British machine tool sub forum

[guythatbrews]

Even with another sub-forum, quite a few folks ignore it and put stuff wherever anyway.

 

[legoboy]

Hard ~

While I see the OPs point, IMO the best place is Antiques and History, .............. especially as we haven't had a British machine tool industry for eons.

And could be said for any manual machine tool manufacture. A Southbend lathe is not exactly relative to todays industry nor are 80's Deckel's but we do have a place for them. If I want to buy or sell an item relative to a manufacture I can post in a relative forum, or if I want to expedite a search I also do that by starting in a relative forum. I do not believe my asking the question is unreasonable. Just saying... Antiques and History is way to broad a category and really gives you no indication that British Iron belongs. But hey if you want to modify the title of the forum to include British machines at least it tells us where is the most relative place to post or do research on this particular brand or make of machine.

 

[eKretz]

I think it's a question of traffic. Machines with a lot of people asking questions or talking about them are more likely to get their own section. I have been here a while and have not seen a lot of discussion of British machinery. Every now and again there is a post or two, but it's not common by any means. The General section or the Antique Machinery section are probably your best bet. Setting up a new section with low traffic just results in a section that nobody regularly reads, which won't get any of your questions answered in a timely manner.

 

[guythatbrews]

A great new sub-forum would be SPAM!

 

[boslab]

I was offered a bins and berry triple bed for scrap value , £ 100 ton I think, went to look , it was over 6m long, bloody bigger than the shop,
Mark

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I was offered a bins and berry triple bed for scrap value , £ 100 ton I think, went to look , it was over 6m long, bloody bigger than the shop,
Mark

You dodged a bullet.

Regards Tyrone

 

[triumph406]

There was a huge Lang at a shop in Long Beach LA, that was a fine looking Lathe

 

[PDW]

I have been here a while and have not seen a lot of discussion of British machinery. Every now and again there is a post or two, but it's not common by any means. The General section or the Antique Machinery section are probably your best bet.

Agree and I own a number of UK manufactured machines.

They all belong in the antiques & history classification. Not to say that some of them weren't fine machines - my Kearns S type borer and my recently acquired DS&G 17 being examples - but they're still out of production antiques.

PDW

 

[jim rozen]

I propose the name for the new Myford sub-forum: "My Lathe Is A Lot Better Than Yours."

 

[legoboy]

I propose the name for the new Myford sub-forum: "My Lathe Is A Lot Better Than Yours."

I believe that name was already claimed by the Hardinge forum lol

 

[jim rozen]

Difference is, the hardinge *is* the better machine. Myfords are best at being the best overpriced atlas lathes loved, well by owners of myford lathes.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

Difference is, the hardinge *is* the better machine. Myfords are best at being the best overpriced atlas lathes loved, well by owners of myford lathes.

“ Myford “ lathes are for model makers basically. They work wonders with them. There’s no real comparison with an “ Hardinge “. “ Myford “ grinding machines ? That’s another story entirely.

Regards Tyrone

 

[DouglasJRizzo]

I used to work at a shop that had an EMI Autoturn. Had a pegboard style control. Really fast, but maintenance and repair parts were scarce.

 

[Doozer]

I found some serious design flaws on the apron power feed
on my round head Colchester 17" lathe. It has been a real
adventure to restore. Also the power switch and brake linkage
was a joke, that also required engineering. The shift levers on
the top of the headstock were allowing partial gear engagement.
The quick change box is made as part of the bed, as well as the
leadscrew and feed rod bearing block. Must have been a challenge
to machine. So many odd things on this machine that I figure are
distinctly British. It has a really great motor, a Brooks, and it has
through the rotor cooling passages. Cool design. But a dedicated
British built forum would serve to bring together all these oddities
that only are present in British design. It sounds like a fair idea.


-Doozer

 

[Laurentian]

Good idea ! : Harrisson lathes, Clarkson and Myford grinders yo the bunch.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

I found some serious design flaws on the apron power feed
on my round head Colchester 17" lathe. It has been a real
adventure to restore. Also the power switch and brake linkage
was a joke, that also required engineering. The shift levers on
the top of the headstock were allowing partial gear engagement.
The quick change box is made as part of the bed, as well as the
leadscrew and feed rod bearing block. Must have been a challenge
to machine. So many odd things on this machine that I figure are
distinctly British. It has a really great motor, a Brooks, and it has
through the rotor cooling passages. Cool design. But a dedicated
British built forum would serve to bring together all these oddities
that only are present in British design. It sounds like a fair idea.


-Doozer

“ Brooks Motors “ had a satellite factory in the town where I live years ago. I can’t recall where the main factory was, Huddersfield maybe ?

Regards Tyrone

 

[M.B. Naegle]

I'd be for a British sub forum. I get that it's not necessarily about organization as it is flow of traffic, but there are other sub-forums that exist, yet they don't see a lot of use (the Baileigh one comes to mind. Granted they paid for it...).

If anything, I'd recommend splitting up some of the monster sub forums some-how. The 'General' and 'antique' forums see a lot of consistent traffic and might benefit from some kind of organization. Not sure how to further divide 'General', as a lot of it could easily filter into other forums already in place, but the antique one could have a British off-shoot, and perhaps pre-1900, 1900-1930's, etc. sub forums. There's always going to be topics that could easily fit in 5 different forums. I frequently just his the "new posts" button to see what's current, but with the amount of traffic the site sees it's sometimes easier just to step into the room of what's on your mind at the moment.

In the end it isn't a public or democratic forum. It's however the site owners decide will best promote the site on whatever scale they choose. It's still twice as productive/useful as the other machinist sites I've seen, and thrice as productive/useful as Facebook (though a place for machinist meme's and time wasting videos would be fun).

 

[Georgineer]

They hadn’t a redeeming feature Sami. They were really low to the ground, all the hand wheels felt ” spongy “ with no real feel, the nut on the cross slide was made from plastic, the hydraulic drive was ok when new but soon developed annoying faults like refusing to stop when put in the stop position. Try miking a large shaft that is slowly revolving ! Any real problems with the hydraulics and you would have had to lift the whole lathe with the overhead crane and work underneath it ! You had to drag the tailstock up and down the bed with a piss poor fixture on the saddle that was forever getting torn off because there was no interlock. The feed lever had a habit of jamming in under a heavy cut so you had to stamp on it to get it to dis-engage. Luckily the lever was a shin height !

Regards Tyrone

So, apart from that, what was actually wrong with them?
George

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

So, apart from that, what was actually wrong with them?
George

I was installing a medium sized lathe of theirs years ago were my pal had already done the concrete foundation. He’d worked from the foundation drawing that B & B had sent over from Brighouse. The concrete was about two feet deep with the holding down bolt holes nicely pre cast in the foundation.
When I skated the lathe into the bay and lined it up with the holding down bolt holes the headstock and tailstock holes in the machine lined ok up but the holes in the central pedestal were about 12 inches out.
I got the drawing out again and I could see my mates work was spot on. When I phoned B & B with the bad news they said “ We must have sent you the wrong foundation drawing, we can send you the correct one if you like “.
I replied “ Don’t bother, I’ve got the lathe here now, that’ll be right I presume ! “

Regards Tyrone

 

[Limy Sami]

So, apart from that, what was actually wrong with them?
George

They were a POS - end of.