Machining A Big Part for the Mark Twain Zephyr Train - Heavy Milling on the Horizontal Boring Mill

[@mikeking7470]

Torch slag is a pretty effective snow removal method. Really liked the final result.

[@MWL4466]

I love these gravy jobs. Never get them enough at work. BUT, big jobs often mean a big mess. Start shovelling 😅

[@morg52]

Interesting to see one of these in action. I helped my High School shop teacher, Mr. Eugene Pose make a double ended fly cutter like this. I wish kids these days had metal shop, it was one of my favorite classes. Gosh, must be fifty years ago now.

[@georgetarabini6552]

Impressive, nice set up, nice op

[@mdlanor5414]

Now that’s a PILE OF CHIPS, also excellent finish

[@jasongreene303]

I'm back watching this again because, trains lol. Isn't it time for an addition to house a shaper? A BIG shaper! That wold have been the perfect machine for this job and possibly easier to set up.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

I would love a large planer. But the HBM was very well equipped fot he job. I do have a shaper, but it is a basketcase and really needs to be replaced.

[@danbreyfogle8486]

I am not sure what the piece will actually do but I enjoyed watching the modification.

[@bulletproofpepper2]

Holy smokes! Thanks for sharing.

[@65cj55]

Awesome, those Chips were coming out like hot Brass from a Machine Gun..

[@pauljaworski9386]

Josh, Trains, I love em but I don't know a lot about how they work. But, the HBM's, THat I know something about. Ran many types in the 70ies & 80ies. Including a Lucus. :-) Great stuff

[@alandawson2813]

Wowzers that's impressive. From kiwi land

[@Jeremy-iv9bc]

Damn that is one hell of a chunk of steel.

[@StuartsShed]

That was FREAKING great!

[@jeffmcgrath2202]

My wife and I drove through Spooner the other day nice little town By The Way…I was wondering what was going on with the passenger cars on the siding outside town . I got my answer now.

[@alanpecherer5705]

Wowwww. Pretty remarkable to work on such an historically notable and beautiful train! Do you think the chips generated carving away 3" of steel 1/8" at a time paid for the electrical power to run that beast of a mill? I will have to peruse some of the other YTs on this train being refurbed. They were quite handsome trains.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

More than paid for the power consumed.

[@anthonyrivers8395]

Beautiful. Your shop made tool is a work of art.

[@alanm3438]

Holy smokes, that sure was not sheet metal. That was a lot of milling but you came up with a plan and got the job done. I made a program and cut a part today and it works just fine. Thanks for the video.

[@ValiRossi]

Wow, that is a big job.

[@kevinmcguire3715]

I am wondering if that flycutter was your only choice of cutter. Wack, Wack ,Wack go the bearings.

[@aaronbaird3533]

Nothing like making due with what's on hand. Good job for a planer or big vertical lathe.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Man, I wish I had both of those. Would have been great for this job. Thanks for watching.

[@BradleyWilliams-to2oc]

Now That's "" HEAVY METAL"" Removal !! LOL'S +The Music Take Care B Safe 🇨🇦

[@wendell454]

Josh, I love your machining videos, I'm a welder slash machinist, if you don't mind I can give you some pointers on cutting thick plate like that with smooth cuts, if you don't have a #6 tip I'll send you one but a 6 tip and pull the torch towards you it's easier to be steady that way, let me know if you need that tip. Also I'm in the process of purchasing a #5 Lucas boring machine I can't wait.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Thanks. I have since upped my selection of tips. Now having the copy torch, it was needed.

[@dikvandersar6267]

Very nice to see this. How many toolbits did you need to take away this 75mm? 100 flame cutting by hand is not so easy and can be better done outside in the winter.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

The 3" of removed material took 8 corners on the sandvik inserts.

[@hacc220able]

Thanks for sharing

[@mrspencerls]

That's impressive

[@randydeboer832]

Great job Josh You always talk about how long it takes to set up a job to do the repair. for me the longest part is the clean up after the job is done. Happy New Year!! PS Manuel machining is my fav.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

I always forget to factor clean up into the price. That job, I remembered. Lol. Thanks for watching.

[@bazookamoose7224]

Mr. Topper, this is an insane video lol.

[@bluehornet6752]

GREAT finish on that thing. That fly cutter did a really nice job!

[@davidtaylor5394]

hi guy...dont know a blessed thing about machining or machine shops but ove your site and your presentation style. Subscribed and learning tons of great stuff...keep up great work

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Welcome aboard!

[@jaygee9249]

There no substitute for brute power machine tools. Nice work

[@keiththomas6723]

Next time use a 6 ins diameter large multi tiped cutter, saves all the knocking.

[@jepsdog3859]

I ran couple of these old Lucas mills back in the 1970s , it was always a pain with the controls on this side when face milling or fly cutting, yea needed to button up yer shirt tight around your neck to keep those darn hot chips out . Was nice when I got in the Giddings &Lewis mill and worked on the other side.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

I prefer the Lucas over the others. They all feel backwards to me.

[@BruceBoschek]

Wow! Heavy metal. I'm just going back and looking at some of these earlier videos I didn't get a chance to see. Thanks for sharing.

[@MarkRichardson-i7c]

That makes for a lot of shoveling.... Those are good cuts, .008 at .125 What a pile of chips.

[@petegraham1458]

Wow!

[@RichardThompson-gc1cf]

Mr topper not able to send saw mill pictures not smart enough my husk is all metal lots room for spliter leave bottom raw ill go from there no hurry thanks for all your help. Your u tube is great best ones out there thanks

[@jerrywallis8825]

Good way to melt snow

[@jonkzak]

Thanks for sharing. Merry Christmas to you and yours...

[@swanvalleymachineshop]

I think you just set the record for the largest pile of chips in one go ! Nice job . Hey i hope all goes well as well can go for Christmas , Cheers .

[@TopperMachineLLC]

This was a small pile for me. I did a job very similar a few years back that was 3800lbs total removal. That was a rush job too. Hired an unemployed friend to hang out and keep me awake. Worked 72 hours, took a 4 hour nap then another 48 to finish. Merry Christmas

[@geckoproductions4128]

Love watching that big iron work

[@OldIronMachineWorks]

One heck of a job Josh. Not many smaller shops would even take on a job like that. Wishing you and you family a Merry Christmas. Gary

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Thanks Gary. I take on a lot of weird stuff. It's what keeps us small shops viable.erry Christmas

[@tttco]

Great video thanks for posting

[@ypaulbrown]

and here I thought Brian Block was doing some big stuff down in Kentucky...........amazing the finish you are getting......well done Sir,,,,,,Paul

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Brion does some really cool big stuff. I enjoy his content. The longer I'm in business, the bigger the parts have gotten, and I really like it. Thanks for watching.

[@WaynJul]

I took metal shop back in high school in 1975. I still have the tiny tack hammer I made. Nothing as elaborate as what your doing. Fun to watch you work. Use a hand held tachometer.

[@adamstripp39]

That was impressive nice surface finish

[@mftmachining]

One hell of a job and very nice finish.

[@bostedtap8399]

Some serious gogging there josh, great work. Bet that warmed the shop up Thanks for sharing and stay safe all over Christmas.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

I was nice and warm. Lol. Merry Christmas.

[@GardenTractorBoy]

That is a serious milling job. I could not believe how much chips you made. Great job and great video. Merry Christmas!

[@stovepipe666]

nice job on that and looks a super finish thanks for posting

[@MitchEllis-e4y]

Man at the dwarf to cleanup

[@VetvsWorld]

I know virtually nothing regarding machining. However, I find your content incredibly interesting. I am now wondering that perhaps I do need a metal lathe. Haha! Keep up the great work!

[@dermotkelly2971]

Keep up the good work and happy new year my friend

[@glennmoreland6457]

What a great video...!! 🇬🇧🙂

[@TheMetalButcher]

Great video man! Cool job.

[@d6joe]

Heavy metal fun!

[@millomweb]

9:43 Can you get industrial Roombas ?

[@MidEngineering]

Just WOW !!

[@dennythomas8887]

Nice work. Looks like you have enough chips and end cuts there to recycle and pay your power bill for the month. lol. I subbed just to see what other crazy jobs you do.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

I get alot of crazy stuff. Lol. Thanks for watching.

[@hilltopmachineworks2131]

Wow living in Wisconsin is tough. You have to shovel snow and metal chips. LOL!

[@TopperMachineLLC]

It's quite miserable here. I just brought in a bunch of repair work, that needs the snow melted off before I can start. UGH!

[@hilltopmachineworks2131]

@@TopperMachineLLC Ironically we have been unseasonably warm. it has been high 50's and low 60's here. Last year at this time we had snow.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

@@hilltopmachineworks2131 we got nailed with a foot of s**w last night. Spent 2 hours plowing out the yard. Had to plow a trail to the boiler, couldn't even walk to it.

[@laurence1643]

WOW !!!!!!!!

[@RalfyCustoms]

Happy Christmas Josh, thanks for sharing the videos this past year buddy, have a great one and best wishes for the new year

[@donanything6816]

OMG!!! 🤠👍

[@kentuckytrapper780]

Damn man that is a pile of chips, the old machinery is alsome, does what it was made for, metal hog.lol... Great video Josh, keep'um coming

[@ypaulbrown]

Merry Christmas Josh, just discovered your channel...that is some very serious cutting.....cheers from Orlando Florida,Paul......

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Thanks Paul. Merry Christmas to you as well. Glad you found my channel.

[@RichardThompson-gc1cf]

What a great piece of work. Merry christmas happy new year

[@michaelcarpenter7835]

Wow

[@Jameson4327]

Sir if may ask could you have used a shaper?

[@MotoRestoFL]

I ran a big Bullard HoBo early 80’s, I don’t recall ever fly cutting but I used to face mill and line bore stuff that big regularly. It was maybe a slightly larger machine with a tailstock. I was 19-20 at the time. Cheers.

[@tiredoldmechanic1791]

Still catching up on your videos. That was a big project.

[@DigvijayEngineers]

which insert are you using in this... and tool design i facing issue in this

[@candicebeebe6688]

That's super cool. No way to start with a smaller piece of material ??

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Unfortunately not, customer wanted me to mill this instead of start over

[@danhoag373]

You said the wife is upset with you?? If mine wasn't, one of us would be very ill great job dan

[@TheAruruu]

I feel like you could really do with some kind of chip shroud. Something like those flap doors, two strips, that can be attached onto your gantry crane. they won't impede the bed's movement, and won't prevent you getting to shut-offs should something go horribly wrong, but will definitely keep those chips a bit better contained.

[@MurlWatne-io2bo]

Why not a shaper for this work?

[@captcarlos]

Nice job there. Sub'd.

[@araofmadisoncasey4247]

kinda surprised there is not a chip catcher to minimize the cleanup time

[@mikep1085]

That looks like a great machine... but it throws chips all over the shop! lol Do you recycle all of the metal chips?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

All get sent in for recycling

[@charlesparent1379]

How much weight did you lose start to finish?

[@grahamsengineering.2532]

Hey Josh, beautiful finish with the single point. Just curious why you didn't use a high rake insert cutter say 6" diameter to rip it down.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

This fly cutter works great, my face mills are significantly smaller, and I didn't have enough inserts to make it through. With all the torch cut places that for milled, I would have gone through inserts like crazy.

[@Dan-qp1el]

Are you running SINO DRO's?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Machine DRO out of UK. Magnetic scales. Been super reliable.

[@paulalmquist5683]

I'm no machinist so asking from ignorance: Would cutting off a slab with a big band saw (assuming you had one) then finishing with your machine been a feasible way to do the job? Also, do all the chips get recycled?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Sure it would. Anything you can do to remove a large chunk first is always a good idea. But, a saw that size isn't available around here. Yes, chips get recycled. Thanks for watching

[@MyLilMule]

Wow. That was nuts. LOL. How long did the entire operation take and how many inserts did you go through?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

It took a while. Only burned up 5 inserts in total. Which is far less than I would have with a face mill.

[@cluideman]

Hello Josh,just wondering would it have been possible to cut the ring off and weld it back onto a plate ?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Not what the customer wanted done. I suggested cutting off the bolster and side bearings and putting on a new plate, but the customer has the final say.

[@johndonlan5956]

Josh, I wonder if using a large face Mill with ceramic inserts might have worked a little better? You could run it dry, and you could ramp up the RPMs all the way to the top speed..... Which would allow you to increase your feed rate as well. Did you have to do any boring or finish off the exterior side walls at all?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

If I had a face mill, yes. I have since acquired a 10" and a tool holder for the 6 Morse Taper.

[@johndonlan5956]

@@TopperMachineLLC That's terrific. You can do a lot more efficient machining with that.

[@marcosmota1094]

When you need a snow shovel for chips!

[@Deathswitch669]

What song is the metal music?

[@jd3497]

Why aren't you using a large face mill, the HBM certainly has the power to swing a large cutter and take a deeper DOC.?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Because I don't have one. I've been looking for a good used 12", but all of them are obsolete inserts. Keep looking I guess or wind up building one. Either way, this kind of job is extremely rare. I've only done this 4-5 times in 10 years.

[@deakin2880]

one question. why was it nec to mill to 1"?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

To drop the coupler height and set proper clearances.

[@millomweb]

Do you need the spindle running to use the rapids ?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

No, I just shift te head to neutral.

[@millomweb]

@@TopperMachineLLC So the rapids ARE driven by the spindle motor. Thinking about this, I think I knew this - LOL. Rapids on mine are driven by a motor in the knee. Feeds are driven by the spindle motor and feeds are reversible - and if that's done, After a power feed cut, using the rapids lever only, I can return to the start ready for the next pass !

[@TopperMachineLLC]

@@millomweb this mill uses one motor for all. I can shift the head to neutral and still have my feeds and rapids. I know it's a little confusing, but I don't know how else to explain it.

[@millomweb]

@@TopperMachineLLC IIRC, you can declutch the spindle drive and still use the rapids (but possibly not the feeds!) As long as the motor's running.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

@@millomweb there is no clutch on this machine for spindle. Only electric clutches for feeds and rapids.

[@matiaspiles6763]

Podrías subtitular en castellano porque es muy interesante

[@Nightowl_IT]

You might want something to measure the revolutions of your machine to make a new plaque so you always know how fast the machine is. I think they cost around 50 bucks.

[@ccrider5398]

You need an apprentice to shovel all those chips!

[@RolandElliottFirstG]

Plenty of hot chips.

[@jasonhall3729]

Seriously you could plow ¼ deep at .030/rev feed with an 8 toothed cutter

[@TopperMachineLLC]

When the tooling isn't available, you do what you need to do the job. I have since acquired a 10" face mill.

[@jasonhall3729]

@@TopperMachineLLC thats insane. Theres no shortage of face mills down here hope you got paid by the pound of chips lol

[@TopperMachineLLC]

@@jasonhall3729 problem was more to do with locating a 6 Morse Taper holder.

[@superdupergrover9857]

So I've been wondering. What exactly does Uncle Sam not like whats being recorded regarding trains?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

It's not what they don't like. They like it, because they can use it as evidence for fining. If they see a violation, no matter what it is, they now have hard proof.

[@superdupergrover9857]

@@TopperMachineLLC Ok. So there are regulations on the manufacture and repair of train equipment, I presume? I just have a hard time believe you'd ever run afoul of any such regs, given how you loathe shortcuts. Then again, there's no requirement for laws to make sense, is there?

[@TopperMachineLLC]

@@superdupergrover9857 you've never dealt with the FRA. They make the German SS look good.

[@אוריינקוביץ-ש8צ]

I'm not sure a flying cutting tool with just one blade is the most effective.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

It's not,but it's what I had at the time. I have since picked up a 10" face mill

[@number40Fan]

Not sure why you didn't give me a call. We could have thrown that slab up on my HF bandsaw and saved you a few hours of work. 😄

[@rbrown264]

hot chips

[@chrisstephens6673]

I know you have to use what you have but man there has to be a better way.🤔

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Sure, there is always a better way. But when they want the job yesterday and are willing to pay for it, you knock it out the quickest way you can come up with.

[@chrisstephens6673]

@@TopperMachineLLC 100%

[@ronaldchurch6356]

Had to be cheaper ordering a new 1 inch piece.

[@TopperMachineLLC]

Not what the customer wanted. You have to do what they want or not do it at all.