Mill or Drill?

I can't find a nameplate on this thing. Everyone who works around it assumes it is a drill press, but nobody knows how to use it. The top of the motor must be nearly 8 feet off the floor. The motor is directly inline with the spindle, but apparently drives through an inline gearbox.
Can anyone help me to identify this machine?

Sort of says "jig borer" to me

Doesn't appear to be any X or Y table movement, so +1 for Drill press. Not one you'd likely find at Sears, though :-)

tdmidget said:

Sort of says "jig borer" to me

Click to expand...

+1

Could you post some more pictures?

Glenn

+1 on drill press. As others have already pointed out, jig borers have x and y axis movement for positioning. All the small jig borers I've seen do not have table movement in the z axis. Only the spindle moves up and down for positioning.

A drill press, a good one, maybe by Leland Gifford. "Jig Bore" has to have exacting positioning capabilities

A Jig Bore's daily bread is this "lets see how good they are" stunt pulled off in 1928 by Pratt & Whitney Machine.

It goes without saying that such requires the spindle quality and over all machine quality to be a few light years in advance of that found on a "drill press"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/johnoder/8PiecesofIron.jpg

This doesn't have a lot to do with the basic question of this thread, but relates to the article John just posted. Back in the 1970's I worked on a project at NASA's Langley Research Center that used 10 miniature hydraulic actuators to operate 10 flaps covering the entire trailing edge of a 10' long swept wing wind tunnel model. It was related to active controls for aircraft that are routinely used these days, like gust load alleviation, etc. The actuators were made in one shop and the wing was machined to accept the actuators in another shop across the street. The 2 locating pins for each actuator had .0001" clearance intended to accurately locate everything. The shop in which the actuators were made was temperature controlled, and the mating holes were put into the wing on a huge, beautiful jig boring machine like in the picture in John's article, located in it's own room controlled to the same temperature as the other shop. The jig borer originally had the trays that used precision length rods to position the work, but had digital readouts added. When the final machining of the parts was completed, the actuators fit perfectly onto the wing. I was always impressed with the precision those two shops, machines, and skilled machinists could produce. So the article in John's post was no exaggeration, and in fact twice the accuracy it quoted was routinely possible on the beautiful jig borer Langley had.

Irby

Nice heavy duty drill press. Watched an old toolmaker place an entire 36" square (approx.) mold on one similar to add a couple of holes without disassembling the mold. (additional water lines I think)

johnoder said:

A drill press, a good one, maybe by Leland Gifford. "Jig Bore" has to have exacting positioning capabilities

A Jig Bore's daily bread is this "lets see how good they are" stunt pulled off in 1928 by Pratt & Whitney Machine.

It goes without saying that such requires the spindle quality and over all machine quality to be a few light years in advance of that found on a "drill press"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v337/johnoder/8PiecesofIron.jpg

Click to expand...

Fucking Detroit....

Quill design looks very close to our Fosdick M.T. 'Sensitive' drill press.

It looks half of the Leland Gifford dual head we had in one shop I worked at. If you look you can adjust the table in Z as well as the head. A word of caution, block the head up with wood or something before loosening the adjustment lock! After you loosen it you can grab the handle and lower or raise the head then lock it into place.

some major similarities with an Alfred Herbert drill press
Photo Index - Alfred Herbert Ltd. - V-Type | VintageMachinery.org

I've got an older line shaft version.
Olaf

From what I can see or guess at in the picture, I think what you are calling an inline gear box is probably the feedworks gear box. It looks to me like it has a drum switch to give various speeds electrically. Does look Leland-Gifford style to me too.

Definitely a Leland Gifford drill press. Back gear plus four speed motor gives eight spindle speeds and power down will have about four feed ranges.

Model is likely "3MS"

You might find a heart shaped badge and serial# on front of column just above the table.

Thanks for all the replies! I like the idea of a drum switch better than a gearbox. Actually, I can see it better in the picture than I could standing under it. The lighting is poor, access is cramped, and there is no heat where it is stored. The 16 x 54 Pacemaker at the other end of the room is why I was there, but I took a few minutes to ponder this machine.

svs said:

You might find a heart shaped badge and serial# on front of column just above the table.

Click to expand...

There is a spot that looks like a badge or nameplate has been removed.

I had a gang drill (I forget the make) with four similar drill heads mounted to a single table. The drill capacity was only 3/8" in steel as determined by the lowest available spindle speed, but they were beautiful machines to use. I probably should have cannibalized one of the heads when I moved.

Anyhow, sliding head drill press, the entire quill and feed assembly can be moved up and down on the column to keep the set up nice and rigid.