Author Topic: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread  (Read 118600 times)

Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread
« Reply #30 on: February 20, 2013, 04:56:17 PM »
This is probably the only 12 Volt knob-and-tube installation anywhere on Earth  ;D

-John

Maybe we can charge admission to the machine shop  8)

BTW - found at least 6 funnels of all sizes.  The shelf is well stocked!

Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread
« Reply #31 on: February 21, 2013, 11:52:58 AM »
Mike, 

Since you have Koehler chargers at your fire station, do you have a manual or paperwork for the unit? I didn't have info last weekend so here's what I did; I took the charger apart, inspected and cleaned it, put a new power cord on. I set the second bus and tested it for over 2 hours with a meter to test the output. The unit has two adjustable secondarys and there are 3 output buses on the terminal strip.  The charger is model number 5680, made by Koehler in Marlborough, MA. 

Mike Fox

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Re: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread
« Reply #32 on: February 21, 2013, 07:28:32 PM »
I'll check the truck over tomorrow for one. I don't recall seeing one. It came with a truck we purchased used last fall.
Mike
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Alan Downey

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A bit of history on our patternmakers lathe
« Reply #33 on: August 27, 2016, 11:00:22 PM »
A little over a year ago, Brendan brought a large patternmakers lathe back to the museum from the barn of someone in the area. He could tell the story much better than I could. Anyway, last May I evaluated the lathe to determine its condition, and how it could best be utilized by the museum. While I found it to be in good shape for not having been run in 50+ years, I was unable to find any sort of makers mark or label that woudl tell me the history of the lathe itself. I was perplexed, but didn't think much about that since. That was, until someone on the Old Woodworking Machines forum lamented "Every Maine shop should have a Fay & Scott lathe." I'd never heard of such a company before, nor could I figure out what that had to do with shops in Maine. So after some brief googling, its obvious that our lathe is a Fay & Scott. So you're thinking, "who cares, Alan?". I know... But here's the kicker, Fay & Scott was founded in 1881, and based in Dexter, Maine. They got their start by making patternmakers lathes, and apparently expanded to other machine tools and agricultural equipment. I have no way of being able to date the lathe, but based on its design and styling, I would be pretty comfortable in saying that it would have been built during the same time that the WW&F was in operation. Brendan could shed more light on it's history in the mid-coast, but it's also probably safe to say that it's never left the state. I was already thrilled to broaden the capabilities of the shop with it's addition. But given it's appropriate age, and geographic significance, I am kind of giddy with how perfect of a fit it is for our museum.

Brendan's pictures from July 2015 Work Planning thread:






More info on Fay & Scott: http://www.lathes.co.uk/fayscott/

I'll apologize for my tool related digression from the railroad talk, but hopefully some folks will get a kick out of this as I did  :).

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John Scott

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Re: A bit of history on our patternmakers lathe
« Reply #34 on: August 28, 2016, 06:13:33 AM »
Alan

Please don't apologise for educating us all about beautiful old machinery of great historical significance. Thank you.

Ken Fleming

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Re: A bit of history on our patternmakers lathe
« Reply #35 on: August 28, 2016, 10:55:58 AM »
Some day, we'll have to enlarge our machine shop or build a new one for all of neat, old machines.  Perhaps adding a forge for blacksmithing.  There may be some value in doing work for other restoration projects.

John Kokas

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Re: A bit of history on our patternmakers lathe
« Reply #36 on: August 28, 2016, 11:12:51 AM »
From a historical perspective, it might be beneficial to locate and acquire as many "Maine built" machines of various types as practical.  I'm sure the original WW&F procured local equipment and tooling whenever possible to keep costs down.
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Benjamin Campbell

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Re: A bit of history on our patternmakers lathe
« Reply #37 on: August 28, 2016, 01:38:24 PM »
Nice addition to the museum! If the outboard end of the headstock shaft is threaded (as I suspect it is on a pattern makers lathe) a faceplate can be fabricated for turning larger diameter pieces. While looking at other Fay & Scott lathes over at VintageMachinery.org I see that serial numbers can be found on some of their machines. I’m not sure that it will help us date our lathe but it would be interesting to see if there is in fact a serial number. I have no idea where F&S stamped theirs but other lathe manufacturers often stamped them between the ways on the tailstock end.

The WW&F had a very basic machine shop compared to the Sandy River and other larger railroads. On page 62 of “Narrow Gauge In The Sheepscot Valley” Volume 1 the authors have included a diagram of the WW&F’s car and machine shop. It shows three lathes – a grinding wheel – a shaper – a drill press and some sort of saw – presumably woodworking.

Does anyone know how they determined the layout of the machine shop? Are machine inventories included in any of the ICC reports?

Outfitting a shop with Maine made machines would be tough as the state really didn’t contribute to their development to the extent that Neighboring New Hampshire, Massachusetts & Connecticut did. More Maine made woodworking machinery will be found than metal working.

Made in Maine or not - I do feel these vintage machine help educate people about the greater context of the industrial revolution – how railroads were built and maintained – and the heavy industries they served.

Stewart "Start" Rhine

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Re: A bit of history on our patternmakers lathe
« Reply #38 on: August 28, 2016, 04:36:16 PM »
We had a visitor from N.C. today that toured the shop and complimented us on the pattern makers lathe, saying it was a handy machine.

Wayne Laepple

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Re: A bit of history on our patternmakers lathe
« Reply #39 on: August 28, 2016, 05:13:11 PM »
I'm thinking perhaps the next construction project should be a woodshop, in a separate building with heat and a nice wood-block floor. It should be about 15 x 30 feet with double doors at each end and nice-sized windows on both sides. I don't think it needs a track inside, but a track adjacent would be nice.

Brendan Barry

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Re: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread
« Reply #40 on: July 05, 2017, 06:20:44 PM »
To make the shop building more functional the museum is putting a concrete floor in the old sections of bays 2 and 3 in the shop building. Alot of work has already gone into cleaning out and moving shelfs, cabinets and benches out of bay 2. Today work started on removing some of he existing gravel floor so the new concrete floor can be poured.

Kubota and tip car at work in bay 2.





Eric and Steve dumping the tip car over the embankment in the North Yard.



« Last Edit: September 05, 2017, 07:11:28 PM by Ed Lecuyer »
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Bill Baskerville

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Re: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread
« Reply #41 on: July 05, 2017, 06:39:19 PM »
There are two strong dudes......
~ B2 ~ Wascally Wabbit & Gofer ~

Paul Uhland

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Re: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread
« Reply #42 on: July 05, 2017, 09:54:38 PM »
Wow...wasting no time. Good to see MOW Tip Car 1001 doing its job.
Great. Get out the yellow paint, Mike.  ;D
« Last Edit: July 05, 2017, 10:02:15 PM by Paul Uhland »
Paul Uhland

Jeff Schumaker

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Re: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread
« Reply #43 on: July 06, 2017, 07:24:23 AM »
Thanks for the photos, Brendan.

Jeff S.
Hey Rocky, watch me pull a moose trout out of my hat.

Mike Fox

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Re: Shop Building & Machinery Improvements - Official Work Thread
« Reply #44 on: July 06, 2017, 09:12:42 AM »
Tip cars can stay black. Easier to hide them..
Mike
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