Just curious. I do portable machine/welding work, mainly in the forging industry. Some of the press frames are just massive. Do a lot of work on 2500 ton Ajax press. 10'x10' footprint 20'tall the frame alone is 180k lbs cast steel. Heading out next week to do some crack repair/welding on one. They want all the cracks that were gouged out filled up and the entire pocket filled up with weld. Filled flat with the little shelf you see in the middle if the pic. Just below the copper colored gouging rods. Be about 15k lbs worth of wire to finish it up. Crazy to think about a pit big enough to cast something this size. Anyone else deal with big castings?
It currently has a furnace built around the frame, pre heating to 400* going to maintain that for the next couple months while I'm welding on it. The biggest one I've ever worked on was just shy of 400k lbs bare frame.
I realize not many people have poured something this size. Considering that one in welding on was poured in 1942.
Here is a little info/history on the 6000 ton frame. It actually as another piece that bolts on the top full length/width makes the footprint larger so it dosent tip over. Adds another 100k lbs. Just trying to share some of the stuff that got me interested in casting/foundry work Feel free to share some stories.
When I worked in the Auto manf. Business most of the machine bases were cast in Canada and trucked over. Things were massive but not that big. Never got to see them poured I just worked on the control systems. I liked that job, but got out just before everything went sideways in 2007.
Hey now. This casting is being weld repaired because it cracked....there is simply no comparison of the current state of the art to castings from the good old days An amazing accomplishment in the day for sure, but there is no lost/black art to it I respect and honor the previous generation but we are way ahead and continue to improve You can guess I get pretty bent out of shape with these "makers" going on and on about the magic steel in a katana sword.....state of the art in the day....but now we have steel driving around Mars...science marches on
Afraid we will never know on this scale. From what I have seen in this industry, is is going the way of the "throw away" culture of today as a whole. The replacements for these machine all come from overseas and don't hold up near as well. Pretty sure it is all done on purpose so people are forced to buy replacements. The frame I am currently working on was poured in 1940-2 built extra heavy for the military. No telling how much abuse it endured before the use of digital tonnage monitors, and sophisticated die setup, billet heaters etc. No telling how long it continued to make acceptable parts while broken/ band aided back together. A lot is to be said about modern technology. As once this frame is welded, it will be measured with a laser tracker and every aspect machined back to spec. It will indeed be better than new once it is finished. All done with portable equipment. Instead of rigging this giant piece on a planer mill/ boring mill, and hand scraping/ fitting all the components together. Some ways we have indeed come so far, and other I feel we have lost touch of the bygone era.
I just discovered the starter in my old beater nissan is the ORIGINAL starter! It's from 1997 and has 242,000 miles on it! I had to drop in a used tranny, but do you think I changed the starter just because it was easy to get to??? NOT A CHANCE! If I dropped in an autozone special with a lifetime warranty, I can guarantee I'd be changing out in a year. Even Asian quality has suffered the wrath of cheapness and planned obsolescence. Really pisses me off! I think technology is kinda screwing us.... CNC is great, but not a replacement for a competent machinist. I know nobody's telephone number anymore and I drive around in strange cities blindly following a screen on a phone. I couldn't even tell you the last time I pulled out a paper dictionary. Sad really.
