will be an old, heavy and very Gothic French cabinet. It can be seen in the picture of the second machine, below. The top of it will be reinforced by a slab of thick plywood (stained and varnished) upon which the machines will sit. From the front, the machine on the left will be the recently restored Burke No.0 which was the subject of another thread . Here it is:

Burke No 0 Restored small.JPG

To the right of the Burke will sit a very interesting antique Swiss seven-headed machine which I bought in England earlier this year. I believe it came from a watch or clock factory in Switzerland and I suspect it isn't far off two hundred years old. One of the beauties of this machine is that a workpiece can be run past seven different cutters - all set to different positions - in succession:

Swiss machine.JPG

Both machines will be powered by one motor. Because the spindles of the seven-headed mill are in 'parallel' and are also adjustable in two axes, the drive for the system will be quite complicated and will involve numerous idler pulleys, a serpentine belt and a counterweighted tensioning arm. The oak post which is just visible in the above picture will be the main support for the motor and drive, and may be braced by fixing to the wall. Other cross-beams will also be required, and the whole thing will be quite a contraption. I'm not sure yet whether to use the old single-phase motor and countershaft that I have, or to add a touch of hi-tech with a three-phase motor and inverter.

When the Twin Dragon is complete it should be a versatile setup for the milling, grinding, drilling and goodness knows what else of small workpieces. But when it will be complete I do not know...

Burke No 0 Restored small.JPG Swiss machine.JPG
 
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This sounds like a very interesting project. I'll be watching the progress with interest. I love that 100 year old machining center.
 
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Re: Dual Dragon' Vintage Machining Centre

Cheers Jim. I hope it doesn't take me 100 years to build it...
 
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After seeing your Burke Shaper rebuild this should be pretty impressive

cheers Phil
 
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Thanks Phil.

It will certainly be a challenge, and a learning experience.
 
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That will look great Gary, the cabinet sure suits the machines or vice versa, either way it will be a nice project and something quit pleasant to look at, how old is the cabinet do you think?
 
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Cheers, Don.

Yes - it will be a real Goth-looking bit of kit when it's done.

I'm no antiquarian, but I'd say the cabinet is pretty old, though not ancient. Maybe 100 years? That's a wild guess though. There's a big charity shop near my place in France where you can pick up old French furniture really cheaply. This cost me 30 euros. If I was into plundering the cultural heritage of a country for profit I could bring a piece back with me in the van every time I go and sell it in Guernsey at a profit - but I'm not.

Thinking about that reminds me of when I lived in Nova Scotia in the 1980's, and made a couple of trips to New York where I saw lots of mid-century retro bits and pieces from Canada for sale in trendy Greenwich Village shops. Didn't seem quite right...
 
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whoa

you know what your problem is Gary - you need to be more ambitious! Ha, I'm struggling to even understand how it'll all go together. So, please take more holidays in France :)
 
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Heh...

I have no idea how it will all go together either.

I'm not worried about that - I'll make it up as I go along, and - in principle - it will all work out.

I have done quite a bit of thinking - and taken advice - about the serpentine drive for the seven-headed beastie. The rest is detail. But we all know that that's where the devil is. And then there's the 200 years or so that it will take me to build it.

Watch this space. For a long time...
 
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Chuckorlando - thanks for the like on the first post.


I have decided to change the name of this rig from 'Twin Dragon' to Dual Dragon.

It's more accurate as the the two machines are different from each other (apologies to all non-identical twins out there).

It also has a better ring to it.

So there's some progress already... :))
 
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