Lucas Horizontal Boring Mill: Installing Belts and Getting Under Power

[@gutsngorrrr]

The great thing about these old machines, is that they'll outlast most of the modern junk and still be here and usable in another 100 years, because of people like you keeping them going.

[@petergregory5286]

I’m not sure you are totally correct when talking about modern junk. If these old machines were so much better, why aren’t there a lot more being used still. Answer I guess is, too slow and too expensive. Modern machines can produce a wider range of products straight from CAD, into CAD/CAM cutting time and expense. All these machines have their place and time. Regards

[@justinl.3587]

Modern junk 🤣🤣🤣 I’m a fan of old machines, ran many of them including a 1934 G&L horizontal boring mill. But that machine isn’t going to make you any money in todays world like the “Modern junk” will.

[@maggs131]

@@petergregory5286 yea theres no comparison that a new machine that can do basically anything can outperform this old timer but that's not the point. This cast iron beauty will always work as intended and it's going to always be desirable. New equipment reaches obsolescence much faster and is rarely worth preserving

[@MikeBaxterABC]

4:02 .. Just an added note for any beginners online, the other job of interlock is best described as, if the power goes out for any reason, when it comes back on again, the motor will not restart, ... until someone pushes the go button .. very nice safety feature!!

[@tsmartin]

Also known as 3 wire control.

[@danielhoulihan7769]

"Nuances of running this machine"....Keith, that machine didn't even stop for a coffee at nuanced. It went full steam ahead right into complicated!! Amazing to see a 100 year old machine!

[@brianwilliams8361]

Hello Keith from South Wales UK.

[@VedranBucko]

What a cool machine! I'm not a machinist but I'm amazed by these all machines and I'm super glad there are people out there like Keith who restore them and extend their lives by another 100 years! Keep up the great work Keith!

[@bmdickey]

I like the Philmont Scout Ranch belt (shown between 19 and 20 minutes).

[@gregdobson6452]

I have been meaning to ask a question about Babbitt bearings . I have heard about White Metal Bearings that used to be used in car engines . Is Babbitt the same thing . It may be we just have a different name here in the UK . Love your work , people like you are so precious these days .

[@Rorschach1024]

yes, babbitt and white metal bearings are indeed the same.

[@billdoodson4232]

I like it "I went to the store and got 2 more belts". I used to be able to do that in the UK. In particular we used a company called BSL, our local branch seemed to have everything we needed, they knew what we wanted and used and kept it on the shelf. More than once I got the on call staff out at 2 or 3 in the morning, for a bearing or seal. They got taken over and are now called Brammer, the acountants took over; the local branches closed, closest one is 20 miles away, if you ring them up for something, "yes we have it in stock", but that turns out to be 150 miles away at a central warehouse. As much use as a chocolate teapot. Its all order online for next day delivery now, brilliant, except I have a line that costs £5,000 an hour in lost production stood for 12 hours. I've had to rob bearings off another working (but cheaper line) to keep the expensive one going. Glad I've retired from all that.

[@BROCKWOOD64]

SU Viscosity at 210 of 73 translates to a SUS at 100 of 600. According to the Van Norman chart that translates to about a 40 weight gearbox oil. GEARBOX OIL: Mobil DTE Heavy Medium. I don't pretend to know or understand what I wrote above. I included it to say that machines made even as late as the 1960s will list recommended lubricants in such a manner that they appear to be unavailable. Yet, Keith is not the only guy in the know to come to the same exact conclusion! Keith, you are my favorite professor!

[@silverbullet7434]

An apprentice would fill all oil cups everyday when that machine was used. They had great jobs in there first years. Great machine glad you saved her.

[@jjbode1]

Having your two day belt experience in one video is satisfying enough. Thanks for going under power and congrats for the plan to make it more precise.

[@tedmiles2110]

I think it is great to see another antique machine up and running!

[@tinkerersgarage2944]

"Good quality American machine" maybe we should think about that. Love what you do !!!

[@stephencase5160]

Watching this machine come to life has been one of the best parts of my day.

[@GeorgeWMays]

This machine appears to pat its head and rub its tummy at the same time. Thanks for the video. Always a treat.

[@darkhorsegarage9623]

Nice that the boring mill has a plug on a cord. That makes it portable.

[@141poolplayer]

That is an amazing machine. Looking forward to watching you operate it.

[@victoryfirst2878]

Boring mills are amazing machines. I operated them for thirty years. Such fond memories they bring me when I see one being used. Nice work Keith and please keep the great videos coming our way on KZbin. Peace VF

[@Paul-FrancisB]

Hi Keith from the UK

[@kejay74]

Hey Keith! Just a little tidbit from over 30+ years working with multi-groove belt driven equipment...IF at all possible, start with the belt on the smallest sheave on the drive and "walk" the belts onto the larger sheave. It will make life a LOT easier & fewer pinched fingers! Ken

[@t.d.mich.7064]

Nice old mill. I ran a 60's vintage Lucas 4" bar back in the mid-70s in a Die Cast Mold maker facility. Milled insert pockets in mold bases, some being 14" deep, and 20w x 36 lg. One pocket had 6000 lbs of steel taken out of it. Had to sharpen the sides of the 6" dia cutters about once a day using the tool and cutter grinder setup next to the Lucas. Good video!

[@bxb590]

You have the best toys. Be safe and make a belt guard. Take care Keith.

[@MikeBaxterABC]

5:11 I used the exact same model of comparator =10,000 times :) .. If I had the cash I'd buy it just to have one again :) Some measurements cannot be done any other way! .. These things do not get old .. it is a accurate as the day it was made!

[@ellieprice363]

Keith, thanks for getting back to work on this huge machine. Watching you restore a machine of this vintage is an education that very few of us would ever get otherwise. I believe I saw some nice bronze brazing on a part near the end of the video. Looking forward to watching this big boy do some heavy boring.

[@millomweb]

Yes, I spotted that repair too!

[@fernanjs]

Wow, that's a lot of oilers! Seems like a one-shot lubricator would be a nice addition

[@millomweb]

We only saw half of them - there was a load more on the upper part he lowered too !

[@jimgronning9605]

I use a Lucas 31 at the Southern California Railway Museum machine shop. It's a beautiful machine. The one we have has never been used for production machining. It's been in a tool room it's whole life. Instead of belts ours uses a heavy duty drive chain. We have to adjust it now and then. Thank You for the great videos!!!

[@floridaflywheelersantiquee7578]

Amazing machine

[@mossmonaco9061]

Hours of endless enjoyment - thank you Keith.

[@deanehill9730]

Nice to see an old precision machine back up and running. That will be a lot of fun getting to know what it can do. Thanks for the video.

[@francisroberts7333]

Happy to see this project under way.

[@mkegadgets4380]

Really looking forward to you making your first chips. Keep the videos rolling.

[@williamthrasher8540]

It is good seeing another old machine back in business.

[@jonshank9572]

Great to see these older machines being brought back. Great stuff!

[@bruceanderson9461]

Lots of levers to learn how to run this machine. Will watch with interest as you rebuild the spindle.

[@chamelius]

I can't wait to see it make chips

[@aner_bda]

What a beauty of an old machine. Good job it getting it back up and running.

[@jeremycable51]

Been looking forward to this series for awhile now just add onto my shop so I can find me one

[@wallbawden5511]

Keith that is one big machine love the rebuild can't weight to see it in action

[@craxd1]

HBM's are a very handy machine tool and are a must for big line boring or facing jobs. A bit of history: The idea for welding manipulators originates from the HBM, and the company I used to rep for in St. Louis built some large ones, up to a twenty-foot plus boom lift and stroke for the naval yards. They were used to weld submarine pressure hulls, etc.

[@bigalhudson]

Volume is all over the place Kieth. Just so you know 👍

[@michaelkoch2109]

This is a wonderful big toy for every big boy! I love it! Thanks for showing! Greetings from Dresden (Germany)!

[@michaellitzkow8123]

I recently restored a South Bend 13" lathe and tried to find a pair of matched belts. I didn't find them and ended up just buying two belts from the same company at the same time. My guess was exactly what you said - modern belts are made to tight enough tolerances that they are "matched" by default. It was great to hear your comments on the issue because I have occasionally wondered if I did the right thing there. The lathe runs smoothly, so I guess it's fine.

[@Cliff_Anderson]

Love your videos, Keith! Your old microphone was a lot less sensitive to your head position, as I'm sure other people have noted...the volume wavers quite a bit as you turn your head. I'm not complaining, just giving some feedback since you changed out a couple episodes ago. Keep up the good work!

[@piotrk6849]

What a great measuring microscope. I have not seen it for years

[@TrPrecisionMachining]

good resurrection keith

[@paulravitsky2898]

When we installed the taper lock pulley that way, we always installed the removal hardware at the same time because you may not have enough room to insert long enough hardware to push the pulley off the tapered bushing. Looks like in your case you'll have enough room.... Nice work!

[@glennstasse5698]

Can’t wait to see that machine work. Never seen one before.

[@bcbloc02]

Lots of Horizontal Boring Mill action on my channel. Heck Keith even has a video on his channel of using my HBM to machine the cylinder bores in the block on the steam stoker engine.

[@glennstasse5698]

@@bcbloc02 yeah, I watch your channel all the time, every video. But somehow I didn’t recognize your machine when looking at Keith’s. I’ll pay closer attention:-)

[@monadking2761]

What a mechanical marvel. It's has many levers to move so I guess there I going to a learning curve. Good luck with this machine. No software needed. Nice!

[@perstaunstrup3451]

From MacGyver and co.😎

[@andrewmantle7627]

Good show Mr. Rucker.

[@benhancock1408]

That new mic you're using now might be cheaper, but it kinda sucks. it sounds fine as long as you are talking toward it, but when you turn your head to the right, the voice volume really tapers off.

[@rsk4today]

The audio in this video is terrible.

[@KevinToppenberg]

I came here to say this. It is distracting when the volume changes depending on the direction of his head.

[@ddblairco]

nice to hear the gears meshing

[@mongomay1]

do not forget the setscrew for the QD bushing keyway.

[@TupperWallace]

What a great machine! All kinds of levers and twirling shafts, Lunkenheimer-style oilers, and lots of surfaces for future scraping! You could bore a cannon on that big bad boy!

[@PhilG999]

Morse QD hubs. Dodge Taper Locks work well too! And use matched belts (the match numbers are on them). We also sold a lot of multi groove belts too. One belt to rule them all! ;) ETA: Any particular reason you put the hub toward the motor instead of on the outside? We always designed systems (and our customers did too) with the hub outside to make it easier to get to. Particularly if there were other things around it that got in the way.

[@melshea2276]

Awesome, thanks for the update!👍

[@robertlevine2152]

That machine looks like the perfect "toy" for a young machinist or engineer to be to dream about. It is absolutely a gem. It is too bad you didn't have it available for machining the piece that had the close deep pockets you were having difficulties with. In one of your future videos I would appreciate it if you could explain what looks like a cardon shaft to the left of the head you were raising and lowering. On the video the shaft looks like it's at an angle, yet it still runs true through the machine. It is hard to visualize how it actually moves. One suggestion, replace the stop button with a red one. While I support keeping machines as close to original as possible it will be to easy to "lose" the button in an emergency. I enjoyed watching you getting your mill running. Bob

[@ericg7044]

That shaft looking like that is probably just a trick of the camera perspective. Maybe not but that seems like the easiest explanation.

[@millomweb]

His stop button is a red one ! You could spend a day lubricating that machine !

[@paulcopeland9035]

@@millomweb ....This video is practically x-rated for an old "oil meister" like your self. I can't count the number of his videos in that you have ranted about his lack of "lubrication skills".

[@millomweb]

@@paulcopeland9035 Had it been me, I would have oiled the vertical screw before lowering the head, he didn't !

[@haroldphipps3457]

@@millomweb , that you know of. You haters figure if Keith doesn't actually physically DO it on film, right in front of you, that he didn't do it. He does stuff off camera you know. He oiled what he did on camera just for YOU, and the others that don't understand how video works. It IS hilarious to watch you nit pickers come out of the wood work EVERY time. Amazing Keith doesn't utilize the BLOCK feature more!

[@georgewoodzell1315]

An excellent old machine, Keith! I'm pleased to see it in good, appreciative hands. When you have the time (!?) I'd enjoy seeing a tutorial on the machine's conitrols and operation. Keep up the great work!

[@steubens7]

hi keith! normalizing an audio clip with an impact gun in it will make the spoken audio very quiet, normally it's not so bad but it's nearly inaudible at 12:22, a compressor can knock down the peak loudness of the impact gun so normalizing doesn't kill the speech (there are better ways to do even that, but a compressor is quick, experiment)

[@notnowhoney1663]

Keith, your Sennheiser microphone seems to be highly directional. When you have it mounted on the left side of your apron AND you speak with your head turned to your right, the audio amplitude decreases. Amplitude increase is noticeable when you speak AND your head is turned to your left. Your RODE mike sounds omnidirectional. Excellent content, as usual. Thanks for sharing, Keith.

[@stephenoffiler8024]

I have to share a great trick for lubing. Mix your DTE about 75/25 with automatic transmission fluid. Two solid reasons: 1. it has some detergent to control grunge buildup; 2. it's RED! Makes it very easy to quickly confirm you've got lube where you want it. No downsides. It is gear lube after all and has extreme-pressure properties. I got this from my machine rebuilder who does real high_end work. His big grinder has a work envelope of 17 x 8 x 6 FEET.

[@biggreasies537]

I ran a #42 Lucas boring mill in my apprenticeship, nearly the same at the one portrayed in the video, it was WW-2 vintage and badly worn out, but the main thing I did not like was the interlocks on all the feed levers, done so that only one feed could be engaged at a time and the fact that one never knew for sure what direction it was going to feed when engaged; I later went on to run the two G&L 350T boring mills in the same shop, on them, the feed handles were moved in the direction desired to feed and the feed/rapid travel lever moved as desired, feed and rapid travel being in the same direction, unlike the Lucas where they are in opposite directions, the G&L machines are the best of all for simplicity of controls.

[@FastIsLife]

That's a very job specific machine. I have an Hendey engine lathe that I have been using for years. That was made on either side of 1900. It has an open flat leather drive belt that runs it. Also has sleeve bearings not ball bearings. I can hit my number.

[@williampugh6699]

What is going on with the Stoker motor?

[@robertbamford8266]

Impressive action. With the head up, that 4 spoke car-wheel-wrench adjustment wheel is just waiting for a head or shoulder to come in range!

[@kimber1958]

Beautiful machine I can’t wait to see it making some chips

[@CraigLYoung]

Thanks for sharing 👍

[@bid6413]

Congratulations! I look forward to seeing the next steps on the restoration. What a beast…

[@ricoramos9864]

Excellent Kieth...a very good teacher!

[@scgrant107]

The bolts go through the sheave into the threaded part on the taper lock. Makes accessing the bolts much easier.

[@SciPunk215]

I can't wait to see this thing in action.

[@stoneinthefield1]

So grateful for being able to watch and learn. Thank you for sharing your projects and knowledge.

[@jonbell7186]

what are you wanting for the optical comparator? 🧐

[@TonyUrryMakes]

Sent you an email about the comparator- great to see this old machine run.

[@procyonia3654]

I've got the model earlier than that, the 21 in my garage. Cool machine nice size

[@argee55]

Good to see it powered up! Looking forward to future videos..

[@jaycobie]

Cool machine! Looking forward to seeing more of it!

[@dfishpool7052]

Well done Keith, great to see the boring mill working, For your safety I hope that you're going to fit a belt guard - rather essential I think. Best wishes.

[@bulletproofpepper2]

Thanks for sharing! Great run.

[@timmienorrie]

Well done. Another machine functional.

[@PatrickPoet]

I was surprised in the other episode when you said you couldn't find the right pully for six belts so got the one for three. I expected you would just make it because I've seen you plenty of times make stuff harder to make than that when a part wasn't available.

[@Farm_fab]

Keith, I bought some lubers similar to the ones on this machine, but they have a flip top cap on them. They came on stationary air compressors made in Germany.

[@danbreyfogle8486]

What a huge machine, it is like it came out of some science fiction movie.

[@jobkneppers]

Keith, thank you for sharing as always. One question/suggestion; why didn't you slide the pulley all the way up to the motor? By doing so you end up with a more rigid result. It all seems quite beefy but I would minimize the bending of the shaft as much as possible. From here it looks like you have enough room to do so. The couplings wok great but they have one slight disadvantage; they move sideways when you torque the mounting bolts. Because of this I usually torque them halfway an tap the whole assembly to the right spot on the shaft and then torque them to spec's. Maybe this makes sense. All the best, Job

[@chrispfeffer1106]

Looking forward to seeing this one working.

[@fredclark4033]

Looking forward to seeing the machine making some parts.

[@jaybailey3518]

What a labor of love....

[@phillipjones3342]

Yes you need to re-familiarize yourself with the machine and show us how to make it work good job Keith thanks for sharing

[@josotw2534]

When the clutch is engaged the main pulley moves changing the belt alignment. You appeared to align the belt for the idle position.

[@justinduffey9237]

Thanks again

[@railfan439]

Keith, I know you have been playing with your microphones. The lavalier microphone is great, but when you turn your head away from it, the volume goes down. Keith Fenner clips his lav microphone to the bill of his cap. There are very lightweight mics that can clip to your glasses with a "tube" that runs down to the corner of your mouth. Check them out. I think NASA used them during the Apollo moon missions. Thanks for the video, and restoring the great American iron to like new. Hope to see you again at the Bar-Z. Jon

[@jpsimon206]

Really a beautiful machine visually. I love the forest of drip oilers All next to each other. I wonder why they did not have a common oil reservoir?

[@acme4786]

FYI, It's easier to start the screws attaching the tapered bushing to the drive pulley prior to sliding it on, saving your knuckles. I have the same exact tapered bushing for my 2x72 grinder drive wheel.

[@grampiangs515]

Are you going t use it on the stoker engine?

[@gus9675]

Volume modulates making it difficult to listen, hope you can fix this because really enjoy your videos! Thanks for making these videos…

[@anilmahabirsingh422]

Can you possibly use that machine to mill out what you have mill on the stoker engine case ???

[@mikecabe6127]

Thanks for the great videos Keith!!!!

[@elsdp-4560]

Thank you for sharing. Enjoyed.👍👀

[@kaulbachskave]

Audio consistency might be improved with different placement of your lavalier mic.

[@shamrock56gargan96]

Like the motor pulley system

[@kentuckytrapper780]

Great video Keith, keep'um coming..

[@WreckDiver99]

I'm watching this and chuckling to myself..."I wonder if they could fit just ONE MORE oil cup"...I get it, but it just looks funny....LOL....yep, simple things...