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Great old post by a deceased member

Mr Bridgeport

Stainless
Joined
Nov 27, 2002
Location
Burlington, NJ
I've had a long absence from PM, still in the field but my hobby's had changed up some. With the recent purchased of a SB by a friend of mine I came back to this site to seek information.
I remembered how much I liked reading some of the post years ago and particularly by member JimK who has sadly passed away a number of years ago. So I decided to resurrect a post that some of you might like to read. Some of the contributing members are still with us but sadly some have passed on.

https://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/antique-machinery-and-history/heavy-duty-lathes-115875/

Between JimK, Joe Michaels and johnoder there were some great discussions that were very entertaining to read.

If I recall correctly, JimK worked at the National Bureau of Standards, almost blind he was never the less one hell of a machinist.

Mr Bridgeport
 
I really miss JimK. He was an amazing guy, having worked for decades in DC for the Mint, (at least, thats how I remember it) making parts for gigantic printing presses and whatever else broke, then, when he moved to rural West Virginia, he was in the right place at the right time to pick up a whole range of the very best of classic american machines at a reasonable price.
Most of those lathes he described are rarer than hen's teeth these days, and, if they turn up at a dealer, stripped of accessories and priced sky high.

He really knew his stuff.
 
I loved his posts, I had always planned to stop for a visit on one of my trips back home to D.C. but he passed before I got the chance. Damn!
 
I always thought it was at NIST, and I thought there was some earlier work
at Walter Reed.
 
I always thought it was at NIST, and I thought there was some earlier work
at Walter Reed.


Yes, it was NIST. After retiring from NIST he was somehow involved in printing press repair. I do remember that specifficaly. As I spent my first 20 working years of my life in printing plants. And as well, live 2 miles from the NIST Gaithersburg HQ. :D
 
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JimK was great and left the world too soon. He had some great threads poking fun at the Myford lathe crowd and the Deckel mill crowd. (He was a Van Norman mill-with-a-quill guy.)
 
Yep, he wrote well and I appreciated it. And I was flattered when he complimented me a couple of times. Of course I wish he was still here. Thanks for reminding us.
 
That thread, I read it every time it pops up.

A while back we, I think mainly Milland and I (talk about a duo, sheesh), had a push to help memorialize these great passed contributors by changing their status from 'Titanium' or 'Diamond' to 'Granite'.

I really wish that had been approved, contributors of that caliber deserve recognition.
 
That thread, I read it every time it pops up.

A while back we, I think mainly Milland and I (talk about a duo, sheesh), had a push to help memorialize these great passed contributors by changing their status from 'Titanium' or 'Diamond' to 'Granite'.

I really wish that had been approved, contributors of that caliber deserve recognition.

Maybe "GOLD"
 








 
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