Ohhh, sorry Jeff. I thought it was a typo on your part. So the P&W can rapid the CROSS FEED in and out. I'm used to cranking cross feeds out one turn anyways to clear the threading tool (My Monarch has .500 per dial rev. = .25 travel which is usually enough to clear most thread depths). Then disengage the half nuts, crank the saddle back, dial in the compound, dial back the cross feed one turn, watch the chasing dial and engage the half nuts.

Having to feed the saddle back I saw as time consuming (especially on long threads) and thought you meant that the lathe had a "rapid" back feed rate for the saddle. My mistake.

Steve

On this lathe, at the end of a cut, you give the cross feed a quarter turn or so (unless it's a REALLY deep thread), and simultaneously throw the feed lever to reverse. The half nuts stay engaged. As you feed back, you adjust in the compound, and as soon as you clear the end of the cut, you run the cross feed rapid back in to the stop, and throw the feed to forward. There is no need to watch the chasing dial, as the half nuts have never been disengaged. After you engage the feed, there is a very slight pause, a CLICK!, and the tool will catch the thread, every time. 20+ years after I started running it, I still haven't figured out exactly how a P&W does this.

Jeff

This Steptoe has a feature I 've never seen before. Note the table is two pieces. It is indexable.



The venerable horizontal mill.



A pulley head Bridgeport like mine.



This machine is very cool. I'd love to run one of these. The only verticle shaper I've ever seen.



P&W made this. Last patent date from 1926.




Steve

A baby mill not in use yet.



A Norton O.D. grinder not in use yet.



Not sure what this machine is, I thought it might have something to do with threading.



Never seen this brand lathe before:



Over all view of the Boye & Emmes lathe with antique Lincoln welder in front:



Close up of the welder name plate:



Steve

It has been used at IRM, but the last time I saw it run was MANY years ago. It was donated by a volunteers employer, along with the big hydraulic planer, and a Bullard vertical turret lathe.

Bolt threader, it's great if you have a large number of identical bolts to thread, but due to setup times if you only need a few bolts, use a lathe!


There used to be 2 Boye & Emmes lathes in the shop, that is the smaller of the 2, the other one is/was just north of the big vertical hydraulic press.
Jeff

The Lucas horizontal boring mill (HBM) in the shop. Patented 1910.





My autistic son ran out of patience at this time so I didn't get the rest of the machines photographed.

Steve

Great machines. Apparently your locomotives rarely need that level of accuracy.

Someone told me that a number of machines came from Lane Tech. It's a very nice collection.

Steve