Epic Kludge: WTF Is Going On Here?

[Blue Shift]

Just wanted to see if anybody can figure out just wtf is going on here (especially machinists and machinist types...):





Also, this is hillarious as well:

[Indy]

Hydraulic hole boring machine? Something? WTF? I can't even fathom. That hole is nasty!

Also, are those tips welded on to a bore gage? What's happening with the clamp?

edit: Oh...Hah. Not as bad as I thought, but still...lol

[Aaron]

The second one is over my head or observation powers, but it looks like in the first one they are using the forklift's chain/power to turn the drill press? It's like a power take off for mexicans!

[MstangsBware]

Looks like you took a trip to V-8 Slurpee's shop....You now see why he did not want anyone putting his shop on goodgle maps....Shit like that is in high demand and very hard to replace......

[The Dark Side of Will]

Looks like they're just using the forklift to hold down/stabilize the drill press while they work on something that won't fit on the table. That's not too too bad...

But trying to use a boring bar on a drill press is asking for trouble...

[Blue Shift]

It is with complete shame that I admit that this is the kind of stuff that's been going on at work lately... The part is a large cast iron base for an industrial peice of bakery equipment, in which a huge bowl sits, and rotates on 2 pins to tip over, I imagine. Anyways, the holes became oval shaped from wear over time so some machinery repair company brought it to us. It should have gone to a machine shop, not a honing shop...

Mistake 1.) Accepting the job and thinking we'll somehow break even. The boss is delusionally optimistic and frequently accepts jobs that we have no capability to handle.
Mistake 2.) Having them MIG weld the holes to build them up. The part is cast iron, so in the weld puddle, crystals of undissolved carbon dissolve in the MIG wire, forming a much higher carbon steel that's as hard as glass, and just as brittle. Not only does it crack as the weld cools and pulls away as it shrinks, but it'll F%^K up even carbide tooling in a hurry. The surface is about as round and smooth as a log now.
Mistake 3.) As a machinist, I suggested putting the part so it reaches up around the table on our Bridgeport so I can bore it round... Boss decides on an impulse that it can't be done, and then demands I set up the drill press as seen above. He refuses to listen to anybody, and insists that it's the only way. After 4 hours of going at it, it hasn't gone anywhere, but the boss is satisfied with this "progress" and insists I continue.

Anyways, I'm more or less convinced that the boss is going senile and has lost most of his ability to reason with logic. He's also become more and more stubborn, refuses to listen to anybody, and insists he's right because he has a masters degree and is supposedly an engineer. The project he's had me work on have already sent one guy to the ER, and we've dropped an 11,000 lb CNC machine off of a forklift because he refused to hire a machinery mover, and he was giving me (bad) line by line directions on the forklift, which he's obviously never driven (I have plenty of time on one, myself).

It's utter madness, I tell you.

[Blue Shift]

The second part is from a failed project that happened before the forklift drill press portable boring setup...

It's a Federal dial bore gauge - a good, reliable bore measuring tool. Reads to .0001" or so accurately. At least it did... We got in 3 parts that were ~25" ID, well over the maximum size that the shop was set up for. I ended up kludging a makeshift gauge extension out of allthread and a coupler nut as asked... Nearly impossible to get a consistent measurement out of since the centralizer which keeps the gauge centered in the bore doesn't work on something several times larger than designed.

I found we did have enough gauge blocks to set to the finish size, so I stacked them up. We didn't have a holder, so the boss got us a carpenters clamp to hold them together on top of the granite plate... You put the bore gauge between the "jaws" at the end of the blocks, and zero it to calibrate. Of all the humiliating kludges I was ordered to build, this one is probably the closest to working like normal...

[Blue Shift]

Update: Finally got the go ahead to put the damn part on the mill like I've been saying all along... Got the whole thing done in 2 hours, including making up a larger diameter boring bar. All is well in the world again!