''My'' Other Shop

[JimDawson]

I say my shop because I'm the only one who works in it now. I do contract tool & die work for a local metal stamping job shop, I also maintain their equipment. It's kind of sad really, I am THE tool & die maker there and get in about 10-20 hours a month just to help them out. They used to have 5 tool & die makers in the shop, the last one retired a couple years ago so they called me to see if I wanted to do it. They are down to 1 press operator and the shop manager, both a few years from retirement age. They still crank out a lot of stuff, but nothing like it used to be. I think they keep the doors open just for something to do.

Anyway here are some shop pictures

The surface grinders. Left to right, 10x30 automatic, 6x18 automatic, 6x12 manual



The milling machines. 3 Ex-Cell-O 9x42, one of them actually has a DRO. That's a DoALL 30 inch vertical band saw in the far back.



The monster CNC mill with Fanuc controller. About 120 inches of X travel, about 48 inches on the Y, and a couple of feet on the Z. This used to be a planer that was converted to a mill. I haven't had a need to use it yet, but it will do some serious work.



An American Ultra-Precision, about 16x60 or so. A nice machine to run, I've done a couple of jobs on it.



An old Kerny-Trecker horizontal, it gets used for one specific production job about once every 5 years or so. I did a major overhaul on the hydraulic drive on this one.



A little job on the 10x30 B&S grinder. Taking off about 0.005 on that pass.

 

[timvercoe]

Thanks for the post, Archie. Always nice to see other's layouts, machines, and hear about the possibilities.

Tim

 

[FOMOGO]

Nice place to have to yourself. It's a shame to see are ability to produce are own goods going away. Mike

 

[george wilson]

Great machines!! If I were younger,that 120" planer mill would be fantastic for re cutting old lathe beds!. And,the Pacemaker is a wonderful lathe to have,too!

 

[rmack898]

Nice shop to have to yourself Jim.
What year do you think that Pacemaker is? I really just started using mine this past week and it is an absolute pleasure to run. It's quiet as a mouse while its taking .200" on a single pass.

 

[JimDawson]

Nice shop to have to yourself Jim.
What year do you think that Pacemaker is? I really just started using mine this past week and it is an absolute pleasure to run. It's quiet as a mouse while its taking .200" on a single pass.

I'm not really sure, late 40's to early 50's I would guess. I'll see if I can find a date on it when I go in next week.

 

[18w]

That's a nice shop Jim. Hate to see places like that disappear but it seems it is a common occurrence these days. It is nice to be able to put a few hours in a month. Gets a person out of the house and helps to make a little extra for the home shop tooling fund I expect. That is my plan next year. Would love to have that American and one of those grinders....if only I had the space.

darrell

 

[Andre]

That's quite the shop! Not much to say but wow.