The “Monmouth” ball bearing drilling machine

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k.walton

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Hi all
Thanks for the welcomed to the forum. Just looking at drill press with a name plate as the subject line here. Drawn a total blank on the interweb, anyone know anything about the model or company? Looks like early part on 20th century I think
Thanks
 
lathes.co.uk is possibly a good place to look or to ask - the organiser of that site has done an unbelievable amount of work documenting old machinery. It's a great place to browse (and they have a classified ads section too - danger!). If you can't find a listing under the name you've tried already, I'd send some pictures and see what they come up with.
cheers
Miles
 
I'd be interested to hear about a ball bearing drilling machine ( I put a . in this thread, but it's gone? although it was in order to be notified of any activity*, which worked ) , I've been trying to work out how to drill and then tap small ( 5mm and 10mm diamtre ball bearings ) for a few years now, Buying them in , pre-drilled and tapped to metric would cost me a ridiculous amount as I need at least a few hundred to begin with.

*I don't know how to "flag" a thread as "interesting" or "follow" without authorising all the additional scripts on the site.
 
I'd be interested to hear about a ball bearing drilling machine ( I put a . in this thread, but it's gone? although it was in order to be notified of any activity*, which worked ) , I've been trying to work out how to drill and then tap small ( 5mm and 10mm diamtre ball bearings ) for a few years now, Buying them in , pre-drilled and tapped to metric would cost me a ridiculous amount as I need at least a few hundred to begin with.

*I don't know how to "flag" a thread as "interesting" or "follow" without authorising all the additional scripts on the site.
I once managed to grind a shallow hole into a 20mm ball bearing using several grinding burs a very slow process but I only needed one. I don't think tapping is possible (there are people on this site who do things I don't think are possible) but you might be able to press in an insert. Can I ask why you need them? Is there an easier way?
 
Never tried such a thing but you would certainly need to take the hardness out of them first. Heat to red hot then cool slowly, Maybe by putting them in a tin of sand then more sand on top. Maybe try a big one first to see if you can do it at all. I too am intrigued why you want to do this :unsure:
 
u can buy stainless steel ball bearing.....think they'd be softer than the real thing.....
or u could go brass and then just paint em.....assuming they are for looks....
 
I'd be interested to hear about a ball bearing drilling machine

Given the age of the machine, is it not slightly more plausible that 'ball bearing' in its description is a marketing hook rather than a functional description?

Most machines of that era would have had plain bearings. Something with the new-fangled ball bearings just had to be better.

You can buy unhardened steel balls (e.g. Unhardened AISI 1010 Low Carbon Soft Steel Ball Bearings). With appropriate fixturing they will drill and tap in the same way as any other piece of steel.

Edit:

It is more than likely that 'Monmouth' is the model name/range rather then manufacturer. Look at how Colchester had Bantam, Chipmaster, Student, Master or how Suffolk Iron Foundry had Colt and Punch.
 
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I agree with ChaiLatte. Ball bearings were a huge thing in marketing back then.
When pretty much every machine user had to be able to pour and scrape new babbitt bearings and every bearing had to be kept oiled continously and suddenly there was a new bearing which only needed a dab of grease a month and could be shifted out with a new similar bearing.
 
Just realised that I hadn't replied to @ChaiLatte and @Fergie 307 .
Firstly, thanks to ChaiLatte I know know what to ask suppliers of ball bearings in the USA ( who are far far cheaper than any UK or EU ones , even taking into account shipping and customs and TVA ) for, as regards to type of steel.

What I need them for..making the joints in skeletons / armatures for stop motion poseable claymation animation characters, the drilled and tapped ball bearings ( we'll have to do the drilling and tapping ) are attached to various lengths of threaded steel rods, The ball bearings are then held captive between two small short steel plates ( which I can get "off the shelf" very cheaply ) which have holes slightly countersunk holes at each end and another smaller hole drilled and tapped in the centre of each plate . The ball bearings are set between two of these plates , with the plates positioned countersunk holes facing each other, the third ( centre hole ) has a grub screw , with allen key head going from one plate to the other. The ball bearings ( with threaded steel rods attached ) are held "captive" at each end of the steel plates by the countersunk holes "cupping them", but they can swivel and pivot in their respective "cups" if the centre grub screw is unscrewed a tiny amount so as to relax the hold of the "cups".

Imagine these inside a plasticene figure's joints..If you want to bend the joint, you turn the grub screw a fraction ,reposition the elbow or knee or hip or wrist or neck or ankle ( or "whatever" joint in a non human character ) , then you re-tighten the grub screw and the joint is locked. stop motion requires between 20 and 30 frames per second of "action"..Some characters can use many of these "joints", buying them is very expensive, currently no companies will ship the ready made skeletons or the joints to the EU at less that prohibitive prices . Custom skeletons for non human characters can cost hundreds of euros. So we need to make our own ( my son is an animator / cartoonist ) , we also have an EU market to supply them to amateur and pro stop motion movie makers.
I can easily set up a bench drill to drill the bearings ( thanks to knowing which type of steel bearings to ask for thanks to Chailatte ) and threading them is also easy .The threaded bar ( stainless ) I already have large stocks of from 2mm up to 10mm for heavier skeletons. Normally the larger ones are made from lighter materials such as wood anyway, imagine puppets or marionettes with lockable joints, basically movable wooden sculpures which can be "clothed" with plasticene or foam or "clothes". some incorporate rare earth magnets , leather straps and other ways of creating movable parts. not all marionettes and puppets are strung, some are worn .Think Muppets, Dark Crystal or Chinese Dragons, or Little Amal , or some of the huge ones used in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_puppet


https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/05/the-giant-marionettes-of-royal-de-luxe/100293/
There are all kinds of puppets and marionettes, from the tiny , to the huge, some move, some don't, many are made of wood, or incorporate wood, a very interesting , creative and rewarding type of sculpture.

Hopefully the youtube video ( which it turns out will not allow "embedding" ) but can be seen with many others at the original youtube page is not geo-blocked for many here.

Apologies for the thread "hi-jack" in replying to Fergie 307 in detail, and thanking ChaiLatte .
 
A 'helping hands tool' has joints that work in exactly the same way you are describing.
I know, I have around a half dozen of them ( but didn't know what they were called in English ) , but they only have one size of ball ( small about about 12mm diametre ) only two balls per tool and they are not always threaded, some appear to have the rod and ball cast as one piece from chinesium..and the best price is about €10.oo each, or €5.oo per ball..Even buying a hundred from China I'd still be paying €6.00 per "thing" plus shipping and customs and only get one size of ball and only 200 balls in total. Ordering the ball bearings from the USA at that size I am paying about €30.oo per thousand and another €20.oo for shipping and customs combined. The dollar dropped today, so I'd pay even less.Plus I can order different sizes and mixed ..and the rods we can make to suit the "skeletons".

Curious can you get to that video on the youtube page or are you geo-blocked ?..Thanks again for the metal spec (y)
 
Just realised that I hadn't replied to @ChaiLatte and @Fergie 307 .
Firstly, thanks to ChaiLatte I know know what to ask suppliers of ball bearings in the USA ( who are far far cheaper than any UK or EU ones , even taking into account shipping and customs and TVA ) for, as regards to type of steel.

What I need them for..making the joints in skeletons / armatures for stop motion poseable claymation animation characters, the drilled and tapped ball bearings ( we'll have to do the drilling and tapping ) are attached to various lengths of threaded steel rods, The ball bearings are then held captive between two small short steel plates ( which I can get "off the shelf" very cheaply ) which have holes slightly countersunk holes at each end and another smaller hole drilled and tapped in the centre of each plate . The ball bearings are set between two of these plates , with the plates positioned countersunk holes facing each other, the third ( centre hole ) has a grub screw , with allen key head going from one plate to the other. The ball bearings ( with threaded steel rods attached ) are held "captive" at each end of the steel plates by the countersunk holes "cupping them", but they can swivel and pivot in their respective "cups" if the centre grub screw is unscrewed a tiny amount so as to relax the hold of the "cups".

Imagine these inside a plasticene figure's joints..If you want to bend the joint, you turn the grub screw a fraction ,reposition the elbow or knee or hip or wrist or neck or ankle ( or "whatever" joint in a non human character ) , then you re-tighten the grub screw and the joint is locked. stop motion requires between 20 and 30 frames per second of "action"..Some characters can use many of these "joints", buying them is very expensive, currently no companies will ship the ready made skeletons or the joints to the EU at less that prohibitive prices . Custom skeletons for non human characters can cost hundreds of euros. So we need to make our own ( my son is an animator / cartoonist ) , we also have an EU market to supply them to amateur and pro stop motion movie makers.
I can easily set up a bench drill to drill the bearings ( thanks to knowing which type of steel bearings to ask for thanks to Chailatte ) and threading them is also easy .The threaded bar ( stainless ) I already have large stocks of from 2mm up to 10mm for heavier skeletons. Normally the larger ones are made from lighter materials such as wood anyway, imagine puppets or marionettes with lockable joints, basically movable wooden sculpures which can be "clothed" with plasticene or foam or "clothes". some incorporate rare earth magnets , leather straps and other ways of creating movable parts. not all marionettes and puppets are strung, some are worn .Think Muppets, Dark Crystal or Chinese Dragons, or Little Amal , or some of the huge ones used in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_puppet


https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2012/05/the-giant-marionettes-of-royal-de-luxe/100293/
There are all kinds of puppets and marionettes, from the tiny , to the huge, some move, some don't, many are made of wood, or incorporate wood, a very interesting , creative and rewarding type of sculpture.

Hopefully the youtube video ( which it turns out will not allow "embedding" ) but can be seen with many others at the original youtube page is not geo-blocked for many here.

Apologies for the thread "hi-jack" in replying to Fergie 307 in detail, and thanking ChaiLatte .
 
Dear MWInFrance,
For drilling hard materials like ball bearings, you could look at electrochemical machining or spark erosion, both of which can drill holes in any kind of conductive material no matter how hard. Look at for a good example (from a great youtuber!) . No force, no tools wearing out, and if you want, you can have non-circular holes :)

Electrochemical drilling can be done DIY, and once you are set up, it might not be very difficult to get accurate and smooth holes with no surface damage to the balls. If you use smooth rods not threaded and can choose a suitable tolerance fit, you can then bond the rods and balls together with a suitable adhesive, and get joints that are plenty strong enough for your purpose but far cheaper and quicker to assemble, plus not needing threaded parts. You could still do threaded options once the holes are drilled, if you needed to, perhaps there are carbide taps for hard steel?

If those methods aren't attractive, there is also waterjet and jet-guided laser cutting but here you would need a commercial supplier I think - more expensive. Have you ever thought of welding the balls onto the ends of the rods as an alternative? I'm sure one of the welding experts here could comment....

good luck with your plans!

Miles
 
I can weld, I'm set up for stick , mig, mag, tig and oxy acetelene. Been welding since 72 .But Simple drilled tapped balls with threaded rods is what I need, and cheap, so I'll be ordering the balls from the USA, and we'll drill and tap them here ourselves. Thanks anyway, maybe useful to some one reading (y)
 
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