Not asking you for such,,, more written as a question you might pose to ME,,,
Something I found many years ago, and recently reminded myself of,,,
MY creative side comes out BEST when the finances are tight: those times where I am ‘trying to find a way to do a $50 job for fiddy cent, and the rest of the time trying to find the fiddycents,,,”
that was the state of mind I was in when I found the Gingery lathe book series,,, I had recently purchased my 3-1 chinesium mill, and was learning TONS about machining, but I knew there were limitations built in. More like ‘compromises’ more than just limitations. When I chanced upon the bend, and became its owner,,, Man,,, What can I say,,, I was in heaven…. Never should’ve let that gurl go,,, Covid, flat busted, pressured to relieve space, and believe me a 6′ bedded Lathe takes up some real estate on a floor.
FOR THE RECORD: my machining skills are completely self taught,,, Books dug out of archives in many cases helped, but when it came to making chips,,, I destroyed more than a few cutting tools along this trip. There is reason behind ‘feed rates’ and such,,, Those were the hard lessons learned. (along with “DON’T EVER SELL YOUR TOOLS”,,, live and learn… wont’ happen ‘gain.) (looking around,, not serious, but you never know,,, sometimes serendipty plays a HUGE role in these things. Would like to find someone selling off similar to what I had, because they are ‘going bigger’ or smaller, or getting out altogether due to age/whatever,,,)(I do NOT want a ‘restored to protect history’ museum peice,,, Seen a few of those and they are beautiful, but the price ,,,, Out of my league.)
Again, not serious,,, Has way too much on my plate currently to handle. TOYS must wait. BUT, there is a space in my future for another Southbend. I truly enjoy the sounds and smells of working metal, and the brainium gets exercized HARD figuring operations and protocols in builds. And there are times where being able to turn a spindle saves the day,,, I found that out long long ago when I welded up a shaft to build its bulk back up, then used a brake lathe to cut it back to ‘stock finish’. Probably spent way too many hours doing such, but the end result was NOT a bandaid, but a finalized and PERFECT repair. I only wish I knew if that hicle were still on the road,,, I lost contact with those people many many years ago.
But its more than just “machines” . I learned foundry work too. At this stage in life, just aluminum and brass. But those are pretty ubiquitous in the world and will do many many things well. You may need to over-engineer a new part to account for stresses,,,, Iron isn’t outside of my skills, I just have no experiance at it. (welding, yes,,, molten pours, no,,,)
Seriously, I learned this stuff because I thought the world, at least the world as I knew it, was going to collapse around 2010. I was on the road in 2012 in an RV, with ALL of my tools, machining, foundry, welding, mechanikin’ etc (including oxy/actylene set) being dragged around in my Jimmy that was in tow.
The world hasn’t collapsed, but it sure ain’t the same world as then. The techno hurdles have been fast and furious in the 13 years since then. I still have my Iphone of that time and it doesn’t work anymore. It powers up, but can’t detect networks except Wi-Fi.
This world is disposable now. There will never again, short MAJOR changes in the economy and mass thinking, be companies, like Southbend, that make products that will outlive the owners and designers. There will never be products that are handmade with the precision and passion like those old tools were. My last southbend (and my only one to date) turns 100 years old in September of this year. She was still capable of less than 0.004″ taper in a 12″ run. Her drives were immaculate with less than 0.0005″ endplay That was the most sensitive measuring tool I had and it barely wiggled when I checked.
Now there are CNC machines out there that are junk by the time the loan is paid off. I saw TWO sitting in the scrap yard recently,,, Big honking machines, stripped of anything that might be useful, but SCRAPPED by the company that ’employed’ them, because they were worn out,,, sloppy, starting to chatter, GLITCHY in the programming or out of date in many cases, seeing how the tech is still growing in leaps and bounds. 20-30k machines, turned into scrap in less than 10 years,,, vs a 100 year old lathe that was made by hand, ran by hand, and STILL cut tighter tolerances.
It makes me wonder about the future,,,
I pine for the past to return in some ways,,,
I know a manual lathe can not compete TIME WISE against a CNC machine,,, That wasn’t the point. The point is, There doesnt’ seem to be any PRIDE in those machines,, they are dead metal, with no soul, no spirit, NO PASSION,,, whereas the old machines,,, Style (look at the castings,, not blocky boxy clunk,,,) Hand built with pride and love. AGED,, and not just in the time they have been around, but literally Aged by the company to relieve any internal stresses in the castings BEFORE a single scraper blade was laid on them. Three years in the aging yard, outside, exposed to elements and temperature swings. Now, they take the castings, still warm to the touch and start milling and turning on them,, before they even have a chance to learn what they are. (yes, anthropomorphic thinking, but I think there is some validity to the concept,) And those parts almost never ‘feel’ a human hand until assembly, and many times, not even then. They are disconnected from us.
Little wonder they die so easily. Slaves have shorter lifespans.
Yeah,,, I’m a romantic in many waysl I think we have lost a lot over the last 20 (100) years, stuff that may not return easily,
and for what? Someones profit? Seems like its a losing game some days. Yeah,, you have the money, but what does the money buy you now? Disposable junk?
Give me my small block chevies, heavy honkin’ manual engine lathes, Loud obnoxious engine exposed Motorcycles, and people with a willingness to bust a knuckle and take a chance at failure to succeed at living. We live in a bubble wrapped society and it stifles us. Cuts our creativity to nil: I’d rather be scraping the bottoms of soup cans for that last couple of calories, and be INSPIRED for better, than comfortable and dull with a full belly owning JUNK that won’t last another 3 years with the best of upkeep.
THAT is why I know I will be ok, despite my burying my arse in debt recently. “It’s just money” The real world isnt’ ‘money’, (though I will be the first to admit,, money can answer a lot issues,,, But why don’t we try to answer them without that, FIRST, and see where we get?)
More laters
LLLLL!
(, ‘)
Dio's Workshop 