"Ed Huntress" wrote in message
...
""PrecisionMachinisT"" wrote in message
...


These machine tools were in widespread use until as late as the mid
eighties, yet scant reference to them is to be found today--especially
on
the internet.

Yeah, they disappeared surprisingly fast. I've remarked before on the same
thing you've observed. I don't even know where they went.


When Certified Aerospace went belly up in the mid/ ( late ? ) eighties, a
little Chinaman came to the auction and bought about twenty five of them,
large converted planer mills with hydraulic tracers, and also some Wilsons
that had cnc (Tera) controls--ballscrews, electric servos, and the whole
bit.

He was representing the Chinese government. I sometimes refer to machinery
this size as "Mother Machines"...........With a little ingenuity, they can
be easily put to use in mass production of smaller machine tools---as such,
I was saddened to see them leave our soil.

--

SVL