Shop Truths, Phrases, Tales; and Outright Lies

[Paul Jones]

ToolMaker51 and C-Bag,

I had to use the Google search for images to see what a Niles Heavy Duty Planer Mill looked like and wow are these massive. No wonder these need a very heavy concrete pad. Like C-Bag said, what did they machine on these lathes?

I have had limited exposure to large machine tools. My friend whose company makes very large capacity water pumps (some are 200,000 gallons per minute) installed a 72" swing Fanuc CNC vertical lathe with 48 tool selection and a secondary axis with another 24 tool selection. The machine arrive on four 18 wheelers and the largest machine section weighed 20,000 lbs. It has a lot of refrigeration gear to keep the machine at a constant temperature to maintain tolerances. When machining it has two large chip conveyor belts to carry away the massive amount of chips it produces. I know they poured a special floor to support the machine and built a safety interlock so the 25 ton overhead gantry cranes wouldn't crash into the top of the Fanuc when fully extended. This is the same shop that has a MacIntosh-Hemphill lathe (they raised the headstock, cross slide and tailstock for larger swing) originally used to machine the 16" guns for WWII battleships. I have to visit the MacIntosh-Hemphill lathe every time I tour their shop because it is a machine that you just don't see in most shops. Who needs stairs to operate their tailstocks?