This is a Bucyrus Erie Number 12 Bit Dressing machine. My father is in the lighter colored clothes, I'm in the darker clothes, running the machine. We remove an 8" bit from the forge and place it in the machine. The ram spreads the steel out to gauge and shapes the point of the bit. This is the 2nd and final heat of this bit. I spread the bit until the gauge fits tightly or not at all. You can see slag peeling off of the bit as the steel is spread outward. Then the bit is moved back, and the sides are shaped. This is done until the gauge fits perfectly over the bit. I use a sledge hammer to knock down any little high points, and the gauge fits perfectly. The last step is moving the bit to the quenching tank for tempering. The old method was to lay the bit across an anvil, and one man stands on each side, and slowly mushroom the steel out with sledge hammers, and shape it the same way. This is fun to watch, but a lot of work. This machine takes the work out of it. These bit dressers were seen in strip mine areas, before rotary rigs replaced spudders for drilling blast holes. A crew was in charge of keeping sharp bits supplied to multiple rigs. One rotary replaced ten spudders and a bit crew. There are a few places that have these machines, that do custom bit-dressing work, and a few are owned by private individuals, but most have probably been cut up for scrap. This one runs on a 3 phase, 15 horse motor. Most cable tool drillers have switched to button bits. This series of videos was shot in May of '09 in Eastern Ohio. The Bucyrus Erie No. 12 bit dressing machine was designed to dress bits from 12" down to 6 5/8", but with a little customizing, we dress 5" bits on it, too.
18 сен 2024
