Gigantic Lathe, what was it For?

[Rhyolith]

Some really cool stuff here! Thank you people who posted the videos and photos! All really cool

I would estimate the lathe in my photo is just shy of 10 meters long, but that is an estimate so don't quote me on it I was wondering how much power would be needed to run a lathe like this? Obviously the material being turned would be very heavy, my guess is some thing like 40hp for the lathe in my photo.

 

[Bedrock]

Anyone seen or photographed what Rolls Royce aero engines use for turning these days?

 

[alphatec]

It is a big lathe but not the biggest I've seen.
Normally used in shipyard type work turning down prop shafts ect.

 

[Rhyolith]

I should have titled the thread "Who has seen the biggest Lathe?" ..... Who has seen the biggest lathe? :twisted:

 

[novocaine]

Anyone seen or photographed what Rolls Royce aero engines use for turning these days?

nothing special. the shaft isn't all that big even on the trent 900 the drive shaft is only circa 250mm OD and it's coupled at mod 2 and mod 3 so each part is only around 400mm long. other than the accuracy you could turn that on most myfords. lol

or do you mean the casing turning, in which case theres shots of it in this video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQlgK5QOu-4

vertical lathe, go figure.

 

[DTR]

Anyone seen or photographed what Rolls Royce aero engines use for turning these days?

nothing special.

On forums like this we often see phrases like "Who made the 'Rolls Royce' of xxxxxx?" Well, the Rolls Royce of lathes might just have been made by...... Rolls Royce!

http://www.lathes.co.uk/rolls-royce/

 

[novocaine]

very interesting DTR. I love the fact that they were built due to lack of precision in the existing watchmakers lathes (something I will own one day) yet these will have been built on one of those mentioned.

 

[DiscoStu]

What about this

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NazNomad]

My brain can't even comprehend the glue-up for that ... http://wwideas.com/2014/11/the-biggest-wooden-bowl/

Also, it's not technically a lathe, it's a tractor. :-D


If you get a catch with that, you'll end up somewhere near Jupiter. :-D

 

[Rhyolith]

Ok enough. This is apparently the biggest lathe in the world
http://www.industrytap.com/worlds-large ... sale/14280

That bowl would have made a pretty cool roof for a shed

 

[TFrench]

If you're ever in Llanberis with an hour or two to kill, the slate museum is very good - lots of very large chunks of old iron in the machine shop (including a suitably large lathe) all still powered by lineshafting from the water wheel. The pattern shop for the foundry is all still there as well, on a woody note!

 

[Racers]

I saw a massive one in a steelworks in Manchester that had a chuck on either end so it could be used as tow or one big one, they used it for big diesel crankshafts .
They also had a massive press the size of a three story building.

Pete

 

[timber]

If you're ever in Llanberis with an hour or two to kill, the slate museum is very good - lots of very large chunks of old iron in the machine shop (including a suitably large lathe) all still powered by lineshafting from the water wheel. The pattern shop for the foundry is all still there as well, on a woody note!

Talking of line shafts. I went to work on a farm in Lincs. and in the stack yard were two large cast gear wheels that drove the line shafting for winnowing ,chalf cutting ,pumping water from the well and also grinding and rolling the oats for the sheep and meal for the pigs.

The cast wheels were driven by a horse going round and round. It was not in use in 1950 but was when my brother went to the same farm in 1944/5
The horse according to my brother used to stop going round when it thought nobody was watching. ( It had sense !!)
Timber

 

[dickm]

Oh dear, memory lane again! A previous owner of the farm where I was born (in the 1940s) was either well ahead of his time, or well behind, as our barn machinery was driven by
a Pelton turbine using a stream from higher up the farm. Would be very fashionable now as an example of renewable energy, except that when we sold up, one of the first things
the new owner did was get electricity in and destroyed the turbine. There's progress for you!

 

[timber]

Oh dear, memory lane again! A previous owner of the farm where I was born (in the 1940s) was either well ahead of his time, or well behind, as our barn machinery was driven by
a Pelton turbine using a stream from higher up the farm. Would be very fashionable now as an example of renewable energy, except that when we sold up, one of the first things
the new owner did was get electricity in and destroyed the turbine. There's progress for you!

Memories, Memories!!!! that is all I have left, unless you count all the metal and wood work tools that I have to get rid of.
Timber

 

[TFrench]

Oh dear, memory lane again! A previous owner of the farm where I was born (in the 1940s) was either well ahead of his time, or well behind, as our barn machinery was driven by
a Pelton turbine using a stream from higher up the farm. Would be very fashionable now as an example of renewable energy, except that when we sold up, one of the first things
the new owner did was get electricity in and destroyed the turbine. There's progress for you!

The workshop in the slate mine is all driven by a pelton wheel, including the original gigantic wheel!