"Modern" machines as collector's pieces.

TedinNorfolk · Jun 10, 2020

I have come across two machines I always rather fancied owning-both about 1960,s,and so relatively modern. They were top-drawer large machines;and the appeal is that they are almost unknown makers which makes them rare iron from new! The first is when I was in Letchworth-there was a beautiful slotting machine,made by Burdett Engineering of Peterborough. The other I used a lot was a 30" hydraulic shaper,made by Hobrough Bros. of Llanbradach. I have never seen or heard of another of these machines,or seen them advertised. I imagine they are in India now in some dusty lean-to.

Marty Feldman · Jun 11, 2020

I have not heard of either machine. Your post reminded me, however, that among the many bad decisions I have made was the decision to do nothing about my impulse, years ago, to buy a new VW Beetle, pack it in cosmolene, and just put it away.

-Marty-

jim rozen · Jun 11, 2020

Marty Feldman said:
I have not heard of either machine. Your post reminded me, however, that among the many bad decisions I have made was the decision to do nothing about my impulse, years ago, to buy a new VW Beetle, pack it in cosmolene, and just put it away.
-Marty-

You speak nonsense. That would be a Karman Ghia sir, instead!

gustafson · Jun 11, 2020

jim rozen said:
You speak nonsense. That would be a Karman Ghia sir, instead!

Nuh Uh

split window microbus, preferably 23 window

jim rozen · Jun 11, 2020

That's a LOT of cosmoline.

Tyrone Shoelaces · Jun 11, 2020

TedinNorfolk said:
I have come across two machines I always rather fancied owning-both about 1960,s,and so relatively modern. They were top-drawer large machines;and the appeal is that they are almost unknown makers which makes them rare iron from new! The first is when I was in Letchworth-there was a beautiful slotting machine,made by Burdett Engineering of Peterborough. The other I used a lot was a 30" hydraulic shaper,made by Hobrough Bros. of Llanbradach. I have never seen or heard of another of these machines,or seen them advertised. I imagine they are in India now in some dusty lean-to.

I worked at a place that had two slotters, one was a big " Butler " 21" stroke machine and the other one was a nice little " Burdett " slotter. Possibly about a 10" stroke. At one time somebody had done a really nice job of raising the column etc about 4" to give it more throat. It wasn't a factory modification. I'd say the machine was possibly a 1950's manufacture. Didn't " Burdett " get bought out by somebody ? Maybe the " Elliot " group.

Regards Tyrone.

thermite · Jun 11, 2020

jim rozen said:
You speak nonsense. That would be a Karman Ghia sir, instead!

Presuming you meant "Karmann"?

Agreed.

Having traveled several hundreds of miles in the "back seat" of a still new Karmann Ghia, "nonsense" set to metal, if ever was. Dreadful POS!

Been better off and FAR more comfortable in a Trabant or Wartburg.

Asquith · Jun 11, 2020

Tyrone - yes, Burdett were taken over by B. Elliott Co in 1966.

I've only encountered one Burdett machine, a fine-looking 1960s hydraulic surface grinder, which had seen very little use during its 40+ years in a maintenance workshop.

TheOldCar · Jun 11, 2020

Easy... You realize VW owners are required to wear skinny jeans and sport man buns, right?

gustafson · Jun 11, 2020

TheOldCar said:
Easy... You realize VW owners are required to wear skinny jeans and sport man buns, right?

No, those guys cannot afford a real VW anymore

Remember when every dad bought this daughter a bug cause the couldn't get into trouble? 36 horsepower and tiny backseat

thermite · Jun 11, 2020

TheOldCar said:
Easy... You realize VW owners are required to wear skinny jeans and sport man buns, right?

Huh. The "wisdom of the West".

Back in the day we were pop-riveting in salvaged baking sheets to cover holes rusted through the floor pan and sourcing replacement ball-bearings for the rusted ones at the front wheels from bicycle repair parts houses, I thought the owners just had to have no money and even less sense.

For example... take Jim and his Karman (sic) Ghia...

Nah. Forget it.

Too much to ask... besides.. Utah prolly has strict littering ordnances?

jim rozen · Jun 11, 2020

gustafson said:
No, those guys cannot afford a real VW anymore
Remember when every dad bought this daughter a bug cause the couldn't get into trouble? 36 horsepower and tiny backseat

LOL. I had a co-worker who swore he lost his cherry in an minicooper. One of the real, original minis. He said
the lady who owned it was quite interested in him, and while he was looking askance at the car, "She said to me,
I assure it, it can be done!"

And it was.

Tyrone Shoelaces · Jun 12, 2020

Asquith said:
Tyrone - yes, Burdett were taken over by B. Elliott Co in 1966.

I've only encountered one Burdett machine, a fine-looking 1960s hydraulic surface grinder, which had seen very little use during its 40+ years in a maintenance workshop.

I suspect the " Elliot " badged surface grinders they brought out in the 1960's may have been made by " Burdett ". I worked on one in the training school I attended the latter half of the 1960's. They were really nice machines but they had a facility were you could grind corner to corner as well as the usual long travel motion with an incremental cross travel step over. It was very disconcerting until you got used to it !

Regards Tyrone.

thermite · Jun 12, 2020

jim rozen said:
LOL. I had a co-worker who swore he lost his cherry in an minicooper. One of the real, original minis. He said
the lady who owned it was quite interested in him, and while he was looking askance at the car, "She said to me,
I assure it, it can be done!"

And it was.

Nice thing about the '59 TR3's bonnet was that it was WARM ...and even put a tad of spring under herazz. The first time.

And then it took-on a permanent dent .. that her GF's at the office delighted in teasing us about whenever they saw it.

TedinNorfolk · Jun 12, 2020

Interesting.... I wish id taken a picture of the Hobrough but at the time it was there at work every day. It got sold off without my knowledge,I would have put a good bid in had I known. I used it to block off some huge 316 stainless ingots-it just walked it where even the no.2 Parksons would have struggled.

TedinNorfolk · Jun 12, 2020

And you boys across the pond-peashooters and catapults away,please!

thermite · Jun 12, 2020

Tyrone Shoelaces said:
...they had a facility were you could grind corner to corner as well as the usual long travel motion with an incremental cross travel step over. It was very disconcerting until you got used to it !

CNC does wotever it's told to do, but I've not seen that "built in" on a manual(ish) SG.

Never had it, never missed it, but thinking back?

There have been times on thin work, it could have been handy. Most especially if yah could easily (semi)auto alternate the pattern and cross-hatch.

Tyrone Shoelaces · Jun 12, 2020

thermite said:
CNC does wotever it's told to do, but I've not seen that "built in" on a manual(ish) SG.

Never had it, never missed it, but thinking back?

There have been times on thin work, it could have been handy. Most especially if yah could easily (semi)auto alternate the pattern and cross-hatch.

I don't really know what the thinking was behind the idea but to see the table moving rapidly from corner to corner diagonally took some getting used to.

Regards Tyrone.

Tyrone Shoelaces · Jun 12, 2020

thermite said:
Presuming you meant "Karmann"?

Agreed.

Having traveled several hundreds of miles in the "back seat" of a still new Karmann Ghia, "nonsense" set to metal, if ever was. Dreadful POS!

Been better off and FAR more comfortable in a Trabant or Wartburg.

I used to work with a guy whose dad had a garage. We used to go working away at customers premises from time to time. One day he came to pick me up from my house in a " Wartburg " ! I don't know how many there were in the UK at that time but there couldn't have many. Another time when we were working locally one weekend he arrived at my house in a " Beach Buggy " ! You didn't get many of them in Manchester.

It was as a result of my pal's choice of transport that the company decided not to let guys use their own vehicles and get hire cars or vans instead.

As you have probably realised he was a real eccentric. He used to save up all his dosh to go on really crazy holidays. One year he went to Brazil with his wife and he got talking to a guy in a bar way up the Amazon. It turned out the guy owned a rubber factory and he was looking for an engineer to run the maintenance dept. My pal decided to take the job but his wife, who was a nursing sister in the NHS, came back to the UK. As far as I know he's still out there.

Regards Tyrone

Asquith · Jun 12, 2020

Criss-cross grinding. As Thermite said, good for thin work. Also has another claimed benefit. See:-

Burdett Surface Grinder Model 921

"Modern" machines as collector's pieces.

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