OF the topic - what is the worlds largest lathe down to the smallest

[Geof]

In was down in Boston for a few days and took a trip out to MIT where I found the picture on a wall.

It is a lathe at a shipyard near Boston (a long time ago), a vertical lathe, and it is big. The caption said it was milling (?) the turntable for a gun which probably means the turntable is maybe 30 feet in diameter. Other pictures taken around the same time, notice the July 1912 date, showed a ship that was identified as the USS Dakota under construction. I did some Googling and found that the USS North Dakota was built 1907, the USS Dakota was in service during WW2 and the USS South Dakota was built ???

I guess it could be the USS Dakota. And I will bet that at least one person out of the 60 or 70 thousand members on this forum had a Grandfather or Great Grandfather that served on the USS Dakota.


EDIT

I Googled some more and found this:

USS North Dakota (BB-29), a Delaware-class battleship, was the first ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the U.S. state of North Dakota. Her keel was laid down 16 December 1907 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 10 November 1908 sponsored by Miss Mary Benton, and commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 11 April 1910 with Commander Charles P. Plunkett in command.

If the keel was laid in December 1907 working on the upper deck level armament in July 1912 is possible so maybe it is the USS North Dakota.

[alexccmeister]

I just love those small miniature mill and lathe. Any more pics of those?

[bigbunny5]

that little palm lathe is cool
Got to have one

[tobyaxis]

Originally Posted by Geof In was down in Boston for a few days and took a trip out to MIT where I found the picture on a wall. It is a lathe at a shipyard near Boston (a long time ago), a vertical lathe, and it is big. The caption said it was milling (?) the turntable for a gun which probably means the turntable is maybe 30 feet in diameter. Other pictures taken around the same time, notice the July 1912 date, showed a ship that was identified as the USS Dakota under construction. I did some Googling and found that the USS North Dakota was built 1907, the USS Dakota was in service during WW2 and the USS South Dakota was built ??? I guess it could be the USS Dakota. And I will bet that at least one person out of the 60 or 70 thousand members on this forum had a Grandfather or Great Grandfather that served on the USS Dakota. EDIT I Googled some more and found this: USS North Dakota (BB-29), a Delaware-class battleship, was the first ship of the United States Navy named in honor of the U.S. state of North Dakota. Her keel was laid down 16 December 1907 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 10 November 1908 sponsored by Miss Mary Benton, and commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 11 April 1910 with Commander Charles P. Plunkett in command. If the keel was laid in December 1907 working on the upper deck level armament in July 1912 is possible so maybe it is the USS North Dakota.

Geof,

Have you found any new information on this lathe?

[Geof]

Originally Posted by tobyaxis Geof, Have you found any new information on this lathe?

No. I didn't know where to look. It was a series of pictures about shipyards in the Boston area around the turn of the previous century. I was intrigued because if you look at the picture it looks almost as if the lathe was built in position. The turntable being machined is certainly much bigger than the thing was designed for.

There where a few other pictures showing the shipyards but over all I was a bit disappointed, this was MIT and they describe a lathe as 'milling'.

One thing it reminded me of was the "Bull Of The Wood" books. Have you seen them? Well worth getting here are a couple of links.

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...,46100&p=46711

http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/bibli...894572610:6.50

[tobyaxis]

Originally Posted by Geof There where a few other pictures showing the shipyards but over all I was a bit disappointed, this was MIT and they describe a lathe as 'milling'. One thing it reminded me of was the "Bull Of The Wood" books. Have you seen them? Well worth getting here are a couple of links. http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...,46100&p=46711 http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/bibli...894572610:6.50

Thanks for these Links, I'm sure to buy a few of these to read through for laughs.

As for the MIT Blunder. I once got into an arguement with an engineer about the Proper Application of a CNC Mill and not using it for a Lathe Application. In that situation the risk of someone getting hurt was very high so I had to use the trump card. I won't in good conscience do something that could possibly injure an employee or myself. If that is what you want done, you do it on your own.

Some of these guys are real winners LOL. As a side note he ended up with a few stitches that day and I told you so

Education isn't everything

Thanks Geof!!!

[FPV_GTp]

Some big bore CNC lathes

http://www.wardcnc.com/stock_semi_cn...horizontal.php

Ward seems to have disappeared out of the machinery market , I had a few wards but none of the big boys. Ward was a English(GB) made machine.

here are few links that give information on ward lathes

http://www.oldengine.org/members/die...d/machine1.htm

Ward Capstan Lathes - No.16C Combination Turret Lathe http://www.oldengine.org/members/diesel/Ward/ward14.htm

Into the larger stuff, the No.16C Combination Lathe had all the features of the smaller turret lathes, but now a much higher centre height of 19" and a capacity though the headstock of 8½". The gearbox was all roller and ball bearing construction, and covered bed slides were standard. Hydraulic clutch operation and powered traverses (cross slide and both saddles) assisted the operator, together with 16 speeds in either direction from the gearbox

If anyone has any information on the Ward Lathes just post it here and any links.

cheers

[RICHARD ZASTROW]

Geof, Next time you visit Milwaukee, WI, see if you can get into the Falk machine shop.

One of their vertical boring mills swings 50 feet. We (Siemens at the time) had a 30 ft. swing, Falk a 24 ft. swing, both had 16 ft. swing machines and more down to less than 8 ft.

Many more were here in Milwaukee. Bucyrus-Erie (now Bucyrus Int.) Harnischveger (Joy Global) Allis Chalmers (bankrupt).

Now much of those "heavies" are in asia building their infrastructure.

Dick Z

[juergenwt]

Check out this site:http://www.waldrich-siegen.de/us/prod0000.html

[n0legs]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and to be honest I stumbled on the site by accident whilst researching another subject.

Not wishing to be boring I've read the whole of this topic and found it incredibly interesting. Also noticing the last post date of 2008 I hope no one minds me bringing this topic back up.
I have one question-
These big lathes, anyone know how they were built ?
If these are the biggest lathes in the world, how big were the machines their components were made on ?
It's a bit of a "chicken and egg" question but I've got to know.

[Geof]

Not really a chicken and egg question because lathes, or at least most of their component parts are not made on lathes but are made on things like milling machines, planers and grinders.

[n0legs]

Originally Posted by Geof Not really a chicken and egg question because lathes, or at least most of their component parts are not made on lathes but are made on things like milling machines, planers and grinders.

Hi Geof, thank you for your answer.
Regards n0legs.