Drilling on the lathe

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jeff

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Dec 5, 2003
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Westlake, OH, USA.
I was walking through the shop where I work a few days ago and happened on this impressive drilling operation.

That's a 3 inch bit with a 5MT shank. I found the similarity to pen blank drilling amusing, thought you might too.

DrillingOnTheColchester.jpg
 
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sbwertz

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May 11, 2010
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Phoenix, AZ
A couple of years ago I bought a bunch of 4 jaw chucks from a local guy who had bought them in error and I gave them to my blind students. I went to pick them up and he gave me a tour of his shop. He had some REALLY big chucks in there...I'm talking feet, not inches. I forget what he was producing in his shop, but it was impressive to see those huge metal lathes.
 

jrista

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Aug 12, 2021
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Colorado
Look at them curly, curly shavings!! Lovely!! Love the little bit of smoke wafting up the top. Too bad the only coolant I can force into my pen blanks is air...
 

Woodchipper

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Mar 15, 2017
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Cleveland, TN
Seen that many times in machine shops. Re: Sharon's comment, one would be surprised that how big some manufacturing operations can be. I worked at a place that installed a 1200 ton press ( do the math) for fabricating commercial air conditioner panels . Assembled on site and had to cut a hole in the roof of a three story building to finish it. Whole building shook when it cycled.
One time, I represented a fastener company. They made a huge nut to secure the prop to a commercial ship. The nut had an I-beam welded to it. The nut was set in place and a pile driver was applied to alternate sides to turn the nut onto the prop shaft.
 

egnald

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Jun 9, 2017
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Columbus, Nebraska, USA
Wow, High Speed Steel, for $4k I would have at least expected it to be carbide tipped! - I wonder what the high speed really is when drilling a 3-inch hole. - Dave
 

jttheclockman

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Feb 22, 2005
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Location
NJ, USA.
I know this started out as comparison to what we do on a lathe but seems to evolved into other avenues as well. What always amazed me is the technology it takes to make things and the assembly lines worth of machines and robots cnc machines, water jets, lasers and so on. I got to work in many different plants over the years building and replacing things and have seen first hand some of this technology. Auto plants always amazed me. All these places are just a wonderment of how they work. Who thought of some of the things we see is just astonishing. I loved watching the show "How Was It Made" You see both sides of the spectrum, large tools and micro tools and what they can do.
 
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