Vintage Machinery/Tools have Soul

just a snippet of many crazy stories Ive heard....

 

Finally got around to tramming the head and vise on my 1944 Bridgeport round ram J head. Worked pretty well for what it is. I spent a fair amount of time stoning the table.

 

that thing prob weighs a ton but looks neat!

 

I just picked up this exact vise as well. looks like it should do decent for most light duty stuff.

 

Found an old craftsman bench grinder. I’ll clean it up and press it into service.

 

This seems like the perfect thread to share my letterpress printing machine. It's a ~1908 Chandler & Price platen press. She weighs in around 1500lbs and runs flawlessly to this day. My wife and I occasionally spin up a little side business using the press to make super high quality printed goods. They're expensive to make with quality paper and inks, so are ideal for the important occasions of life like weddings, birth announcements, etc. Don't think I'll ever sell this thing, but it sure it tricky to move!

 

wow thats neat!

 

My Crafstman King Sealy drill press, a couple Wiltons and Craftsman block grinders. I ended up giving the "small" Wilton to my Dad. The plan is to restore the other stuff, but it will have to wait until I finish all the project s on the house.




Forgot - I have my Dads old Craftsman toolbox that could use some cleanup...

 

Picked this up today on a scrap run someone posted for free. It was in the bottom of the pile but other then the missing swivel base looks great. I’m gonna try to find a base for it on eBay

 

Also picked up this monster. 1340lb of steel is after I gutted the copper and compressors and computer out of it made me sad to do it but it needed to be destroyed to be disposed of it was to far gone. It’s a centrifuge by the way date stamp on the motherboard was 1981