10-20-2012, 09:46 AM
(10-14-2012, 08:12 AM)wrustle Wrote: As I reached into the back of my truck to gather up the box for my customer a familiar voice welcomed me to his home.
We exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes, talked of the weather, and as I handed him the box of parts and was about to open the door to my truck, he asked if I'd like to see to his shop..........
"WOULD I????"...........I shouted out loud.......well, in my head anyways...........I simply responded with a "Sure".......but knowing of this new Cnc lathe.......I just had to see it!!!
"Great", he said, "Follow me, my shop is in the barn. That diesel generator over there is how we power everything. Oh, and I have something else to show you, something that you may be very interested in!" and with that we headed off into the barn.
To be continued.............
So, to continue where I left off..............
As we stepped into the barn, aside from the musky smell of old hay and farm animals the first thing I noticed was the absence of any machinery. Couple that with the overall darkness and solitude of this place and my subconscious had me a bit concerned.........
Walking along, I could not help but think to myself the inside of the barn seems to be much longer than it appeared from the outside and maybe it was just me, but damn......it was getting progressively darker in here as we ventured forth.
Once again that uneasy feeling of this not being right crept in and I just had to glance over my shoulder behind me to see how far it was back to the open door where we first entered.........turning back around again, I stopped dead in my tracks.........after glancing out towards the light and turning back to the darkness I could not see a thing.......and to make matters worse..........my friend was gone........
.......as my stomach exploded with that feeling of utter terror, my heart rate soaring to point of light headedness, I opened my eyes as wide as possible in an effort to try and see through the black veil surrounding me, and in that same instant I was quite sure I was about to be this serial killers next victim (that's right, serial killer,...."The Murdering Machinist!"), perhaps disemboweled with a wooden handled long iron hook the kind for dragging bales of hay around and then he would string me up to the rafters with the others I had not noticed due to the lack of light (that's why he keeps it so dark in here, I thought to myself) and hang there as if in display for him to ogle everyday until the flesh rots from my bones. Yes, friends......the "Murdering Machinist" has struck again!!
........."Watch your step there Russ!", a voice in the darkness up ahead called out, slamming the door closed on my split second nightmarish daydream. "The light here at the top of the stairs blew out this morning and I haven't gotten around to replacing it yet."
"Right behind you pal, just lead the way.", I replied as we descended the stairs thinking to myself..........why the hell did I watch so many of those slasher type horror flicks when I was a kid........and chuckling to myself we entered into the shop, my armpits feeling like they had wet sponges under them........
Coming down the stairs into the light, the familiar sights and sounds, and yes even the smells of a machine shop filled my senses with delight!
Yes, I thought to myself......home away from home.
I was introduced to younger man, (perhaps not too long ago considered to be a boy) who was working a very large drill press with several heads on one long table. He was loading some cast aluminum extrusions from a large steel bin placed conveniently at the end of the table into a fixture under each head and drilling a single hole into the part then placing it into a steel 55 gallon drum at the end of the machine next to him. There were several drums about his area, and I could not help but think how damn boring that must be, but he appeared to be genuinely happy and after our introduction began once again, loading, drilling, unloading, move over to the next fixture, load, drill, etc., etc.
Walking though a doorway leading into another section of the shop we came upon his new pride and joy, his Haas TL-1 lathe.
I don't recall what size chuck it had, or how long a shaft it could turn, all I know was it was way cool!!! Asking if I would like to see it run, naturally (and withholding my giddiness) I exclaimed, "YES!"
Loading a part into the chuck, and changing the tool in the VERY large tool post, he closed the cover to the machine. Well, sort of a cover. It pretty much just covered the chuck and tool area to keep those within range from taking a shower should coolant be required.
Looking around through it was quite obvious it did not contain it all very well as witnessed by the pale blue puddles of coolant on the cement floor.
Pushing a few buttons on the control and explaining some things to me that I don't remember now.......the machine came to life and began facing and turning diameters on the stock in the chuck. When it had completed its cycle, he opened the cover, exchanged the tool in the tool post for another, closed the cover once again and pushed the big green button (it really isn't all that big you know, so why does everyone call it, "the BIG GREEN button"?) and the machine came to life once again, only this time it took a nice finish cut all over and when finished, he removed the part from the machine for me to examine, and it was NICE!, and it was done quickly, and no one got wet (from coolant that is.....) no one got burned from chips, (don't you just love those hot chips that go right down your shirt?.......you can always tell an old lathe hand by the burn scars on his neck) and best of all, we stood there shooting the breeze while it did all the work.......holy crap!!......that really was the cats pajamas!!
We discussed the TL-1 a little more in detail, and he explained to me how he eventually got interested in a Cnc lathe and took the plunge in acquiring one. He continued to talk as we walked to another section of the shop and stopping to pause for added emphasis in his tale, he asked if I would interested in buying this, and pointed to the machine next to us.
To be continued................