Shop Truths, Phrases, Tales; and Outright Lies

[C-Bag]

I am part of that rare cottage industry here in the US. It was not by design, more by luck and I thank my lucky stars for the folks that contact me from all over the world. It's amazing how it has dragged me along and made me do things I wouldn't have done on my own. Like getting into computers and shortly thereafter the net came along and like a black hole we got pulled into it.

Like the music world, learning machining is all about first getting your feet wet then finding out who you are as you develop. I'm one of those that have the net to thank for being able to research what would fit my needs, then find it then learn how to use it. I really only truly learn by doing. And having a bunch of other folks who want to share their experience and projects is amazing.

I also had to go and figure out just what the heck a radial arm drill was. This seems like an interesting one:WALKER TURNER Radial Arm Drill Press | eBay

After I saw it I realized there was a huge one somebody was trying to get rid of one in Fresno several months ago. If my memory serves me(which it doesn't now like it used to) it was one of those things if you could haul it, you could have it. It was behind a huge building and who knows how big it was.

[Frank S]

this is the drill press that Tm51 told me about
it is just barely smaller than the one my wife liked so much
this one has a 12 inch column her's had a 13 inch also her's we call it her's because she went nuclear when someone used it and didn't clean it off afterwards.had a table mounted to the column instead of the block sitting on the base the arm was fixed height at the top of the column.

[Toolmaker51]

....it was one of those things if you could haul it, you could have it. It was behind a huge building and who knows how big it was.

Depends on how gol' durn ding dang big the building was....

click on the pic pals, but stand back
Sure can't hide it from the wife.....but YOU can successfully hide FROM the wife.
Or hide wife, if you're into that kind of thing.

Speaking of not so diminutive capital equipment
This WAS largest planer in 1908; Bement-Niles (typo I believe s/b Niles-Bennett-Pond).I am certain this not much larger than planer mill at 'our' Long Beach Shipyard, 30 years later, also Niles. Could be very close. Planers by nature, require out-of-proportionately larger footprint and height than other machines; typical of equipment with full length ways, surface grinders, jig-bores, jig-mills. So beside finished size, imagine scale of work to build it. Casting patterns, iron billets, gear cutting, a couple hundred square feet scraping ways and table, cranes, fasteners...and surely received putty and paint.
http://www.machineryscans.com/big%20planer.htm

[Frank S]

there is a recycle/ scrap yard in Ft Worth that often gets machines in there, the guy who owns the place flat out refuses to break up any machine that might be possibly put back in service. even if only parts of the machine comes in they get put over in an area set aside for machinery I stopped by there once and he had 6 horribly abused old lathes huge chunks knocked out of their ways cracked head stocks missing carriages no tail stocks you get the picture and 1 radial drill press body sans drilling head 18" column at least 10 ft tall the arm was broken off at about 4 maybe 5 ft out, huge 4 ft wide by 8 ft long base about a ft tall with 1" T slots of course he has them priced by the ton I asked him about them. He said there is always someone who will buy them who needs parts or just wants to try and rebuild them.
This was about 3 1/2 years ago I've been in there several times since and they were all gone other machines were in their place but much better condition
he even had a couple under power those weren't priced by the ton.