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New Tool Day: *HEAVILY* tricked out Mori MS850

Alberic

Cast Iron
Joined
Jan 15, 2011
Location
SF Bay
HI guys,

So, new (to me) tool day.
A 70's Mori MS850.
Which is cool, but it's all the extra tweaks on this machine that are the really interesting thing.

This particular machine came out of the personal shop of the guy who was the lead machinist for Hewlett-Packard back in the day. So it started out in good shape. And then he had his way with it. So it's now easily the most tricked out Mori on the planet.
And I got all his tooling with it. Even the custom made stuff.
Being an old school machinist, he put clocks on every axis this thing has, but no DRO. So I'm going to pull some of the clocks off, and add a DRO, but that's the only change. The wild thing is all the little tweaks he added. Like it now has a hand made thread kick-out, that works at least as fast as the Hardinge version. It pops out *lighting* fast. That's what all the aluminum widgetry on the front of the apron's all about. I haven't tested it yet, but I'd be willing to bet it repeats to within a thou.

It also came with what looked like just an aluminum bracket along the back of the headstock, for mounting the DRO it doesn't have. (yet) But there were a bunch of holes in it, of various sizes and shapes. Turns out, now that I have it home, and can dig into the tooling boxes (3 crates worth) that there were a whole collection of wrenches and other things that fit (perfectly) into each of those holes. Until I got into it, I couldn't figure out what the two slotted holes were for. Turns out one of them's for a file, and the other (look at how *that* was done) is for a 6" scale. Found the file and the scale. They fit perfectly. And *of course* the file is a lathe cut file.
On the tailstock is a little box on the back of the clamp that holds the tailstock clock. If you pull the cover off (pinned in place, natch.) you'll discover that it's a little holder for all the standard sized center drills. Right where you need them, and now you can't lose them.
The really trick part is hard to see: the cover's tapered. And the inside hole is too. And this was done on a manual machine. Because he could. Even sicker, the back end of the clock rod will push back through the area of the case, and would hit it...except that he drilled a perfectly located hole, sideways, through the cover, to clear the back of the clock rod.
The entire machine is full of little tweaks like that, and dear god, what the rest of his shop looks like beggars belief. If the gods of the scrounge are kind, I may end up with his surface grinder, which is also a work of art. If so, I'll post pictures.
Note the little brass bar for tweaking the vise jaws. Labeled as such, of course...

I've also included a couple of pictures of his bridgeport.
It has a chair.
He was a reasonably small man, from what I understand, and did a lot of very small parts.
So he built himself a chair onto his bridgeport.
Because he could.
That is a modification that deserves to be seen and shared.

I'm seldom rendered speechless by someone's skill, but this guy, dear lord. He even machined up little aluminum screw clamps to hold the spare jaws for the lathe chucks. Just so they wouldn't get lost or mixed up.... It just goes on, and on, and on like that.
Note the fitted drawers in his main Kennedy. I bought the little drawer full of DTI stuff, just to keep it together.

My point here isn't necessarily bragging (much) but mostly to show off all those tweaks, to share the ideas. Like the Bridgeport chair, or the tool tray that's machined to fit on top of the compound. How many of us have thought about making something like that, but never got around to it? God knows I've thought it, every time the drillbit I stashed on the compound rolls off into the chip pan. But I never did it. He did.

Raise a glass to them as came before.
Then go oil their gear.
Brian.
 

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More pix.
This is the drill holder on the tailstock.

I've always meant to do something like that, never got the time.

-Brian
 

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Here's the tool rack.
Note the slot for the scale.
Near as I can figure, he took a rectangle bar, milled a groove along it about 1" deep, then welded another bar on top of the first, with the welds at the end.
Turned the sandwich round for a press fit into the tool rack, then milled off the top of the (now round) billet, revealing the slot again.
All that, to hold a scale.

-Brian
 

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And last, but not least, the Bridgeport with the chair.
It's over at the local machine dealer's, so it's not quite ready for its closeup, but check out the chair.

-Brian
 

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Interesting, and I certainly like the Mori. But...also bordering on wanker-dom.

To get at those spot drills, you have to lift the cover, which disturbs the dial indicator? And that compound tool tray should be labelled a 'chip accumulator'.

I made a similar tool holder on my lathe...but mine accounts for the fact that chips will clog up a well-fitted hole and render the holder useless. His doesn't. It's the AR-15 vs. AK-47 argument.

That Bridgeport stool.....looks far too weak to actually hold a person, and I bet someone here could tell us mathematically how much force what 175lbs on the end of a 3 foot lever (is it 3x175lbs?).....that's a lotta force on the table column.
 
Congrats on those purchases. I bought some tooling from that estate - but just drooled over the Mori and the pristine condition of that Bridgeport.
 
Persoally, I'd much rather have indicators than a dro on a lathe. Fine on a mill but really don't like them for turning.


Why?

I was brought up new school, I've never had to make a tight tolerance part on a lathe without a DRO. Did have one DRO that was messed up, the actual feed was about 90% of the feed on the DRO, I made a few scrap parts before I figured that one out and just used the dials instead.
 
"He was a reasonably small man" doesn't mean a thing.

When you design a chair, you design it for (at least) an average-sized person. 175lbs is nothing. Even a cheapie ladder at home Depot will go 200lbs rating. And I hate to tell you, but 175lbs in today's USA is a reasonably small man.

But regardless, how fuckin small was he? Was this Tattoo's mill? Even if he weighed 120lbs, that's still a big bending moment. Look at that spindly arm....I doubt it would break under 120 lbs, but it sure wouldn't be very stable. Maybe he liked to bounce up and down while he made his tiny parts.
 
"He was a reasonably small man" doesn't mean a thing.

When you design a chair, you design it for (at least) an average-sized person.

Says you. So if I design a chair for myself (5'3, 140ish lbs), I need to make it big enough that someone Wheelieking's size can also sit in it? Even if I'm the only person who's ever conceivably going to sit in it?

You really need to go for a motorcycle ride, or catch a fish, or something, you're pretty wound up about somebody else's chair.
 
Two reasons ...

Indicator is down by the work, so your eyes don't have to travel as far and refocus (I like to watch the work, more than a readout). For better eyes, that maybe doesn't matter ...

More important, with dials you can see your kickoff points coming up. If you have to stop at .625, you see the hand coming up on that number and can even pre-pull on the handle a few thou ahead, so the apron stops at exactly .625 There's no prediction on digital numbers flashing past, unless you are feeding really slow.

In general, I like analog better than digital for any kind of gages (cars too).
 
I’d prefer not to be sat down at a machine tool, certainly not that close. I like to be able to get out of the way if things don’t go according to plan and the machine decides to throw things at me.

Regards Tyrone.
 
Ah, gotta love PM and it's legions of Grumpy Old Farts. :)

Somebody comes up with some pretty interesting custom bits for his machines, that apparently worked well for him and his machining style, and half the replies are, in effect, "that's stupid and I'd never use it!"

Where's the rolleyes smiley when you need it? :)

Doc.
 
I’d prefer not to be sat down at a machine tool, certainly not that close. I like to be able to get out of the way if things don’t go according to plan and the machine decides to throw things at me. Regards Tyrone.

You're pretty nimble if you can move anything more than your arms quick enough to get out of the way!
 
Two reasons ...

Indicator is down by the work, so your eyes don't have to travel as far and refocus (I like to watch the work, more than a readout). For better eyes, that maybe doesn't matter ...

More important, with dials you can see your kickoff points coming up. If you have to stop at .625, you see the hand coming up on that number and can even pre-pull on the handle a few thou ahead, so the apron stops at exactly .625 There's no prediction on digital numbers flashing past, unless you are feeding really slow.

In general, I like analog better than digital for any kind of gages (cars too).

Heidenhain DROs with graphics screens have a dial below the number that shows how far are you from the target

I've seen that feature on the first ones that came with LCD screens, still monochrome, doubtful that they removed it from the latter models...

I also recall seeing that on some Chinese units with graphical displays, but can't remember make/model right now

and I agree - watching 8 segment numbers isn't nearly as "tactile" as looking at dials, way faster, that being said - I dunno how people use those calipers with mechanical dial, it makes no sense to me when it is so easy to read the number... maybe its because in metric we have only 2 digits behind the comma in this context

edit: regarding OP, I think that chair mount is missing indicator mounts... how on Earth is one expected to set the height on the thing... :D
 
I’d prefer not to be sat down at a machine tool, certainly not that close. I like to be able to get out of the way if things don’t go according to plan and the machine decides to throw things at me.

Regards Tyrone.
If you spend days on that mill machining small mold cavities in inserts with little tools that chair will look really good. If your roughing I can see it being removed, and it looks like it would be easy. Interesting that it is a step pulley vs variable speed, I doubt it came to price. The step pulley heads are quieter.
 








 
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