Is Astra tool some east coast machine tool emporium? If they think a Brown and Sharpe turret drill is worth a pile of money, they must be one step away from their very own goin' out of business auction.
Yes Don did turn me on to a cherry Omniversal. Thank you DON. But he did it reluctantly, waking me up in the wee hours of the morning to tell me it was closing in fifteen minutes, and how it was probably going to go too high for his tastes. Now I can't complain about an east coast phone call, but I shouldn't bid on equipment, without even having time to down a cup of coffee. I threw in a bid, that was too low, and crawled back into bed. After laying there for about two minutes, the fog lifted in my brain, and I was able to make it back onto the web site and put in a more realistic bid. The first bid I was third highest, the second bid I was high bidder.
I'm the proud owner of not one, but two Omniversals. Seems I like to own two of most machines, if they are really cool- like two Moore Precise rotary tables. I know Don, I shouldn't tease you so much.
I guess I could learn how to put pictures on this site, because I could take a picture of the mythical Brown and Sharpe Turret drill. I could also take a photo of the Brown and Sharpe Omniversal, but I don't think I should, cuz Don might get all teary eyed when he sees all the beautiful flaking on this like new machine.
For Metfabs information, the Brown and Sharpe Omniversal is a more robust version of the Deckel FP1. It's a pretty incredible machine, that can do some pretty bizarre things. Frankly I'm so busy doing production work, I've hardly used it. It cost Michigan State University $23,000.00 in 1954, so you can imagine what it would be today. That kind of money, would have bought two houses in San Francisco in the same year. The houses would have appreciated to a little over a million dollars, and the mill depreciated down to around three to six grand today. Hope it made some cool stuff. When I bought my first Omniversal, I thought it was the most universal mill I'd ever seen, and I held it in high esteem, like my 10EE's. But now it seems just a little bit too much of a weeny machine. Using it for production work, would be a travesty, but it would also be waste of time. Nothing beats a giant CIncinnati vertical mill for moving material. Just like the Deckels, an Omniversal has lots of capabilities, but in the real world how much can you use them.