Machine tool history question

"Steve R." wrote in news:457b52d6$1 @news.victoria.tc.ca:

The first screw cutting lathe was made by Besson in 1569.

Maudslay built the first all metal screw cutting lathe with a master screw. There were loads of metal lathes before Maudslay's, but not capable of single point threading. Before Maudslay, screws were cut on metal lathes by hand by skilled craftsman using hand held chasers.

In any case Maudslay's lathe was not automatic. That was Spencer's contribution. You could start it up and walk away and it would churn out precision parts without a skilled craftsman standing there.

On 10 Dec 2006 04:07:08 GMT, with neither quill nor qualm, D Murphy quickly quoth:

Danke mucho, monsieur.

Not specifically. There was a large section titled "Toolmaking Becomes a Business," which covered certain events of the period roughly from 1820 -

There were several discussions of precision machining, starting with watch- and clock-making.

The AM history was based on the development of the "American System" of manufacturing, which was distinct from what was going on in Europe at the time. It culminated in WWII, in which our high-volume production orientation out-produced the enemy.

-- Ed Huntress

The most important point that I got from that article was the the biggest problem was the lack of a tool material that was harder and tougher than the metal they were cutting. What took all day in the late seventeen hundreds, now takes about five minutes to do with todays technology.

John

Thanks Dan!

I found it at this link:

Oh, yeah, and that was true until T1 HSS was developed, shortly after 1900. Forged carbon- and alloy-steel tools were used for cutting tools through the first few decades of the last century, and they could only handle a maximum temperature of around 400 deg. F. HSS quickly got it up to 1000 deg. F. Then tungsten carbide came along, for another qualitative jump.

It all happened in a relatively short period of time.

-- Ed Huntress

Larry Jaques wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Here it is.

snipped-for-privacy@lycos.com wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@enews4.newsguy.com:

Thanks,

I've been busy today putting down some flooring. I finally finished the hardwood, now onto the tile.

The automatic responder told me the file was too baig and was deferred for manual input. Anyway, someone was on the ball and put it in. Thanks.

Don Wood is probably one of the most knowledgeable people on the planet when it comes to old machines, particularly automatics. Every month in his magazine there is a "What is it" contest, similar to the one Rob runs on his blog. Except it features one old machine and you have to guess what it is by maker and model.

What is the name of Don Wood's magazine? Where would I find it? Is there a web page? Is there a link to "Rob's" blog?

Automatic Machining.

-- Ed Huntress

I use a lot of cbn inserts. The first time I saw one of them cut a bearing race like butter and leave an 8 finish. I was impressed. What is even more impressive is when they run at 1100 ft /min and spray off white hot chips. The only problem is that I get a lot of sand and carbides in the castings and that stuff destroys the insert.

John

Yeah, they're impressive, and hard-milling and hard-turning are impressive. CBN has been a major factor in making hard-machining possible.

I have a warm spot in my heart for CBN, because I remember General Electric's press luncheon at which they announced the product (1978?). It was at the 21 Club in New York, and it was one hell of a lunch.

-- Ed Huntress

"Ed Huntress" wrote in news:jR3fh.4156$Ah6.18 @newsfe10.lga:

And

for Rob's blog.

Hey Ed, any idea how old Don is? I'm guessing late 80's.

It looks like Automatic Machining has had a recent redo to their web site. I didn't think it was possible, but they appear to have less content than before. Pretty soon it will be a single page with a phone number. Which is a shame, as Don has a treasure trove of photographs, machine manuals, job layouts, and history. It would be nice to see some of that posted on the web.

At least you used to be able to D/L the pdf in question from the old site.

Good food is always remembered. :)

Now, do you remember the main speaker?

GE made a lot of brides happy with the CBN

John

He must be. I haven't seen him for 20 years, and he was no youngster then.

I've always been amazed that Automatic Machining survived tha various shakeouts in the metalworking magazine marketplace. They're what's called a "splinter" magazine, with an exceedingly narrow focus, which limits their income. Still, if you have a following and if your costs are low, you can run such magazines at a profit. They just tend to be very vulnerable to small changes in the market.

I bought some advertising space from them when I was marketing manager at Wasino. It was good circulation for us, but there wasn't enough of it.

-- Ed Huntress

Jeez, no.

Hmm. There's some connection there that's going over my head. Can I have a hint?

-- Ed Huntress

Fake diamonds.

John

Do you mean there are clear CBN crystals? I always saw opaque black or brown, and they were polycrystalline.

But I've never looked into the non-tooling applications for cubic boron nitride. Can it be made clear?

(Are you sure you aren't thinking of cubic zirconia?)

-- Ed Huntress

Yup.... both made by GE. and both cubic :) I have some memory chips going bad.

John