I gravitated towards engineering because of my upbringing making old shit work again or admiring the process of old iron working. In a previous life, I was likely a blacksmith.
Back in the day, a piece of equipment was not purely function, but there was an actual effort made to make it look good as well. Ornate castings, raised letters and many times pin striping add to this form as well as function aspect.
I remember about 25 years ago, I bought an old Gray hit and miss engine from a guy for $50. I drug it home and spent a Sunday morning cleaning it up, checking it over, oiling, greasing and making the old 6 volt buzz box it used for ignition work. I put some fuel and water in the thing and spun it over by pulling on the big flywheel. Bang! with a big puff of smoke out of the exhaust pipe. Another spin of the flywheel and Bang, whoosh, woosh, woosh, Bang, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, it was running. A hit and miss engine is just that. A series of weights engage the valves and cause the engine to "hit" when it slows down or is under load. Once the rpms are where they should be the weights fly out and the valves open and it simply spins. A really cool engineering marvel. I don't have a video of mine running, but here is one from youtube.com so that you can get the idea. It is actually the identical engine to the one I am writing about (yes I have several others).
In any case, I am in the driveway with this engine running and I put my foot on the belt pulley to create a little drag and Bang, woosh, woosh goes to Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang with smoke rings blowing out the exhaust. I am absolutely tickled with this thing.
My wife hears the noise and comes out and stands on the porch looking at me with her arms folded and says, "what is that?" I told her, "An old antique hit and miss engine." and she replies as we both watch smoke rings rising, "What are you going to do with it?"
After a suitable pause, I reply, "I am going to sit here and watch it run." She rolled her eyes, shook her head and went back in the house.
My major vice is tools and equipment (perhaps I should spell that "vise"). Preferably old tools and old equipment. My shop is a pretty complete little machine shop, weld shop and auto repair shop, but there is always a tool that a person such as myself does not have and needs desperately.
I had to travel for my real job as you might have read before. This particular meeting meant traveling on Memorial Day for a meeting on the Tuesday after. I don't really care for it, but needs must and I always peruse the local craigslist for anything interesting that might fit in the back of my truck. "Don't want to waste the trip!" I tell my wife as she rolls her eyes at me.
As I noted, I have a fairly complete little machine shop in my shop, an old Gorton Milling Machine, an old Pratt and Whitney Shaper, a couple of Atlas Lathes, a Harig Surface Grinder and other miscellaneous ancillary equipment. I already have a small metal cutting bandsaw as well as a portaband and a torch, so I really don't need anything else, but there nestled amongst the hammers and wrenches was an ad for an old powered hacksaw. Located about 30 minutes from my meeting location, this appeared to have some promise, to take up some time if nothing else.
After contacting the guy and making arrangements to go look, I make the drive and there is a nice Peerless Standard Hacksaw in not too bad shape, grease, grime, rust and general dirt aside. He cuts a couple pieces of steel pipe with it to prove it still works after which we strike up a bargain and he loads the heavy piece of cast iron on the back of my truck.
In retrospect, I should have tarped it before making the final drive home because I had people wanting to know what it was at every stop I made. Once home, I got it unloaded (it weights 1040 lbs, not counting grease) and started with a bit of cleanup. There is probably about 50lbs of metal shavings in the coolant tank, which as I clean out I discover also contains 11 brand new hacksaw blades (worth about $100 or half what I paid for the whole unit). Peerless is still in business although they primarily make bandsaws now and a bit of research determines, based on the serial number stamped in the bed of the saw, this machine was made in 1925. It originally ran on a flat belt, possibly on a line shaft setup, but it could have had an electric motor on it at that point. It has a newer Marathon 1 1/2 HP motor on it which would cost probably $150 to replace (I am now ahead $50). The start/stop, limit switch and motor starter are all late 1940's add ons.
Now, some time with the pressure washer and a little elbow grease and paint, and I will have something else just worth watching run. I hope I have enough scrap iron left to make some cuts. I might even let my wife give it a try if she stops rolling her eyes at me long enough.
