My new 8,000 lb 14x30

[Garwood]

I've seen quite a few L&S's and equally as many Axelsons in real working money earning shops in the NW yet not really any Pacemakers or Monarchs to speak of.

I believe the Pacemakers must be fine machines for so much talk about them here.

BUT

If there ever was a "lathe olympics" I would enter my 14" Axelson. That fucking thing will outlast my grandkids grandkids and still tear shit up and take names.

I have a peppy CNC lathe with a lot more HP, but that 15HP Axelson doesn't fuck around. It kind of makes a mockery of it when it comes to the heavy stuff.

 

[Oldwrench]

That ATW Bulletin 3220 is high quality machine porn. I may need a sleeping pill after viewing that.

 

[Cole2534]

So what's the milling equivalent of a large Pacemaker?

 

[bigearl67]

So what's the milling equivalent of a large Pacemaker?

In1982 I did some work with a Cincinnati that was big enough to put my Mercury on. This thing was huge, strait from the navy yard. Earl

 

[Mike C.]

Yup, Cincy #3 or bigger vertical mills are just insanely heavy duty, but easy to handle and amazingly accurate. Had the joy of running a 1946 formerly owned by Bell Aircraft for a few years a little while back. It had been upgraded from a 15hp to a 25hp motor. It would pull a 6" 12tooth facemil buried 1/4" deep in steel and taking near a full width bite without any effect on the machine at all. It sat right beside the 20" HD Pacemaker.

 

[A_Pmech]

So what's the milling equivalent of a large Pacemaker?

One day I will own a #4 Kearney & Trecker Twin Feed.

KEARNEY & TRECKER 420 TF - Vertical Head Video - YouTube

 

[Mike C.]

Ran across this while going to look at a lathe today. (More on the lathe later, mums the word until it's in the shop, but HEAVY DUTY is a good start.) Anyhow, there's mills and then there's the Hydrotel. Never seen one in my life. Dammit, man....

 

[alskdjfhg]

My god. Now that's a mill!!!!

And I though a No.5 was big.

 

[Mike C.]

Oh yeah, there's bigger, but here I walk into this little shop out in the country, maybe 30x80ft, with a 20ft ceiling and the first thing inside the door is a friggin' Hydrotel. I had heard of them but had no idea the scale of the machine. This would actually fall under the easily transportable class, as it could be theroetically picked up and put on a lowboy to go anywhere. Just need two or three real big forklifts.

Oh yeah, when I asked if I could take a picture of it, the guy wanted to move the 30gal garbage can. I said, "no! leave it for scale!"

 

[Miguels244]

Cincinnati 28-120 Hydro-Tel vertical mill, Used Machinery, Used Equipment, Financing, Leasing

Wow...I want this.
NO idea why though.

 

[alskdjfhg]

If the lathe MikeC was talking about, is a companion to this mill, "heavy duty" is an understatement...

 

[A_Pmech]

Anyhow, there's mills and then there's the Hydrotel.

About 5 years ago I was offered a Hydrotel about that size for FREE. As in, come and get it out of our way free. I had to turn it down. Not because of a logistical problem, but a "WTF am I going to do with this thing?" problem. I'd rather have a Hydroptic 6 or a Dixi 75 in a space that size anyhow.

 

[Miguels244]

About 5 years ago I was offered a Hydrotel about that size for FREE. As in, come and get it out of our way free. I had to turn it down. Not because of a logistical problem, but a "WTF am I going to do with this thing?" problem. I'd rather have a Hydroptic 6 or a Dixi 75 in a space that size anyhow.

Don't suppose it's still there.

 

[Mike C.]

This guy was using the Hydrotel to key big shafts.... that's it. Had big V blocks set up on the bed and the spindle centered. Said he had a set of shafts he ran regular that had to be keyed. Last time he sent them out, they charged him $900 PER SHAFT for FOUR keyways. He bought the Hydrotel and did all of them in an hour.

And as far as free goes, I was offered the planer mill that made the F-111 wing spars. It is housed at what was Bechtel-McCombs and later Hayes aircraft here in town. All I had to do was say the word and they would have delivered it to the museum. I did not have a building big enough to hold it and like A_Pmech says, wtf would you ever do with it?

 

[Miguels244]

I did not have a building big enough to hold it and like A_Pmech says, wtf would you ever do with it?

I am toying seriously of putting together a bigstuff machine shop.

What I would do with it is make bases for machine tools and prepare castings.

So, yeah, if it's still there, I'd look into clearing it out for them.

 

[Mike C.]

Oh yes, if you have use for it, have at it. The planer mill I am referring to was about 20x100ft long. I could almost put my house in the same area. Simple fact is, the bigger the machine, the cheaper it usually goes for.

 

[Steve in SoCal]

About 5 years ago I was offered a Hydrotel about that size for FREE. As in, come and get it out of our way free. I had to turn it down. Not because of a logistical problem, but a "WTF am I going to do with this thing?" problem. I'd rather have a Hydroptic 6 or a Dixi 75 in a space that size anyhow.

A Sip 6A and Dix 75 would have a smaller footprint than a Hydrotel. I could have had the Hydrotel from the toolrom at Beech as well. Oddly I am now am kinda thinking about a K&T Datamill. As with all these dinosaurs moving them is major cost and just changing the oil can be an eye opener. A few barrels of hydraulic oil and a few pails of way oil are rather pricy for a seldom used machine. These big old machines are a great buy IF you can use them. I still have all that Sip tooling I got from Detroit tool and die, I would love to have a Sip but, I can't justify one at the present time.

I don't have a hefty Pacemaker but my svelte little Monarch Series 62 2013 can eat some steel! Its companion and cohort in chewing metal is my baby K&T 320 TF-17, it's a 420 TF-17 with stunted table growth. These are really good size machines for most work. Once you get into the bigger stuff material handling becomes a far more daunting task.

Steve

 

[Miguels244]

Miguel, I don't know if you have more money to burn than good sense -- or just a more active dream-bone than average.

That ain't wot most folks would consider 'sane' in today's environment, but if it ever comes to pass, I would at least buy an admission ticket if I were in the area. Don't count on paying the property tax off either sort of income, though.



Bill

I know there is no way to build average tools using traditional techniques.
I want to build superior tools using modern methods.

 

[Dupa3872]

Now that's a lathe, good luck with it A Pmech. We do mostly small work here and never get much over 8 to 10 inches. I love big stuff and removing metal on a good machine is better than sex Someday when money is not so tight I'm going to buy some heavy equipment even if it's just to look at. I love your lathe best of luck with it.

 

[Cole2534]

Ya, a hydrotel is what I was asking about. What are the specs on that big sob?

Itd probably drill holes in my forklift forks if I could get the forklift on the table.