What Type Of Production Lathe Could This Be?

[Firestopper]

Looks to be a screw machine, a bit larger than then I once ran back in my teenage days. That was the most boring machine in entire shop.
We would run 500K parts before re tooling for different run. Set up was fun for me, but then you simply loaded round bar for the most part.
I made a **** ton of valve stems as a kid.

 

[Bill C.]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences and insight. After watching a few videos I can see he was on the back side probably retooling. It couldn't be a quick process. Turrets took time even with similar looking parts I can't imaging how much time it took for a screw machine.

 

[Bill C.]

I was a tooling engineer on bar stock machines and chuckers in the late 1970's at a GM manufacturing plant. These machines were very time-consuming to set up. Brazed tooling, many form tools. They were mainly used for roughing out blanks. Each spindle position would do a different portion of the blank. These machines would really hog off a large volume of material, but no way were they very accurate. Part tolerances were always in the +/- 0.010" One part off every 20 seconds or so.
From the picture, it is hard for me to tell what make or model it is.

How are shave tools used with those machines?

I really had one talk with him about his career, as a machinist, when he found out I was one. Sadly he and Dad are gone now.

Thank you for sharing,

 

[ronzo]

A shave tool is basically a form tool with a roller on the opposite side. The turned part would be between the form tool and the roller.
My first job was in a screw machine shop. We had 5 spindle Davenports and Single spindle Brown & Sharp #00 and #2. We made a lot of brass parts like distributor cap inserts. We would have trash barrels full of parts lined up on the shop floor. The chips were stored by tons in bins like coal bins. We used to run some parts where the customer would supply the bar stock and payment for the shop was made by keeping and selling the brass chips. Good money too.
Shave tools were used for close turning tolerances but millionths ? Nah he was pulling your leg. Incidentally as I understand it the very high tolerances required for ball bearings are obtained by running batches and then sorting according to actual size..
Ron



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[jererp]

I have no experience with shave tools, but no way do they hold millionths. Maybe thousandths. But I have been in several different bearing manufacturing plants, and ronzo is correct. Even with precision grinders with feedback gauging and temperature control, they still measure and sort every part into a size class and mate them with the appropriate sized parts to get the proper running clearance.

 

[Bill Gruby]

That is a small 6 Spindle Automatic Screw machine. Could be a New Britain, but looks more like an Acme Gridley. I was a machinist on them for 21 years. I still have the manuals.

"Billy G"

 

[Bill C.]

A shave tool is basically a form tool with a roller on the opposite side. The turned part would be between the form tool and the roller.
My first job was in a screw machine shop. We had 5 spindle Davenports and Single spindle Brown & Sharp #00 and #2. We made a lot of brass parts like distributor cap inserts. We would have trash barrels full of parts lined up on the shop floor. The chips were stored by tons in bins like coal bins. We used to run some parts where the customer would supply the bar stock and payment for the shop was made by keeping and selling the brass chips. Good money too.
Shave tools were used for close turning tolerances but millionths ? Nah he was pulling your leg. Incidentally as I understand it the very high tolerances required for ball bearings are obtained by running batches and then sorting according to actual size..
Ron

Thank you Ron. I worked in a small shop whose owner was a tooling engineer. He told me one company he worked for had a conveyor system in their turning department that was setup to move shavings of different materials. I can't remember if it was hourly or not but one set of conveyors would move shavings from all the machines cutting one type of material to a central conveyor system throughout the building. When they reached the end another conveyor would dump them into proper, I think, rail cars.

I also I think my uncle was trying to impress me. When I worked in Dallas, TX as a temporary machinist was the first shop that was climate controlled. Back in Louisville most shops were not so holding a millionth would have been impossible on a good day for the best machinist and machine. Thank you again for sharing.

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[Bill C.]

I have no experience with shave tools, but no way do they hold millionths. Maybe thousandths. But I have been in several different bearing manufacturing plants, and ronzo is correct. Even with precision grinders with feedback gauging and temperature control, they still measure and sort every part into a size class and mate them with the appropriate sized parts to get the proper running clearance.

I believe my uncle was trying to impress me about them holding a millionth. I would not know what type of indicator to use to set that tool with.

 

[Bill C.]

It would be incredible if a millionth of a inch could be held on a consistent bases. I think it would take a extremely rigid machine to do so. Vibration alone would mess up the part tolerances. I would hate to see that tolerance on any print. Maybe in some future shop it will be common practice.

I appreciate all your replies

Additional research, I found +/-.0005 could be held using a shave tool on a good machine. One website suggested making a gage piece to speed up adjustment. Bill C.