US Army Milling Machine

[Cat Man]

Here's the latest edition to my military machine shop.

I traded a non military cable winch to a guy and I got this cute little horizontal milling machine. The small black data plate has been polished so much I can't read it but the margins looked like a military ID tag.

Found a picture of the machine in the Ord 3 SNL J-1 catalog "Machine Tools" dated 1955. It is a US Burke Number 4 horizontal mill. US military number 40-M-38. Great size for my small shop. The table is 24 Inches long. Very little wear. Not much tooling with it, but that makes the hunt more fun.

It goes nice with my WWII Ord marked CCKW shop van lathe. Matching gray paint. A good winter project to get it cleaned up and running.





Happy Holidays

Cat Man

[John V Cliche]

Ho Ho Ho looks like christmas came early

Cheers
John

[Bill_Wolf]

I agree...very nice.

More Toys for the "Man Palace"!!!!

[KEVINABR]

very nice indeed

[Cat Man]

And as my assistant driver pointed out,

It doesn't require gasoline, insurance, batteries, license plates or tires!

Wat a hobby!

CatMan

[John V Cliche]

And as my assistant driver pointed out,

It doesn't require gasoline, insurance, batteries, license plates or tires!

Wat a hobby!

CatMan

Jeff, sounds like your assistant driver is hinting at something

Cheers
John

[S p r u e o n e]

nice score on that horizontal mill.

How can you tell if a particular machine was used in the military?

I have an old belt driven (not leather belt) Atlas lathe. It's about a 6" x 30"

The color is a drab green/gray and looks like it's WWII era.

[Cat Man]

There is / are TM's and Ord Supply catalogs that identify the metal working power machines the military purchased. Post a photo and we'll look it up.

On my WWII Sheldon Lathe, stamped after the the serial number on the end of the ways is the US flaming bomb ordnance mark.

There is usually an extra data plate with the military model, but not always.

One other clue, some WWII machines from South Bend and others like Brown and Sharp sometimes have the words "War Time Finish" cast into the base on larger machines. This indicated that the castings were not the normal commercial finish but the makers didn't want civilian customers to get the idea that they were sacrificing quality. It meant "The Gov't made us do it to save time".

Cat Man

[S p r u e o n e]

good info, Cat Man

I'll post some pictures of my lathe by the end of the week here

[S p r u e o n e]

I couldn't find any "military looking" plates or badging. It's probably not from the military but from the same era. Please pay no attention to the dust and rust, I haven't turned anything on it in over a year




this badge is located on the front of the head stock




the quick change gear box is after market for this machine and was installed later by the previous owner. Also the ON/OFF 'toggle/throw' switch above it.


these casted and stamped numbers are behind the head stock area

[Cat Man]

Hey,

Sorry I missed it when you posted the photos. I did look it up and did not find the Atlas like this one in the Ord tool catalogs.

But a very nice unit. Perfect for the home shop.

Cat Man

[S p r u e o n e]

Haha that's cool. Thanks for looking it up though

EDIT: Yes, a home shop that it is in now (mine) But I tooled many mounting parts and components as well as installation tools while working for a museum's, Mounting DEPT.

[db45acp]

Hello group. New member here.

This reply is in response to Sprueone's posting of the photos of the Atlas lathe.
I realize several month have passed since, but hopefully I'll receive a reply on this subject.

I have the same lathe. It is an Atlas TH42 10" x 42" lathe.
That particular Quick Change Gearbox shown, is an aftermarket addition, originally manufactured and sold in the mid & late 1940's.

My lathe came with one as well, but I removed it in the process of restoring & rebuilding the lathe.
I am at the point of reassembling it and no longer have the photos I took of the outer gear arrangement, as I lost them in the crash of my hard drive awhile back.

My question is, do you have any photos of the assembly with the gear cover door open?
I'm tying to figure out the correct placement of the gears there so it runs properly.

I have also posted this inquiry to the Atlas Metalworking Machines group forum to which I belong, but no luck there, so far.
Drawings & reference to the gearbox and the limited information are available from a website in the UK,
( http://www.lathes.co.uk/westernaircraft/)

If Sprueone could contact me directly, I'd appreciate it.
My direct email address is (removed as per FAQ)

Thanks for any help that may be offered.
-Dan

[S p r u e o n e]

Hi db45acp,
I hoper you clicked the 'Notify me...' box so you get this message.
Yes, I can take pictures of mine as well as a few pages from the owner's manual that came with it if you need them.
Give me until the first half of next week to post pics. I'll take pictures this weekend.
I hope it's cool to do this in your thread, Cat Man

[S p r u e o n e]

Here you go . . .









. . . hope this helps

[36th Tom]

Nice Score on the Burke Mill. I used to work for the company that bought out the Burke Line. I think those mills were still offered in their catalog at the time (15 years ago). They may still have the ledgers that recorded the date and who the machines were shipped to. When I worked there there will still a guy who worked there during the War. I did see the ledger for Shauer Speed lathes for the war years. Very interesting to say the least. The D.C. Morrison Company is located in Covington Kentucky if you want to look them up.