Hi peoples, I would like to introduce myself, my name is Tony Bird I am 46 and was born in Greenwich, London England, for the last twenty years I have lived in the wonderful United States here on the Eastern shore of Maryland, I was searching Youtube and saw the video on the ball shaper tool which in turn “ excuse the pun” led me here, let me say I I have been machining since I was 12 and that tool is very innovative.
Me and the wife have a ten acre farm where she boards the horses and I do the work, my reward to this is I have for the first time in my life a work shop 40ftx40ft stuffed with machines, hand tools, material stock and the like, I have my eye on the barn 60ftx40ftx18ft high and have already drawn up plans for a mega machine/welding facility. THIS WILL HAPPEN. I am employed as a pipe fitter welder and I hate it, “but the pay is good” but my apprenticeship was in the machine shop, it’s a shame here in the states that the pay for machinists is so low. Machining is my true love and passion, the wife calls me the Lathe Nut, I would never cheat on the wife unless her name was Southbend. Then if she fell pregnant the little blighter would be called “Boxford”. anyways I must say I do not make models, but I make and design tooling, repair and restore machine tools, invent gadgets that makes the old wife say WoW, I am into renewable energy machinery and like all true Englishmen I love to garden, “ tip don’t turn down carrots in the four jaw it gets messy and they don’t hold a tolerance”. My second passion is auctions for machinery, and like the new member Leeway its my goal to make a living at what I love to do, I am nearly there now so wish me luck.
My latest project is restoring a 1940 era 9 inch Southbend lathe, I saw her wilting on an old oak table in the corner of an old machine shop in Baltimore in an old Fertilizer plant where I was working, the guy that owned her said if I was to weld up 9 3” stainless pipe joints for his tug boat she would be mine, alas when I drove up with this beauty in the back of the pick up my wife said “ Wow nice honey! God its filthy what is it?
“ I said goodbye and walked into my little piece of heaven “ the shop” cracked a beer and started planning her new home.
So what I bring to the table is machining and welding skills, on the restore side I specialize in southbend and Atlas lathes, millers, shapers and part out parts etc. so if you guys need anything do not hesitate to email me. I have some weakness’ in the areas of electronics, cnc etc and I hope to drain your minds in these fields. I will be posting questions shortly. Thanks and I am glad to be here. Toodle PIP
