When equipment was built to last

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Adcock & Shipley No1 horizontal mill as it would have left the factory.

When equipment was built to last


Mine is from June 1940

When equipment was built to last


Adcock & Shipley were the UK agents for Bridgeport, so its unclear as to whether the addition of the Bridgeport M head is from 1940 or a later addition. The Bridgeport base serial numbers can be used for dating but no records for Head serials exist so cannot know when it was added.

When equipment was built to last


as it looks now, variable speed drive to head, variable speed drive to the table and 4 axis DRO.

When equipment was built to last


Knee and quill movements are combined for 3 axis readout

When equipment was built to last


When equipment was built to last
 
Remember Euclid dump trucks ? Encountered them at a steel works when I was a student , still soldiering on after 30 years or so and outliving much newer kit which could not withstand the arduous conditions? Well speaking to a mining engineer in the 1990s was told that many had been exported to Africa and retro fitted with Cummins engines. Goodness knows how many service hours they put in.
 
I have a 5 pound lump hammer and a 36" pipe wrench. Though last year I bought a 70's Meddings pillar drill, spent it's working life in a piano makers workshop, almost like new. My skill set precludes a lathe, but give me a hole to drill. All those years in the oil patch turning to the right!
 
I still use a flat belt "Barnes" centre lathe from the 1880s
It was actually cycled rather the treadled when it was made
Thank god for electricity as I fitted a motor to it, respect to the blokes back then that could cycle and turn at the same time!!! Jeez
 
Most people are aware of how rare 10mm sockets are, they go missing almost immediately.

My story is different. When I was 16, (1973), I got a Wright metric socket set; the 10mm socket went rogue a couple of weeks later. Then, some time down the road the whole kit was stolen along with a bunch of other tools from my shop. When the day finally came that I had to relocate from the old barn to my Dad's boat shed (which had been my long-time shop until 3 months ago), Lo and Behold! There was the 10mm socket, deep under the workbench base.

Now, more recently, I'd say 1995 or so, I bought a large Craftsman socket & wrench set. Sure enough, the 10mm socket went spare within mere months. To bring this story to a happy conclusion, you might guess by now that the 1973 Wright 10mm socket sits proudly (literally, it's taller than the others) in my Craftsman kit.

That's only 46 years, but it's something...
 
My dad was a professional auto mechanic back in the 30's. That was when a mechanic was expected to completely tear down an engine and rebuild it from the Babbitt bearings to lapping in the valves.

I have all his tools, mostly Snap-On, that are now approaching 80 years of age. The Snap-On 3/8 ratchet has a worn pawl, and slips. Snap-On will trade me a new one, but I would rather keep my Dad's worn out 80 year old.

Slick
 
When my Grandfather passed away my Aunt put all his tools together and told my Dad he could come get them. He lived in Pennsylvania and we were in California, well you guessed it. We never made it back to get them and they were sold off, I remember going into his garage and seeing all the wood working tools and also hand tools on the wall and wooden boxes that contained his woodworking tools. I was just a kid and no way to do it myself so they are lost forever.
 
As I get older I hate to buy tools not because I dont want them or need them but because I know they surely wont get worn out.
 
Here is my next oldest piece of equipment.
It's a 1938 Fritz-Werner 270A rotary grinder. Made in Germany. It is all original except the crossfeed motor that was fried when I got it. It's as smooth and quiet as they get.
It is a heavy piece. It outweighs my Series 1 Bridgeport by almost 1000 lbs.

When equipment was built to last
 
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Here is another one that is old enough to be solid. I have never found any info on it's build date but I would guess it's mid 50's.
It has a 1 horse motor and an all gear head with a 70's vintage variable speed control on it.
When equipment was built to last

When equipment was built to last
 
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I have a 70-year old wooden boat. Which means I do a lot of work on a 70-year old wooden boat! What amazes me is how many tools I have that young people don't understand (and I'm not really THAT old!). Like my brace with a large screwdriver bit. It was the original cordless driver! You could once go to any garage sale and find a brace with a bunch of bits. But apparently people don't have much respect for the history of boring tools (yawn). The screwdriver bits are harder to find and I suppose that people are now to the point where they throw them out because they don't know what they are for. Try setting a #24 X 5" bronze wood screw without one.
 
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