The Story of My Home Shop Lathes......

[wrustle]

In our last episode.............


"Well", he replied, looking away from me and staring at the machine as if in doubt he really wanted to follow through with this. "How about $1,500.00, and I'll throw in all the collets and tooling that goes with it?"


Not wanting to seem foolish, and desperate, I waited for at least a quarter of a second and proclaimed, "I'll take it!"

With smiles from both and a good hearty handshake the deal was done!


I was now the proud new owner of a Warner & Swasey #3 Turret Lathe!


Man was I excited!!.........and yet in that moment, dread crept in......like a cold wintry breeze into a nice warm house when the outside door is left open for just a tad too long.............how the hell am I going to get this monster into my basement?


To be continued...................



Continuing along now...........

The gentlemen informed me he could get the machine unhooked and with his fork truck set it at the opening of the door to be removed. He also said he could lag some 4 x 4's to the legs from front to back to make it easier to move once I get it home.

He also suggested one method for moving the machine aside from a rigger would be to call a tow truck and have them come out with a flat bed truck and winch it up onto the ramped bed. Thinking about it for a moment I knew just the place to call!!

Two days later with a check in hand and tow truck following my lead we made our way into the countryside to pick up my new money making machine. Man was I excited, but a bittersweet excitement as the solid cast iron bed of the machine was only a mere quarter smaller than the opening to my cellar door, which was already an oversize door.

The loading of the machine was uneventful and other than the creak of the winch as it took on the full load of the machine as it slowly pulled it up the ramped bed followed by the rumbling of the 4 x 4's on the lathe legs on the diamond plate floor, we were loaded up and ready to go in under a half hour.

The driver lashed it to the bed with some strategically placed chains and after a hand shake once again between the now previous owner and I it was off we went.

The ride back to my house was nerve wracking and seemed to take for ever! Looking back in my rear view mirror I could see my new toy sitting in the bed of the truck peeking over the cab as if enjoying the wind blowing about it, and I was giddy with joy.

We arrived at my house without incident and both the driver and I came up with a plan of attack on getting this beast into my basement.

The ground in the backyard was still rather soft so we had to make a sort of makeshift plywood road to drive on to keep him from sinking in too deep. Last thing either of us needed was to be trying to remove a stuck vehicle with this heavyweight beast piggybacking along in the back. As the driver drove forward onto new plywood I would run around the back of the truck and pick up the pieces he just drove off of and bring them to the front for him to drive onto once again. Thus the cycle would repeat itself until we arrived with the rear of his truck at my basement door. Believe me.....it was very tiring!!

The good thing about my basement door was first of all, it was oversize, and more importantly there was a gentle slope leading away from the door as you headed out into the back yard. This aided us in two ways. One, we were able to lower the bed of the truck at not so sharp an angle that the machine would actually be lowered nearly right onto the floor of the basement without it hitting the top of the door, and two.......ummmm.....wait a minute......there is no two.....and too make matters worse, the lathe was NOT sliding down the bed, because the angle was not steep enough......CRAP!!!!

Ok, new plan of attack. We pulled the truck forward and he angled the bed way up and let winch slowly unwind as gravity took over and slowly allowed the lathe to slide down to the edge of the ramp and once at the edge we carefully and with GREAT caution I might add, let it slide off the edge of the truck for about a 12". Lowering the bed now, he reversed back up to the door once again but this time with the bed angled slightly up and nearly flush with the door frame, we had a good 10" of the machine in the basement! Almost there!!

I grabbed some 2" dia. 1020 steel tubing I had laying around (actually still have it tucked it away just for the reasons I'm about to describe) and jammed it under the 4 x 4's hovering above the basement floor. As the driver released the winch though,..........again.......not enough angle and the machine to heavy for gravity to budge it. Grabbing a crow bar though and some wooden blocks we quickly got a system in place and before you know,......she was sliding into the basement, and as long as I keep feeding her those steel tubes, we were unloaded in about 10 minutes. Though in the door......she was on the floor!!

The driver parted ways with my wallet $125.00 lighter, but the deed was done, and there she sat.....in the doorway, on 4 x 4's on 2" steel tubes and not budging!!!......one frigging bit!!! Dam, that thing was heavy.......

Try as I might, and considering every option no matter how likely NOT to work, I still tried it.....she sat right there stubborn as hell. The 2" steel tubing had made a nice little radius in the bottom of the 4 x 4's and acted as chock blocks. Time for reinforcements!

I called up a friend of mine and later on that day he showed up......with a 12 pack, and some much needed muscle.

After some careful consideration aided by a couple cold ones to help with the hero factor, we devised a plan of attack!

He brought with him his dad's floor jack. We were able to get a block of wood on the jack and then get under the front end of the lathe and jack it up just enough to get some of the pressure off the front tube, and with him pulling and me pushing we headed across the room.....a few grunting and groaning and struggling inches at a time. As one pipe came out the back end, I would bring it to the front and reload it cycling along as I did out side with the truck on the grass.

My basement is 26 feet wide, and yup......it was going against the opposite wall! Who the hell came up with that idea??? Of, errr......nevermind...........

Three hours later she came to her resting place which was a good thing.....we were out of beer......but the deed was done.

Getting to the opposite wall wasn't that difficult however once we got on a roll. Making the 90 degree turn was a ball buster though!!

My Warner & Swasey #3 Turret Lathe





As you can see in this pic.....(actually kinda embarrassed to show this)....we made a LOT of chips with this machine. Somedays, just too busy to even clean up at night and they would just pile up!!







My oldest boy Andrew, making chips!



Machining a cast iron shaft.





One year we had thousands of aluminum tubes to make for a customer in Florida.

Here's the aluminum tubes





My daughter Danielle would bring them in and cut them into lengths for the Warner & Swasey.





My youngest boy Chris making sleeves out of the tubes.





All packed up, ready for the monthly shipment!! Next stop, Florida!



To be continued..................



No.....just kidding..........

The End!!

Russ