So i drove past this today...

[KeeponDragon]

The chuck is easily 20-24 inches across.
With the tailstock parked at the back, I walked the length of er'...and it was roughly 9 foot, er shoes...between centers.
I took a sec to try the cross slide and carriage wheels...
The old girl moves.
Im no judge of surface rust, so I wont guess how long its been there.
i may do some digging on the phones and see if I can't learn its story at least.
Had to share!
cheers!

 

[CWret]

Yep a monster and a beautiful machine in its day - whatever that day or purpose was. Real shame to see it outside and rusting.

 

[6.5 Fan]

Would be a real tussle to get that baby down the basement stairs.

 

[trlvn]

Some info:

R. McDougall Co. Ltd. - History | VintageMachinery.org

Page Title

Craig

 

[PeterT]

You guys have the best lawn ornaments!

 

[KeeponDragon]

got a phone # of the current owner...there's a chance this old girl was salvage from a sawmill machine shop...just never got round to hooking it up....
I just showed the pics to a co-worker...he's had customers in the same general area...he's heard it might be a "if you can lift it, it's yours" scenario...
I might just be batshit crazy enough to bring it home
I measured...it'll fit through the door.

 

[Tomc938]

I'm guessing even though it is on uneven ground there is no twist in the bed.

 

[Susquatch]

I'm guessing even though it is on uneven ground there is no twist in the bed.

On the other hand, I'd bet it twists under its own weight!

It isn't if, it's only how much!

It would be funny as hell to watch our batshit crazy buddy leveling it......

 

[KeeponDragon]

I was just gonna plug it in and send it....

But in a slightly more serious note...
A good friend of mine, who see's other details my excitement glances over...pointed out that powering it up would be a big enough challenge, let alone rescuing it. His visual assumption is that motor up top is probably 3 phase, and 10 horsetorques ...
Which makes me slightly less batshit, but more sad lol.
Still, I'm going to keep poking until I know more of the situation.
Age, useage, that kinda stuff.
Be a shame to see it scrapped though

 

[Bandit]

A friend powered his bigger lathe with an old tractor that had a flat belt pulley on it, mind you his shop was mite bigger than yours, the tractor was in the shop at the drive end of the lathe. Yes the Pacific truck with the 20 ft. deck could still drive in, and the 120hp. other tractor, etc.,etc.
Powering that lathe will not be a problem, just get one of them fancy air compressor motors with the "strange" power ratings on them! LOL.
Really,----a smaller motor could do the job, would have to turn lathe slower and take shallower cuts. Maybe not brother with carbide.
It's hard to pass by equipment sitting, maybe free for the take away, and you can't stop thinking about, with a few if only's and some but what if's. Oh, did I say anything about another friends large lathe that is under a leanto roof at the side of the shop.
I keep thinking about the 7 ton milling machine another friend would just give me!
Hmm, maybe I need to be pickier about some of my friends. If I could figure out a cheap easy way to get the monster off the truck/trailer, without breaking many things!
Yes, some tongue in cheek. But sadly? all true.

 

[Shoprat]

I was just gonna plug it in and send it....

But in a slightly more serious note...
A good friend of mine, who see's other details my excitement glances over...pointed out that powering it up would be a big enough challenge, let alone rescuing it. His visual assumption is that motor up top is probably 3 phase, and 10 horsetorques ...
Which makes me slightly less batshit, but more sad lol.
Still, I'm going to keep poking until I know more of the situation.
Age, useage, that kinda stuff.
Be a shame to see it scrapped though

Come on!!!! You gotta go for it! Think of it as manly yard art, if it doesn’t work out. I’d take that in a Shuswap minute to hide in the forest somewhere and watch the stories become legends. Lol!

 

[140mower]

Oh, did I say anything about another friends large lathe that is under a leanto roof at the side of the shop.

This....... pour a little, but thick slab beside the shop and put a 10x20 car shelter over it, and put a 13hp Honda behind it with a big flywheel on the pulley side to help with the interupted cuts. Your local hiab company should be able to pick it and place it for a few hundred dollars. Less if you know him and employ a mixture of beer and cash payment on a Friday afternoon .....

 

[Tomc938]

UHaul trailer and a couple of engine hoists?

I'm with KeeponDragon, it's a shame when these beasts end up cut up for scrap. Especially stuff actually made in Canada.

On a side note: I had a 14" shaper that I ran with a 1/4 horse motor. 1" pulley and v-belt to the flat belt on the machine. Ran like a top, but you did have to be judicious with depth of cut. And mostly stick to Al. Of course, shapers were never really known for their speed. It was a shed save. The original owner passed away a decade before, and the shed was leaking like a sieve. He died of cancer, so had lots of warning. Thankfully he coated everything in axle grease, so pretty much just a quick clean up and it was ready to go.

Susquatch wants to see him level it. I wanna hear him say, "Give me a sec and I'll change the chuck." (sorry for the bold, cut and pasted name to get the spelling right, and formatting took over)​

 

[KeeponDragon]

I'd need a hoist for the hoist required to lift the chuck off it...
And believe me, this behemoth has my ADHD going full send...Not sure what the forums members experience is with legitimate, diagnosed ADHD...but let me tell you that hyper-focus is nearly debilitative...big projects or ideas like this get my brain running on rants for hours or days...picture a bag of skittles haphazardly tossed into a ceiling fan...then try to track every skittle as they ricochet off the blades...
Wife has already said "no, please do not consider doing that" when I approached her with "expanding the shop's dimensions"...
I like the idea of the car shelter etc. But it falls under "expanding" in her eyes.
I've tried calling the current owner daily, all week. The voicemail is full (smart feller). So either he doesn't like talking on the phone, or is home during abstract hours...
The Force wills as it does...and the messages I'm getting are saying this may not be the right time to acquire such a machine...too many cons for the upside in pros...
Can't help but be enamoured with the thing tho...she's a beaut

 

[140mower]

• Classifi

It's history is colourful
As noted by at least 4 different colours applied to its exterior.
I'm unsure of it's age. But it's definitely post 1900's...

The spike on the leg is sadly missing...that's the one thing that made these useful as field tools.
I just now noticed, that it has been repaired at least once...see last photo. ()

that being said, it appears to have been a working tool, then potentially drafted as lawn or garden art...

Then I got my hands on it with the intention of putting it to work. Plans changed and it's clamped into what is my shop vice...

I'm not into it for much, but with the spring still there, its worth more than scrap art..it can still be a functional tool

Marketplace, the price jumps from 200 and up...
$175.00 obo
I will ship, at your expense. I have access to all major couriers through work.
So it's not hard to get a quote.

I love the hardware on it.

That's quite the lump of bronze under that glob of paint...

I copied this from the classifieds, as smart assed well intentioned comments are not allowed there....
Please tell us that your wife has had a change of heart regarding this old beast, as long as something goes away first