Rebuild of my 1871, 10 ft swing, Niles Boring Machine

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I purchased a 10 foot diameter boring mill as it was in the process of being scrapped out. The scrappers had cut most of the shafts. I gave them $5000 for the pieces. It took me 18 months and $30,000 to make it new. We finally established an age on this machine tool. It left Hamilton, Ohio on April 17th, 1871. Can you imagine anything coming out of China today being used productively after 139 years. This wonderful, old machine tool has given us the capacity to rapidly rehabilitate our Indian River HEP. With a 10 foot swing, it is one of the few machines of its capacity left in the northeast today!!! Attached is a link to a Picasa web album detailing my trials and tribulations:http://frenchriverland.com/rebuildin...oring_mill.htm
Reply:Ready for another 140 years. Good save. I've been to your site a few times. You guys do some cool stuff.
Reply:I agree going through all those photos was quite interesting. Would like to see a short video of the machine in action if you ever get the chance.Harold MulderMiller 211 AutosetHTP 201 Invertig with water coolerHardinge Cataract Quick Change Lathe
Reply:Yup me too. Lots of sweat equity in that one!
Reply:I'm moving this thread to the "Projects" section.It needs to be seen by more members!!Awesome job.http://all-a-cart.comWelding Cart Kits and accessories
Reply:that thing is awesome nice job i love old machinery350P 30A spool gun cut master 51  syncro 250 other stuff " take a dog off the street and make him prosper and he will not bite you sad the same cannot be said for man" i didnt use punctuation just to piss you off
Reply:Fantastic work, you are to be commended for taking on a job like that, there are few individuals with the skills to pull that off.  Thanks for sharing!  It would have been fun to see the casting of those pieces in the late 1800's, not to mention the machinery to machine the parts.
Reply:There went about 2 hours of my evening. That was very cool. Very nice work restoring that and it's really cool that it was photographed.Thanks for that. I enjoyed it.You get what you put in and people get what they deserve...
Reply:Very impressive, and to think this machine was being cut up for scrap when acquired.  Talk about a close shave, now it's going to be a working machine again, awesome."The reason we are here is that we are not all there"SA 200Idealarc TM 300 300MM 200MM 25130a SpoolgunPrecision Tig 375Invertec V350 ProSC-32 CS 12 Wire FeederOxweld/Purox O/AArcAirHypertherm Powermax 85LN25
Reply:Very cool stuff there!Are you in Ma?  I think I recognized a building there.Thanks for posting it!Buy American, or don't whine when you end up on the bread line.
Reply:Pretty awesome project .Would really like to see a video of that bad boy in action !!
Reply:An absolutely fantastic job!!  Glad to see you saved that baby from the scrapyard!  Getting to be fewer and fewer of the old machines, let alone the big ones, left.  With the demise of manufacturing in the U.S., they are becoming useless relics as time goes by.  You should see about registering that as an historical landmark (only half kidding).Only one question. Not trying to rain on your parade, but isn't that more accurately called a VTL (vertical turret lathe)?"The man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the State, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government."  Teddy RooseveltAmerican by birth, Union by choice!  Boilermakers # 60America is a Union.
Reply:Excellent work!It's real nice to see that machine saved.It's a shame anytime antique machinery goes extinct.keep it up.Brian LeonardAppalachian Ironworks L.L.C.434 Long Branch Rd, Marshall, NC 28753828 649 9966828 702 [email protected]
Reply:Hey Guys:Thanks for the great comments!!!!! So far we have machined two hydraulic turbine runners, two throat rings, two shift rings and two crown covers for our Indian River Hydraulic turbines. The "VTL" lol started making noises. We pulled up the turn table and found the threaded rod tensioning bolts that hold the giant upper cast iron bearing in place had backed out and fallen down into the drip pan. We had to wade through all that heavy grease to find them. We cleaned up the threads, reinstalled them with Locktite, lowered the table back down and went back into action!!!  How did you like the way we re-installed the runners on the turbine shaft? I new how to do the first one with the runner stub being pressed flush with the end. It was my wonderful friends who suggested putting the I-beams across the top of the dumpster to allow room for the other end of the shaft to go down through the runner and stick out into the bottom of the dumpster!!! They are great guys!!! I am off today to do snow removal operations. If I have any extra time, I will try to get the runners and shaft back into the pressure casing.