I have just purchased a kearns s type horizontal borer . I am a novice machinest and know very little about this type of machine. can anyone tell me all about them ? what are their good points and bad . this machine has a faceing chuck with no quill , why is this so . it has no tooling ,and I guess I will have to make what I need ,any ideas , where do I start.
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kearns s type horizontal borer
- Thread starter my turn
- Start date
- Replies 6
- Views 6,528
That sounds abnormal for it to not have a quill but to have a facing Slide.
You start by checking over all the ways/table for excessive wear.
Figure out what type of spindle taper it has.
Kearns was a good maker of Hor bores. If your lucky Tyrone Shoelaces will show up in this thread with some information, hes very knowledgeable about the euro-hor-bore manufactures.
Chances are your going to need a solid foundation for it.
You start by checking over all the ways/table for excessive wear.
Figure out what type of spindle taper it has.
Kearns was a good maker of Hor bores. If your lucky Tyrone Shoelaces will show up in this thread with some information, hes very knowledgeable about the euro-hor-bore manufactures.
Chances are your going to need a solid foundation for it.
PDW
Diamond
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2006
- Location
- Australia (Hobart)
Welcome to the forum - I have a Kearns OA type myself.
This question would be better in the antique machinery & history sub-forum which is where most of the horizontal boring machine people hang out.
However I do know that Kearns made those S types in 2 models, with boring head and with quill. They weren't made with both, unlike the bigger ones. You have the - IMO - more desirable variant, I've always regarded them as a gem of a small machine.
Right now I don't believe that you actually own one, though, because there are no photos. No pictures, didn't happen is the rule.
Also you need to update your personal details to show a location - look at my & others' posts, you will see our location shows in the top right corner. This is a forum-wide rule, there are no exceptions, and you should read *and follow* all the guidelines in the 'sticky' threads at the start of this General sub-forum. Your life here will be much smoother if you do.
PDW
This question would be better in the antique machinery & history sub-forum which is where most of the horizontal boring machine people hang out.
However I do know that Kearns made those S types in 2 models, with boring head and with quill. They weren't made with both, unlike the bigger ones. You have the - IMO - more desirable variant, I've always regarded them as a gem of a small machine.
Right now I don't believe that you actually own one, though, because there are no photos. No pictures, didn't happen is the rule.
Also you need to update your personal details to show a location - look at my & others' posts, you will see our location shows in the top right corner. This is a forum-wide rule, there are no exceptions, and you should read *and follow* all the guidelines in the 'sticky' threads at the start of this General sub-forum. Your life here will be much smoother if you do.
PDW
sable
Titanium
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2013
- Location
- midlands,UK
The facing head ones are by far the most common model, I don't know much about them really but have always fancied having one ,I am looking forward to seeing some pictures ,especially of it in use ,I think the toolholders are a kind of block with a hole in it for the tool so not too difficult to make if you have a lathe.
A good picture of one in use can be seen in the DSG factory tour on Tony's site.
Dean, Smith & Grace Factory Tour
A good picture of one in use can be seen in the DSG factory tour on Tony's site.
Dean, Smith & Grace Factory Tour
Tyrone Shoelaces
Diamond
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2006
- Location
- Manchester, England
Just got back from a visit away. The " Kearns " type S. Designed by the chief draughtsman at " Kearns", Curtis Sparks hence the type " S ". It was produced to take advantage of the boom in engineering training schools and engineering colleges that occurred in the late 1950's early 1960's in the UK.
I've only ever really seen them either in that educational environment or in small tool rooms. I'm amazed to see DSG using them in a real production situation.
They were designed around machining a 12" cube with a weight of around 500 lbs table loading. The revolving table is very handy but it must come complete with the squaring latch. These are quite small and easily lost in transit. The standard machine only came with a built in facing slide, there is NO travelling spindle. You'll need to mount a tool holder or drill socket on the facing slide to do any boring, drilling, reaming etc. the top speed is around the 500 rpm mark I think.
If my memory is still ok I think there's a device on the facing slide to centralise the slide quickly.
Optional extras were an outboard support for line boring, infinitely variable feeds, vernier scales, coolant etc.
You could also get an " optometric " machine with a built in optical positioning system for the travels and 360 degree scale for angular setting of the revolving table.
The machine will weigh approx 1.5 tons. They were pretty straightforward machines to operate. From a maintenance point of view the only real draw back is that the main spindle motor is mounted inside the main base. If you get problems with that you'll have to lift the whole machine to get at the motor.
Later on they tried to modernise the machine. It came with a non traversing 40's Int spindle with a draw-bar mechanism instead of the facing slide. Top speed for the spindle was around the 2,000 rpm mark. The spindle speeds were infinitely variable as were all the feeds. They used " Kopp " variators to achieve this. If you've ever used any of these variators you'll know they are extremely prone to operator abuse.
Later still they brought out a NC version of the spindle only machine with a Airmec-AEI numerical control. How many of these later machines were sold is open to question. I've never seen any of them in the field. On the other hand at one time the standard " S " types were everywhere.
That's it really. Normally I'm a big advocate of the correct methods of installation but these machines are pretty self contained and can be used without too much of a foundation if you are inclined to skimp on installation costs.
I'd be delighted to answer any other queries you may have if I can remember the details. It must be 15 years since I last worked on an " S " type.
Regards Tyrone.
I've only ever really seen them either in that educational environment or in small tool rooms. I'm amazed to see DSG using them in a real production situation.
They were designed around machining a 12" cube with a weight of around 500 lbs table loading. The revolving table is very handy but it must come complete with the squaring latch. These are quite small and easily lost in transit. The standard machine only came with a built in facing slide, there is NO travelling spindle. You'll need to mount a tool holder or drill socket on the facing slide to do any boring, drilling, reaming etc. the top speed is around the 500 rpm mark I think.
If my memory is still ok I think there's a device on the facing slide to centralise the slide quickly.
Optional extras were an outboard support for line boring, infinitely variable feeds, vernier scales, coolant etc.
You could also get an " optometric " machine with a built in optical positioning system for the travels and 360 degree scale for angular setting of the revolving table.
The machine will weigh approx 1.5 tons. They were pretty straightforward machines to operate. From a maintenance point of view the only real draw back is that the main spindle motor is mounted inside the main base. If you get problems with that you'll have to lift the whole machine to get at the motor.
Later on they tried to modernise the machine. It came with a non traversing 40's Int spindle with a draw-bar mechanism instead of the facing slide. Top speed for the spindle was around the 2,000 rpm mark. The spindle speeds were infinitely variable as were all the feeds. They used " Kopp " variators to achieve this. If you've ever used any of these variators you'll know they are extremely prone to operator abuse.
Later still they brought out a NC version of the spindle only machine with a Airmec-AEI numerical control. How many of these later machines were sold is open to question. I've never seen any of them in the field. On the other hand at one time the standard " S " types were everywhere.
That's it really. Normally I'm a big advocate of the correct methods of installation but these machines are pretty self contained and can be used without too much of a foundation if you are inclined to skimp on installation costs.
I'd be delighted to answer any other queries you may have if I can remember the details. It must be 15 years since I last worked on an " S " type.
Regards Tyrone.
Last edited:
gregormarwick
Diamond
- Joined
- Feb 7, 2007
- Location
- Aberdeen, UK
I have one of these in the shop, lovely little machine but of limited utility TBH. We are a CNC shop and it's one of only three manuals in here.
Ours was the optimetric version that Tyrone mentions above. I say was because I tore it off and fitted a DRO instead.
The integral facing head model suffers from extremely slow top spindle speed (~500rpm) which severely hampers the use of modern tools. There is indeed a small wedge to centre the slide. Similarly the table feeds are extremely slow for milling cutters, but fine for it's intended purpose.
I fitted ours with a capto spindle block for quick tool changes.
Despite the downsides, ours gets used all the time and everyone likes using it.
rolfengine
Plastic
- Joined
- May 15, 2017
kearns s type
hi all I am new to this site, and just dropped on this thread regarding this machine yes they are a great little machine limited yes but with a great history, I had the privilege of serving my time for a small family firm specializing in machine tool refurbishment, the two owners were ex employs of kearns one of them named peter brooks joined in the mid fifties , he went on to become a supervisor , he was old school but a great engineer he gave me my start in life , we specialized in horizontal borer overhauls total strip down regrind beds replace saddle faces and the like , you mention mr Curtis sparks I had the privilege of meeting him in the early seventies , he was at that time chief designer at kearns but going into semi retirement he designed most of the early kearns machine they had a range called the D range d2 d3 d5 they would come in different forms with outriggers these were known as the wide beds. in my time working for them It took me into a lot of large manufacturing companies using some seriously large machines, mr sparks produced the first cnc type machine it functioned like a fair organ using punched out paper with holes in this machine is in a museum in salford Manchester UK , sadly mr brooks died in the early 90s at the age of 64 a sad lose, so as you can see kearns has a soft spot in my life they are still out there along with Richards bores who kearns amalgamated with to become kearns Richards then in the seventies staveleys took them over. as you may gather I have a little work shop and yes I have a S type optimeric it takes me back to my youth with fond memories kind regards all a. markert.
hi all I am new to this site, and just dropped on this thread regarding this machine yes they are a great little machine limited yes but with a great history, I had the privilege of serving my time for a small family firm specializing in machine tool refurbishment, the two owners were ex employs of kearns one of them named peter brooks joined in the mid fifties , he went on to become a supervisor , he was old school but a great engineer he gave me my start in life , we specialized in horizontal borer overhauls total strip down regrind beds replace saddle faces and the like , you mention mr Curtis sparks I had the privilege of meeting him in the early seventies , he was at that time chief designer at kearns but going into semi retirement he designed most of the early kearns machine they had a range called the D range d2 d3 d5 they would come in different forms with outriggers these were known as the wide beds. in my time working for them It took me into a lot of large manufacturing companies using some seriously large machines, mr sparks produced the first cnc type machine it functioned like a fair organ using punched out paper with holes in this machine is in a museum in salford Manchester UK , sadly mr brooks died in the early 90s at the age of 64 a sad lose, so as you can see kearns has a soft spot in my life they are still out there along with Richards bores who kearns amalgamated with to become kearns Richards then in the seventies staveleys took them over. as you may gather I have a little work shop and yes I have a S type optimeric it takes me back to my youth with fond memories kind regards all a. markert.
