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Metalworking (rec.crafts.metalworking) Discuss various aspects of working with metal, such as machining, welding, metal joining, screwing, casting, hardening/tempering, blacksmithing/forging, spinning and hammer work, sheet metal work. |
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#1
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Twin cities
I'm going there from Sep. 14 t0 21.for a reunion. Can anyone tell me
about places or events within a radius of about 200 mi. that would be interesting to someone who's into machinery, machining, etc? I'm familiar with the science and railroad museums. Thanx, Engineman. |
#2
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Twin cities
There's a really great apple orchard about 50 miles west VBG
Have you been to the RR museum in Duluth? Taconite mines. North Shore of Lake Superior. Most beautiful place on earth. Ford used to have tour of their assembly plant, may be shut down. go see the used equipment jockeys in Hopkins, several other places. See a Twins game. If you got big bucks, buy a scalp ticket to a Wild game. Go fishing on Mille Laks lake. There's launches to just rent a ride. They're killing 'em but hard to get around the slot limit. Visit the Indians (casino) and give them your hard earned money. Take a drive on Hiway 61 south of the Twin Cities. karl |
#3
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Twin cities
One more. Go shopping all day at Mall of America. (I'd rather clean out a
sewer) Karl |
#4
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Twin cities
Mid Continent Railway Museum - www.midcontinent.org
North Freedom, WI This is near Wisconsin Dells - Circus World museum is also nearby. Lake Superior Railway Museum - www.lsrm.org Duluth, MN There is also the Northshore Inline Marathon from Two Harbors to Duluth on the morning of the 15th. www.northshoreinline.com This is the largest inline skating race in the US with the top pro teams from around the world. The finish line is next to their Omni Theater, not far from the Lake Superior Railway Museum. St. Croix Railroad Inc. - www.stcroixrr.org Hudson, WI Large scale model club on 9 acres. AxMan Surplus - www.ax-man.com St. Paul, MN the St Paul store has more mechanical stuff than the others. Not as much as it used to. They used to have large amounts of electronic test equipment but that has mostly disappeared. Mall of America Bloomington, MN The amusement park in it has two rollercoasters. Has more interesting stores than other malls, because it has more stores. I-35W Bridge Collapse site Minneapolis, MN The 10th Ave / Cedar Ave bridge has a new bike/walk/spectating lane that has a great view of the work being done. The parking ramp behind the Holiday Inn Metrodome is within a short walk. There is also Town Hall Brewery (brew pub) next door, that has very good beer and very good food. The Stone Arch bridge (Great Northern, converted to walking bridge) just up the river has a great view of the lock, dam, and falls on the Mississippi. In the same area, there is the Mill City Museum (www.millcitymuseum.org/) with information about flour milling in Minneapolis and the Mill Ruins Park that has various displays about the mills that were at the dam. The Gutherie Theater has public viewing areas with great views of the Mississippi. -- Bill Fuhrmann wrote in message ups.com... I'm going there from Sep. 14 t0 21.for a reunion. Can anyone tell me about places or events within a radius of about 200 mi. that would be interesting to someone who's into machinery, machining, etc? I'm familiar with the science and railroad museums. Thanx, Engineman. |
#6
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Twin cities
On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 15:53:39 -0500, Karl Townsend wrote:
There's a really great apple orchard about 50 miles west VBG Have you been to the RR museum in Duluth? Taconite mines. North Shore of Lake Superior. Most beautiful place on earth. Ford used to have tour of their assembly plant, may be shut down. go see the used equipment jockeys in Hopkins, several other places. See a Twins game. If you got big bucks, buy a scalp ticket to a Wild game. No, no, no! It's Vikings season! And Green Bay isn't that far, I don't know if it's less than 200 mi., but it's less than a day's drive. :-) Go fishing on Mille Laks lake. There's launches to just rent a ride. They're killing 'em but hard to get around the slot limit. Visit the Indians (casino) and give them your hard earned money. Take a drive on Hiway 61 south of the Twin Cities. Isn't that the one that goes through St. Peter, and into the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant? I have relatives in the Mankato area. The Hormel plant is in Austin, a few hours' drive, but I don't know if they still have tours - I went on one about 50 years ago, and it was fascinating, if a bit smelly. ;-) But at least you can see where they make the "real" Spam. ;-) Have Fun! Rich |
#7
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Twin cities
On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 17:50:46 -0500, B Fuhrmann wrote:
The Stone Arch bridge (Great Northern, converted to walking bridge) just up the river has a great view of the lock, dam, and falls on the Mississippi. This reminds me - anecdote Once, a few years ago, I was watching the locks a few miles downstream of downtown, and as I watched them line up the boats and pump the water out, (or just let it flow out), I guesstimated distances (well, there were big numbers "50 100 150 200" and so on painted alongside the length of the lock, which I took to be feet), and did some calculations in my head, and came up with something like 6,000,000 gallons of water that they move in about two minutes. After watching the boats go through the lock (there was even a rowboat in there along with a couple of river yachts), I walked through the visitor center, and they have a placard, where they run the numbers, and the lock moves 6,000,000 gallons of water when it does its thing. I was way too proud of myself for getting the number dead nuts by a visual estimate. ;-D /anecdote Speaking of the Mississippi, Lake Itasca is only a few hours away; you can literally walk across the Missippi river on stepping stones! And it's absolutely gorgeous country, especially this time of year. Cheers! Rich |
#8
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Twin cities
On Sun, 09 Sep 2007 12:27:05 -0700, "
wrote: I'm going there from Sep. 14 t0 21.for a reunion. Can anyone tell me about places or events within a radius of about 200 mi. that would be interesting to someone who's into machinery, machining, etc? I'm familiar with the science and railroad museums. Thanx, Engineman. Within 200 miles? I'd give Hutchinson Technologies in Eau Claire, WI a call and see if they're doing any tours in that time frame. The assembly bay is quite an amazing bit of manufacturing technology- they make all the machines in house, with the exception of the UTA and Adept robots, and the automated lines are able to hold tolerances measured in millionths (I know there are grinders that do this, but this is the only mechanical forming equipment I've ever seen with that kind of accuracy.) They've got a building up in Hutchinson, MN as well where they do the prototyping, but I don't know if they let vistors in there. It's basically a glorified sheet metal shop (they make disk-drive suspensions,) but it is really something to see if you get the opportunity- while it may be a glorified sheet metal shop, it is that in the same way that a supercomputer is a glorifed pocket calculator. The machines do have computers on them, and the robots obviously are computer controlled, but the bulk of the equipment is actually mechanical, with series of forming dies that open and close using a cam shaft- which makes them quite a bit more interesting to look at than your average CNC equipment. Far as I know there are only three places in the world to see that job being done, and the other two are in Asia. |
#9
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Twin cities
On Tue, 11 Sep 2007 18:11:46 GMT, Rich Grise wrote:
The Hormel plant is in Austin, a few hours' drive, but I don't know if they still have tours - I went on one about 50 years ago, and it was fascinating, if a bit smelly. ;-) But at least you can see where they make the "real" Spam. ;-) If you like that one, there's also the Bush's bean factory in Augusta. There's actually a lot of manufacturing in the Eau Claire area, it just depends on what you like. Many of them have reasonably tight security, so it would pay to call ahead. |
#10
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Twin cities
As long as people are thinking of plant tours, there are the two local craft
breweries. Summit is larger and in St Paul. www.summitbrewing.com/ Surly is very small, you can stand in one spot and turn around to see the entire brewing area. It is in Brooklyn Center, just north of Minneapolis on Hwy 100. Unfortunately they only have tours about once a month. Looks like you would have to save this one for another trip. www.surlybrewing.com/tours.php -- Bill Fuhrmann |
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