Is P&W 2E Jig Borer hopelessly obsolete?

Maybe those exact people. Have only one on a long term production job that you want to protect and keep? Backup unit that can bounce production up to make the customer happy when his product gets a bounce.

Martin

You aren't likely to find jobs where adding an obsolete machine tool that requires a dedicated oeprator will be competitive. The latest autoloading CNC machines rarely require more than about 1/4 of an operator.

I've seen one operator "managing" ten CNC lathes at once. Mostly, he carries a clipboard or keeps an eye on the ERP dashboard in his office.

That's where it is today, Martin.

But there still are some shops around Lancaster, PA that do repair work using obsolete machinery. There are no operators, just the owner and perhaps his son. The shop is in a barn close to the house.

Dan

Exactly. You can have a $12/hour person loading and unloading several CNC machines. All that is required from such a person is attentiveness.

In the old times, the amount of production would require easily a hundred of $30/hour machinists.

Production is up -- employment is down.

Sure, there used to be a lot of them. There aren't many anymore.

BTW, the last shaper I saw being used in commercial service was outside of Lancaster. It was a mold shop, and they used it to square mold bases. They had it for something like 40 years, and it put out enough mold bases that they couldn't justify buying a mill for the job.

That was 13 years ago.

And they're working on ways to replace that person.

Yup. And it looks like this:

It would appear to me, that it is not that expensive to have an attentive person minding several machines, and could prevent a lot of trouble from happening.

The future is here!

Next, complete automation of "fast food".

VTLs and VBMs (two flavors of the same things), as I mentioned, are one of the few old machine types that are worth restoring -- if you're specifically turning very large ring-type parts.

I have a nice photo of an ancient one that was converted to DROs, in a brochure I wrote for Mitutotyo many years ago. I should scan it and put it online somewhere. The old clunker with modern readouts is a bit of a jolt.

Shapers make everything except money.

A nice machine for a hobbyist, if you can find one willing to haul it off for free.

Best Regards Tom.

The machine shop at the base of hoover dam has some of those large machines still in use for maintence. I remember the VTL about 20 foot table on that machine. I bet it was custom built just for the dam project. If you ever take any dam tour ask to see the machine shop if they have one, all the machines at hoover dam are well kept and still in use.

Best Regards Tom.

We've heard about that shop -- maybe from you? It sounds like something worth seeing if we're in the area.

I could not sell a great looking Bullard VTL with DROs two glass scales, just last Christmas season. It will be scrapped next week.

The applications have diminished as US manufacturing has evolved into different markets.

VTLs used to have a pretty big market in power transmission and, to a lesser extent, in power generation. The big-time power transmission applications were centered around rolling mills, crushing mills, and the like -- gear blanks, bushings, and so on. There is replacement business there but there isn't a lot of growth.

That's been true of turning machines in general. They used to dominate machine tool production; milling was a secondary concern. Once again, it was about power transmission in the earlier days of industrialization -- shafts and axles, pulleys, gear blanks, and bearings of various types. Milling was considered to be a roughing operation; turning was the precision operation.

replying to Ignoramus15619, Justin wrote: I mean you could still use it slap a tapmatic head on it and boom u can tap bout anything on it what we use in our shop so we don't have to change anything else out lol I know they pretty much not used but ours runs like a champ so I mean technically still be used but just not really how it was meant to be used lol

replying to Ignoramus15619, Justin wrote: I mean you could still use it slap a tapmatic head on it and boom u can tap bout anything on it what we use in our shop so we don't have to change anything else out lol I know they pretty much not used but ours runs like a champ so I mean technically still be used but just not really how it was meant to be used lol