Bizarre shop machinery....

[cvairwerks]

I was cruising thru this video about one of my restoration projects. I thought it was pretty wild that during the war, companies were not above building bizarre and exotic machines to speed production. Got to about 14:40 in and see the 185 spindle drilling machine for part of the engine case. Yep....185 spindles turning and making holes in a single pass on the part.

Anyone got other ones they can post?

 

[Jason280]

That's pretty damned neat!

 

[drivesitfar]

CV: thanks for the video and i could have watched the entire thing and then some, but that's a huge RABBIT HOLE for this old guy that i don't want to jump in at the moment.

wonder if that tooling still is drilling holes or if it was scrapped?

pretty cool old video!!

 

[cvairwerks]

Drives: Most likely it got scrapped within months of Ranger being shut down. It was purpose built for drilling that particular part, so probably no chance of making it work for anything else.

 

[BajaScout]

Awesome drill press!

Notice the lack of safety requirements (safety glasses, gloves, hard hats)

 

[sweetk30]

hang on guys ..... i need to sharpen my drill bits

good video thanks

 

[pancho400cid]

Cool!

Part of that "economy of scale" you hear about.

 

[CN Spots]

That must have been the only guy doing narration in films back then. Or maybe they all sounded alike?

 

[drmarkr]

"...nuts are turned with a special speed wrench...." LOL 15:40

 

[gearhead1]

The multiple spindle machine concept is common. Where I work we have bunches of those in a transfer line to make engine blocks, to the tune of several hundred thousand a year.

Typically, Cross made engine block lines and Lamb made cylinder head and transmission lines.

Ralph Cross / F. Joseph Lamb

https://www.efootage.com/stock-footage/88012/Cross_Transfermatic_Machine_-_HD/

 

[theoldwizard1]

The multiple spindle machine concept is common. Where I work we have bunches of those in a transfer line to make engine blocks, to the tune of several hundred thousand a year.

Typically, Cross made engine block lines and Lamb made cylinder head and transmission lines.

Yep ! Not that many spindles, but similar.

From a tool perspective, the trick is to making the quills strong/stiff enough not to flex and drill off location. Tool wear, especially between tools, is also an issue.

 

[larry_g]

I do also believe that some of these multi-spindle drilling machines led to the development of the left handed twist drill bit. The spindles were chain geared together so 1/2 the spindles turned the opposite direction.

lg
no neat sig line

 

[gearhead1]

I do also believe that some of these multi-spindle drilling machines led to the development of the left handed twist drill bit. The spindles were chain geared together so 1/2 the spindles turned the opposite direction.

lg
no neat sig line

Probably so. One the machines we have, they were all geared such that every drill in a head is turning the same direction. Cylinder boring is different, to counteract forces, one boring spindle is one direction and the other spindle is the other direction.