Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,745
- Location
- Teesside, England
You get the impression that thing could be connected to the Earth's axis as a backup, just in case...
- Thread starter thestig
- Start date
You get the impression that thing could be connected to the Earth's axis as a backup, just in case...
- Messages
- 22,984
- Location
- Birmingham
Fantatstic stuff. A mate of mine is adamant that Head Wrightsons here on Teesside used to have a lathe with a 100 foot long bed... the factory's long gone now so I can't phone up to ask
I think it was Walter Sommers used to have a lathe where the operator would sit on the tool carrying bit (my knowledge of lathes is zero!
)
- Messages
- 14,638
- Location
- UK
I saw a lathe at Sandusky Walmsleys (Bolton paper making machine place) that was so big there was an office on the tool post. A monster.
Unfortunately the place was closing down and everything was being shipped off to India.
The size of the equipment in that place was amazing.
Unfortunately the place was closing down and everything was being shipped off to India.
The size of the equipment in that place was amazing.
we still have some machines nearly that big at work, never get used now they just sit there until someone has nothin on and decides to have a mess about with em! bit disconcerting when a chuck 6ft accross spinning up when its not encased it gaurds like the new cnc's. we have so much equipment that just sits there rusting coz the people who used to use them have long since gone and they get replace with modern ****, real shame
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,745
- Location
- Teesside, England
I did a job in Bradford a few years ago in an engineering shop where they had what was effectively a vertical lathe comprising a flat cylindrical faceplate set flush with the floor and a cutting tool mounted on a carriage moved by rack and pinion towards the faceplate!
That particular job was the main bearing inner race for an FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offtake) vessel... it must have been 20 feet diameter and about the same height if not more. It was fabbed from rolled plates a good 10-12" thick, supported on the turntable on lumps of railway sleeper so that the radiographers could shoot the welds. Now it gets technical...
The bombers weren't shooting with x-ray as there wasn't a portable set available that would get through the thickness so they'd borrowed a Cobalt-60 source from us (I forget the size, probably 20-30 Curies) - I was just the delivery boy as it required an ADR-trained driver to move it between sites.
To get at the welds they had to hoist the source container up by overhead crane which mean that the windout (drive mechanism to propel the source out of its container and up to the weld) was hanging vertically underneath the container instead of several yards away horizontally as would normally be the case - the idea being to put as much distance between source and bomber as possible!
The bomber slid under the bearing, climbed a ladder to position his film, slid back out and cranked the source out. Then he ran like hell the length of the fab shop to join us outside.
The exposure was a good 45 mins as I recall. After a few mins I started wandering around with a radiation monitor just to make sure we weren't getting any reflected scatter in the street outside, which we weren't.
Then I asked the guys what was BEHIND the fab shop.
Oh, just a council estate, was the reply
jugs
Dont wish to offend & annoy, but...
- Messages
- 1,449
I think it was Walter Sommers used to have a lathe where the operator would sit on the tool carrying bit (my knowledge of lathes is zero!
Was that at Hailsowen ?? I remember there was an old lathe about 20' dia X 80' long ish.
for more big stuff LOOK HERE
- Messages
- 22,984
- Location
- Birmingham
Shox Dr
Chief Engineer to Carlos Fandango
- Messages
- 18,008
- Location
- East Yorkshire
It does make you wonder. We as a country have more people living here, and presumably more people working than at any other time. Yet if Computers and machines have taken jobs off many a workforce. What jobs do all these people do these days. (well their sons and daughters) Why don't we have more out of work.
I remember when I was a kid, When Goole Docks was employing hundreds if not thousands of people. Bridge Street was swarming with push bikes, as the steam whistle blow. It looked like in street in China. Now the docks employ a hand full of people, yet Goole still has a larger population now. Same goes for any town or city
It's all service industry now, finance, call centres, retail, etc, etc !! There is even a company I've seen when I'm over at my mothers place that clean wheely bins weekly !!!
Two guys on a truck with a pressure washer, sanitising equipment etc !! The height of laziness on the part of the householder, unless they're incapacitated in some way, that doesn't apply to the houses I've seen it at though !
Thats one reason why everything is so stupid expensive these days, companies exploiting whatever niche they can find and making it a non job that someone has to pay for !
Heard Philips are laying off 4500 jobs as their profits have fallen by 50% in recent months !!
Two guys on a truck with a pressure washer, sanitising equipment etc !! The height of laziness on the part of the householder, unless they're incapacitated in some way, that doesn't apply to the houses I've seen it at though !
Thats one reason why everything is so stupid expensive these days, companies exploiting whatever niche they can find and making it a non job that someone has to pay for !
Heard Philips are laying off 4500 jobs as their profits have fallen by 50% in recent months !!
Last edited:
Wedg1e
They call me Mr. Bodge-angles
- Messages
- 7,745
- Location
- Teesside, England
I work for a service company and what's ridiculous is the amount of service companies who do work for us
When I started this job (18 years ago next month) I thought I'd be doing well if I got 18 months out of it before they realised I was blagging and got rid of me
We started out by hiring x-ray sets, it was a daily mad rush to get sets repaired and back out the door, or else jumping in the car and hoofing to the ends of the country to fix a broken panel or whatever.
Now I seem to spend most of the time on AutoCAD, rummaging through the internet for 'a better price' on something or writing bloody risk assessments and method statements.
The rest of the time I'm clad in ludicrous amounts of PPE on some site a million miles from home, trying to keep up the pretence that the company knows what the hell it's doing...
I've fixed car alarms, carried coffins, driven taxis, sat behind a bank till, rebuilt engines, messed with radioactive material... and I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!
Shox Dr
Chief Engineer to Carlos Fandango
- Messages
- 18,008
- Location
- East Yorkshire
But none of those earn money. Or at least you have to earn money to spend in them, so where does the money come from in the first place??
- Messages
- 14,638
- Location
- UK
Ha, not heard that terminology for a while... always had the bombers round doing our fancy welded adapters when i was in the services game.
jugs
Dont wish to offend & annoy, but...
- Messages
- 1,449
Some more big stuff on this site
http://www.schiessbrighton.com/us/dlathe.htm
click on super machines to see machines capable of cutting stuff upto - 1000 tons
http://www.schiessbrighton.com/us/dlathe.htm
click on super machines to see machines capable of cutting stuff upto - 1000 tons
ronan
Member
- Messages
- 11,399
Thats were the trouble in the world economy came from , people borrowing constantly , everything is or was credit based.unfortunately the party came to a sudden halt.
jugs
Dont wish to offend & annoy, but...
- Messages
- 1,449
No it hasn't,
thats what quantitative easing is all about, the government controlled banks (or is it the other way round
Eventually enough people will believe it & the game goes on
feathers
Member
- Messages
- 35
Great to see some pictures of Doxfords on the assembly line! I dont think there are any left at sea now, although could be wrong?! When I was cadet the college I studied at had a single cylinder version in a workshop that they flashed up every now and again, but unfortunately it has now gone and left a gaping big hole in the middle of the workshop.
Majority of large slow speed engines have semi built crankshafts now, shrink fit between webs and crank journals.
Re deflections, should always be 5 readings. Start just after BDC then 90 degs before TDC, TDC, 90 degs after TDC and then just before BDC. Obviously at BDC the con rod would be in the way, so the two readings are taken to give a average of the two. Very important, give a great indication on the state on the main bearings and the alingment etc.
Majority of large slow speed engines have semi built crankshafts now, shrink fit between webs and crank journals.
Re deflections, should always be 5 readings. Start just after BDC then 90 degs before TDC, TDC, 90 degs after TDC and then just before BDC. Obviously at BDC the con rod would be in the way, so the two readings are taken to give a average of the two. Very important, give a great indication on the state on the main bearings and the alingment etc.
ronan
Member
- Messages
- 11,399
I don't know about economics and things like that but i think its difficult for any country to make money and have jobs without some sort of manufacturing, i have always found working with my hands much more fulfilling than pushing bits of paper around a desk or pushing buttons on a computer. There was some bean counter on bbc the other night saying how great it was that manufacturing left the uk as the jobs in services were better, i don't think so.
Anyway where in sunderland was the doxfords factory ? What stands there now ?
Anyway where in sunderland was the doxfords factory ? What stands there now ?
