My ex-girlfriend gave me the 'orb' for my b-day a few years ago, it's probably 20" in diameter with all different NPT fittings welded into it, and 8 "D-rings" welded around it, it's probably 1/8" thick, had 304 stamped on it and what looks like a military number... The intake was another gift from another year, I guess she was pretty cool after all... when I saw it I thought it would look right at home on a '27 Track T type machine, maybe with bare aluminum skin... This next piece I got from my great uncles barn, some sort of hand-cranked lathe... it's rusted solid and it appears to be missing the far end... Any ideas what these are?
The antique thing looks like a post mounted drill press. Lots of them around. Does it have a ratcheting mechanism for bringing the drill bit/chuck down or is it all done by the big wheel? A friend has one painted John Deere green, mounted to a post. Looks good.
The grey thing is either an old Indy car nose or on old airplane nose and if it's not then it should be.
Drill press, ac***ualtor of some sort and the gl*** piece aircraft related judging by the vanes and Dzus fasteners around flange. Might be from target drone or cruise type missle. Or it could all be from ROSWELL
There used to be a salvage yard here in Memphis that had an almost complete F-86 Sabre jet. I thought many times about getting the nose off of it for a hot rod grille. It's all gone now. Wish I'd gone ahead and got it. What ever it would have cost.
Yeah, there appears to be a cam actuated ratchet mechanism at what would be the 'top' if it were wall mounted...hmmm interesting! So maybe it's not missing the "other end"... I showed the intake/nacelle/nose to a friend and told him what I wanted to do (when I win the lottery) he said it was sort of like the tail wagging the dog, to build a car around the nose... but I can 'see' it It's aluminum, btw.
hand crank drill press The orb is a possible pressurized fuel tank for a missle? That is where you would usually see something like this. The cowl is definately from an aircraft. Possibly a jet? Your girl has...unusual taste. I think the orb is cool. Make it a replica of Sputnik. Paint some Russian symbols on it and electric conduit for antennas and plant it in a crater in your front yard. Or make a still. When the space shuttle crashed a few years ago in east Texas, my wife and I happened to be traveling to visit family right where the debris was heavily concentrated. When we got to our destination, we were watching TV. An amature video taken by some locals at a nearby municipal airport was broadcast on the local news station. Not something that ever made it to CNN. The people at the municipal airport found this orb, almost exactly like you have there, landed on their runway. They picked the thing up and loaded it into the back of a pickup and had people posing and taking pictures with it. I'll never forget the buck toothed 8 year old boy with a big grin on his face and one hand on the orb. Apparently they didn't hear the news telling people not to touch items they found because of toxic chemicals that may be on them. Unrelated but funny, same day. There was a burned out old BBQ pit that fell out of someone's truck sitting on the shoulder of the highway. Traffic was backed up for a mile because people rubbernecking. They saw this burnt up thing laying there and thought it was a piece of the shuttle until you got close enough to tell what it was. She didn't buy that from someone in east Texas did she?
the orb might be some kinda va*** chamber there is a bunch of wierd **** like that in the university free junk pile.
Definately looks like a rocket propellant tank. Not sure if its the Fuel tank or the Oxidizer tank though. The mounts look extremely small though, might be early '60s space race stuff. You're not that far from Houston!
hayduke, To me that orb looks like a ship mine. They were loaded with explosives and little spring loaded pranguses (trigger mechanisms) were threaded into the pipe fittings. They would be dropped in the ocean and they would float at the surface or just below, and if a ship ran into it and triggered one of the little pranguses, the mine would blow a big-***ed hole in the ship. A lot of them were magnetic too so they would be attracted to the steel of the ship's hull. My 2 cents, Thor
The rusty peice is definitly a "blacksmith drill-press". Hayduke---have you ever read an amazingly good book called "The Monkey Wrench Gang"?? One of the best characters in the book was a burned out Vietnam vet named George Hayduke. book was written in the late seventies or early eighties.
George Washington Hayduke, as I recall... Edward Abbey, I've read every book I've ever found that he's written... times have changed, way changed... now a person could do hard time for cutting down a billboard or blowing up a bridge.
Yup, It's a drill press for sure. Reason I know is that I just brought the one home that belonged to my dad who died 4 years ago. He had it mounted on the wall of his shop for display. He got it from his father when he died and his dad got it from my greatgrandfather when he p***ed away. My greatgrandfather bought it new and had it in his maintenance shed before he had his first tractor. He had the first tractor in his area of Pennsylvania and was considered a traitor for giving up the horses in favor of horsepower. BTW, the ratchet ***y that you see on it was a mechinical power feed that advanced the bit into the workpiece as you turned the handcrank to power the drill bit. Frank
Neat, since it's rusted solid now I'm thinking about doing the mol***as soak on it and see what happens. (Learned about it here on the HAMB, 1 part mol***as, 4 parts water, soak for a long time, rinse) I did that trick on a couple of ~100 year old lock/latch mechanisms I brought back, after 3 weeks soaking, a little scrubbing and whacking with a chunk o'wood they both work now. Amazing.
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