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Storm Mfg. boring drill/machine info needed!

jimmysgarage

Cast Iron
Joined
Jul 22, 2008
Location
Portland Oregon
Hello all,

During a machinist tool sale today, I found a Storm Mfg. automotive cylinder boring machine. The gentleman said it was his Grandfathers (from the '30's) and he used it in his shop back then to bore cylinders in his auto shop. This unit is complete, and in working order. Needs to be cleaned but the only issue I see is the auto shut-off collar is broken.

I did a quick search on the internet but haven't found anything yet. Does anyone here have knowledge/info of these? I don't have much use for it but I am sure my friend would, if not just for a dust collector! :D

Any and all info is appreciated!!
Thanks!
JG
 
JG,

I also have a Storm Mfg. Machine that I bought at auction about 12 yrs. ago.
It came with a manual that has gone since gone missing from my collection .
There were drawings of a Model A Ford style of car in the booklet of perhaps 25 pages so I am assuming it would be of the same vintage as yours.
The booklet had a parts breakdown and the instructions on how to use the machine as well as suggestions for the garage owner for promoting the services he could perform with the machine.
My machine has no motor and is missing the cutter heads .
I’ll try and post some photos in a few days .
I think that I had lent my book to someone and then when I enquired about it they didn’t remember borrowing it or it may have slid down behind the shelf it was sitting on.
My worst fear is that it may have gotten trashed by someone who I hired to clean up in my shop who didn’t follow my instructions and I missed it when I rescued some of the other things from the trash .
I’ll keep looking since I was hoping to get mine fixed up so it could find a new home in a museum at some point.
The main part of my machine looks to have had very little use one of the cast pot metal gears had been broken and the pevious owner made a new one out of aluminum but never finished putting the machine back together .

The Machine I have was referred to as a “Stormizing “ machine in the literature.
The brass plate on mine says Storm Manufacturing Minneapolis Min. U.S.A.
Model S 8 No 4816 .
Mine has the shut off switch removed and it has been repaired before at some point .
If I have the part you are missing I can take some measurements and post the pictures when I get a chance so you can perhaps make another one .

I’ll work on getting some pictures posted as soon as I can .
Regards,
Jim
 
There is a whole "sub collecting" genre of period automotive tools that has arisen in recent years. This is particularly lead by the "KRW" line of Ford car tools KRW meaning K.R. Wilson. (There is a fair amount of information on the 'net.)

Likewise other early tools have garnered interest. Early battery chargers using heroic sized vacuum tube voltage regulators or diodes are primo collectable. Early axle jacks and babbit tools/reamers/scrapers ditto. This (these) "Storm" cylinder boring machines would be worthy to a Model A Ford man. (Ford spoken here although my machine shop capabilities includes cylinder boring using the machines at hand so I'm not in the market per se.)

Value wise though don't expect a windfall should you decide to sell. Completeness and operability are A#1 among people who collect and or use these things. "Plug & play" would be essential to a Model A user. And like brake lathes, there are a fair number of these out there - or at least the demand is fairly low. Most Model A folks concentrate on the finer points of their auto restoration - the things and mechanical attention they can't buy or trust purchased from others - and leave the mechanical basics to engine rebuilders (now about $1700 for a Model A short block - and that's on a standard run of the mill rebuild.)

Would be interested in pix, however.

Joe
 
Thanks!

Thanks for your help Jim and Joe....

I didn't have a chance to touch it today. I hope to clean it a bit this weekend and post a few pictures. It is in great condition, partly because it's covered with a nice layer of grease! It works fine, with the original motor, cord etc. The cutters look to be in usable condition, so if someone actually wanted to, it should bore a cylinder.. although I think at this point, I would keep it as a conversation piece and have the engine shop bore the block for me!! ;)

I had the intention of keeping it, as I used to be a collector of vintage Vespas, Whizzers and the like. I had NOS parts galore at one point and 25+ bicycles as well. But a few years back, I looked at all the dust these had collected. I ended up turning everything into several machines instead!! I actually had the same buyer call me back just a few weeks later asking me to describe what he had bought! :eek: Seems even though I explained EVERYTHING to him, the importance of all the NOS Whizzer parts...what parts go to which pre-war bike.. etc.... He was just overwhelmed and HAD to have it kind of guy. I heard he ended up selling most of the bicycles and parts...

Well, that was off-topic discussion! Anyway, I think I'll end up letting the boring machine go to someone that will enjoy it more than me. I'll do some more research to find the value..

Thanks again!!
Jimmy
 
Thanks Jimmy and Joe ,
I had looked for information too a while ago and didn’t find much .
I did some searches and found this link which doesn’t seem to be the same Storm Manufacturing
Storm Industries, Inc.
But they did have some of an old brass foundry that I found interesting .
Storm Historic Photos from 1940s
There is more information in these links
The Home Machinist! • View topic - Storm -Vulcan
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/v...n-engine-boring-bar-manual-needed-copy-76973/
and some photos of another one like mine here .
Storm boring bar - SmokStak
I tried to find a site for Storm-Vulcan that I think may have been the successor company who also made other automotive related machinery but it l couldn’t seem to find a good link so maybe that company has gone down recently too like so many others .
I am pleased to know that mine is not the only surviving example .
I have a lot of other more urgent projects to work on right now but I’ll try and see that mine goes to a good home when the time comes that I need to get rid of it .
Regards,
Jim
P.S.
Here are some pictures of what I have and Ill add some more
 

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Here are some more pictures .
The back side of the shut off switch ,
The crank handle to retract the cutter head .
It looks like the original gear that some one tried in vain to fix could have almost come off a lathe from that unmentionable company from Kalamazoo Mi.
There is a part # 414 cast into it .
 

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Sorry for the delay....

My apology for such a long delay in this reply....

Thanks for the links that were posted and pictures of your unit. Mine is the same, only it still has the original grease!! It appears that I am missing the retraction handle but that's about it. Plug it in and it runs....

I actually bought this for a car-guy friend but turns out, he didn't want it. I dont have much use for it besides collecting dust... I will try to get pictures soon and post them. If anyone has interest, please send me a PM.... I paid $250 for it (maybe too much?) looking to sell it for the same...


Thanks again,
JG
 
We had one exactly like the one you have. It had a detachable handwheel on top to run the bar up and down to get it into position. Also had two of the original cutter heads that went with it too. If you are interested in it, I can get ahold of the person that it was given to and see if he still has it.

Sorry no manual or any other information on it.

Ken
 
Ken & Jimmy,
Thanks for posting ,
While it would be nice to have a cutter head for mine I'm not in a position right now to invest a lot in buying and shipping a complete machine just to get the cutterheads.
I know they would be a lot of work to make.
Perhaps if I could find a single cutterhead some where for a low price I would consider buying it so my machine could be set up for demonstration .
I don't have alot invested in mine at this point and I have other projects with a higher priority.
Regards,
Jim
 
Good stuff! I have 2 old Storms, one like the one pictured and a slightly newer one. I've cast some new handles and guide pieces in aluminum. The newer one I have used. Glad to see I'm not the only "crazy one" I paid 200/250 probably 20 years ago for them, I have literature like parts list, even an ad somewhere. Had not even seen them till we did a little "spring cleaning" and my boy wanted to see how they worked. Ahhh this made my day!!!! tt:cheers:
 
I think you are correct that Storm Mfg became Storm Vulcan and they made automotive machine tools, notably head and block surfacing machines that used large grinding wheels, also crankshaft grinders. Don't know if they are still in business as the automotive engine rebuilding business has taken a real downturn because of many factors. Could not find any current information on them and their web page will not load.
 
Here are some scans from a 1926-7 W/O dealership catalog of authorized tools

SCAN0159.jpg

SCAN0160.jpg

Pm or email me thru the website if you would like a full sized scan. ;)tt
 
Last edited:
@ 1oldgoaly,
Sir, do you still have a scan available of the Storm boring bar?
I have a model S8 which needs to have the large gear replaced and also to be re assembled. My dad bought this machine in the early '80's and, while I was away from my shop, some friends decided to move the machine off the bench where it sat. One grabed the crank handle only to find, with disastrous results, the handle was not attatched.
I just started to look for a blow-up of this machine and this is one of the first item to come up from the search.
Thank you ahead of time. I continue my search.
 
Good thread with many pics on these at the Smokstak forums. Search forum for storm boring bar. These machines are no good as drive units for line boring or drilling machines since the feed rate is way too much per revolution. The cutter heads used on them have 6 bits, radial spaced, cutting at once so there is 6 times the feed used with typical single point cutting. Think of a 6 lead thread!
 
Stormizing book and CENTERFOLD

Thread Revival!!!

I've had one of the Storm S8 boring bars for a while and have been researching how to set it up and sharpen the cutters. Last week I purchased a "STORMIZING" book off an auction site and just finished making a PDF of it. Informative and has several pictures of the Storm S 8 boring bar mounted. It also discusses how to measure and sharpen the cutters. The sharpening jig would be nice to own but the chance of one of these showing up is mighty slim.

The book also shows other Storm products.

The sharpening procedure assures the uniform length of the 6 cutters and therefore prevents the threading of the bore.

John

Send me a PM with your email address and I will send you the 46 page PDF that is 7MB size. If anyone has other information such as a manual, I would appreciate a copy.

StormBookCover_zps3b1697e6.jpg


StormS8Centerfold_zpsea75dfe8.jpg


PIC00003-1.jpg
 
This is great news to me. I would like to have a copy especially the cut out as I have a Storm in a state of disassembly and no parts list or blow-up to assemble from. What little I do have is not too visible and hard to make out. The sight I see here is much clearer than any I have.
Would send PM but the apparent stroke I had two days ago must have actually happened as I can't find the PM button on this site!!!(panic!!) And I thought my warm weather wear cut blood flow to my hand to numb my hand. Somtin' new every day, it seems.
I have forgotten how to access PM!! Have I lost it? Or just can't see anymore?
 
Cool that is an oldie, looks like the older os the 2 bb I have. You probably have seen the scans I posted, I would also like a copy.
Does it have date on it? I doing a wild guess on my newer bb as 1933, based on the electric motor. The older one??? no data plate on motor.
 
Well, I figured out where PM is hidden but it tells me there is no one with your handle on this site! I was unable to send a request to you.
Anyway, should you come back and view this thread, I would like to see the info you have on the Storm machine.
I can be had through a PM on this site. My box is not full and I have gotten PM before.
Thanks for your time and consideration.
Krutch
Griffith Tool & Machine
 
I would like a copy too, as I have a Storm Boring machine. I will send a PM. Mine is a little different, as it is a Model FCSP, No. 39. I do not know if it is older or newer than the model S8?

Here is a picture of it and some of the accessories.

Storm Boring machine, model FCSP.jpg Storm Boring machine accessories.JPG
 








 
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