How good is a bad Bridgeport?

[benmychree]

The old saying is "Its a poor workman who blames his tools".

 

[mmcmdl]

The old saying is "Its a poor workman who blames his tools".

Truer words were never spoken . Not to get off the subject , but I find many of the threads on our site about accuracy of machines to be quite humorous . I just keep my thoughts to myself and think " if they only knew " .

 

[benmychree]

Truer words were never spoken . Not to get off the subject , but I find many of the threads on our site about accuracy of machines to be quite humorous . I just keep my thoughts to myself and think " if they only knew " .

As do I ---- They have not experienced the real world.

 

[Janderso]

We had an old timer mechanic working for us until he retired. We car pooled for about ten years. On his way in in the morning he would work his hands to get them moving with the arthritis.
He never bought sets of tools, only had what he needed. His tool box was an old 60’s Snap On. He told his wife, I’ll never need another.
He turned in more hours than any other mechanic.
He would sit on his stool, have a cup of coffee and a cigarette, plan every move in advance, only remove or access the bare minimum to save time.
He would have that engine out in 45 minutes.
He would pull an engine, replace a short block and have it back in by the end of the day without breaking a sweat.
Let’s hear it for the old master mechanics/machinists.
Evy lost his old, small home and shop in the fire.
I check on him from time to time. Evy and Karen bought a new home in Wheatland Ca.
I asked how he made out with the insurance? He says, titts.

 

[projectnut]

We had an old timer mechanic working for us until he retired. We car pooled for about ten years. On his way in in the morning he would work his hands to get them moving with the arthritis.
He never bought sets of tools, only had what he needed. His tool box was an old 60’s Snap On. He told his wife, I’ll never need another.
He turned in more hours than any other mechanic.
He would sit on his stool, have a cup of coffee and a cigarette, plan every move in advance, only remove or access the bare minimum to save time.
He would have that engine out in 45 minutes.
He would pull an engine, replace a short block and have it back in by the end of the day without breaking a sweat.
Let’s hear it for the old master mechanics/machinists.
Evy lost his old, small home and shop in the fire.
I check on him from time to time. Evy and Karen bought a new home in Wheatland Ca.
I asked how he made out with the insurance? He says, titts.

Been there, done that, but under a whole different set of circumstances. Before finding an engineering job at a local manufacturing company I did a short stint as a mechanic/team leader at a local Oldsmobile garage. I already had my ASE Master Technician certification from the time I owned my own business so it wasn't much of a stretch to work for a dealership.

Remember back in the early 1980's GM's infamous attempt at putting a faux diesel engine into their passenger cars? Well they didn't last long and started falling like flies about a year after their introduction. At first GM wanted the engines rebuilt. It took close to 3 hours to remove one, another 20 hours to rebuild it from the ground up, and again another 3 hours to install it and get it running. In total the factory was paying 26 hours for the job.

As things got worse they decided it would be less expensive to install a short block rather than do a complete rebuild. The factory time to replace a short block was just over 7 hours. This was the direct result of a class action suit brought by retail customers. A federal judge ruled that the company couldn't charge different labor rates for retail customers and company paid warranty work. Up until that time GM would pay 60% of the retail rate, but the same number of hours to get the job done. After the judgement they paid the same labor rate, but only 70% of the time. So essentially they paid 7 hours labor for a 10 hour job. I was replacing short blocks at about one per day. At one time I had 7 of those monsters either removed from the vehicle waiting for parts, or in one or another stage of assembly or disassembly. The job could be done in 9 hours if you worked diligently, and didn't take time to chew your gum or drink a cup of coffee.

The best part is you only lost a couple hours pay on each job. You know what they say. "Take a small loss on each sale (in this case each job) and make it up in volume." Fortunately rather than having to lose a little on each job for the foreseeable future I was asked if I was interested in a job in the machine design department of a local manufacturing company. Needless to say I took the job and stayed there over 20 years until I was offered a buyout.

 

[Mtnmac]

Truer words were never spoken . Not to get off the subject , but I find many of the threads on our site about accuracy of machines to be quite humorous . I just keep my thoughts to myself and think " if they only knew " .

That’s what I used to tell the guys when I was the manager... “ It’s a poor craftsman who blames his tools. If you were any good, you could build the space shuttle with a drill press and files”

 

[House of Taint]

I bought a used '63 J head shipped through Fastenal for less than most machines would just ship for. Ended up rebuilding most of the head (it was beat to hell) and tilt gears for about $1200 and a winter. I'm still ahead, it runs (almost) perfectly, has about .0003" runout, holds my .001"-.002" tolerances well enough, and I learned a lot about the machine. It IS a hobby machine, though, not a shop production.

 

[Janderso]

In total the factory was paying 26 hours for the job

Hasn't changed 4 decades later.
I'm glad to be getting out of this business in a year or two.

 

[projectnut]

The old saying is "Its a poor workman who blames his tools".

I can't believe I missed this post, but count me in as another who totally agrees. My FIL was a perfect example. He was a mechanical engineer who's father and FIL were were both machinists. He learned not only the engineering skills, also those of a machinist. He put himself through school working as a machinist in a local manufacturing company. He loved machining, but like many other professions it didn't pay as well as it should.

With the acquired skills he got into furniture restoration as a hobby. He also made some beautiful pieces from scratch. I always was in awe of his skills and one day (I was about 25 years old at the time) asked to see his shop. Through my eyes it was the worst, most worn out god awful collection of junk I'd ever seen. He was using an old worn out metal lathe to turn chair and table legs, an 8" Montgomery Ward table saw with a 12" square table his wife won at a church raffle, and planes and screw drivers that looked like they'd been pulled out of the trash bin. His work however was flawless. You couldn't tell the reconstructed parts of a piece of furniture from the originals. His new pieces looked like they'd come straight from a high end manufacturer.

One year my wife and I snuck down to his shop and did an inventory of his old and worn out tools. The next Christmas the family presented him some with new high end cabinet makers planes, a set of screw drivers, a new jointer, and various other wood working tools. We did see or hear him using the jointer from time to time, and often saw the magnificent results of a restoration, but never really paid attention to the process of how it came to be.

Many years later when he passed away we had to clean out the house and get it ready to sell. When we went down to the shop we found almost all the planes, screw drivers, and other tools still unopened in their original packages. He was comfortable using his old and worn tools and saw no need to use anything newer or fancier to improve the quality of his work.

As a side note I do still have the lathe. I've mentioned it in previous posts. It's a circa 1916 Seneca Falls Star #20 that was used for over 40 years by his father in law in a prototype shop. It was given to his FIL as a retirement present. I've had it now for over 20 years. I cleaned it up, made a new stand, made a few new parts for it, and put it back to work. It was my only lathe up to about 5 years ago. At that time I decided I needed something a bit larger so I purchased a Sheldon. They both get used on a regular basis.

 

[markba633csi]

Here's the deal: Learn as much as you can about how the machines get worn out. Expect to find this type of wear when you go looking. Look at some really worn machines- they should be easy to find.
Now you will be better equipped to shop for a good machine.
-Mark