Victor Repair Bench

[Django]

Simple,

The bench is advertised in the December 1923 issue of The Voice of the Victor.

Mark

Thanks, this is an interesting ad.

Thanks. Mystery solved.

It would be nice to have, but for practical use, I think that I would still prefer my watchmaker/jewelers bench. My other work bench is a nice old roll top desk. I can pull out the center drawer to act as a catch tray.

[MarkELynch]

Yes, many different benches would work if you don’t need the organized small parts storage. Having a tray to catch dropped parts is certainly a plus.

Did you notice that the top is half-covered with metal and contains a hole? The hole is certainly the bench’s most unique and useful feature. It allows the motor to be laid flat upside down with the motor spindle extending into the bench hole. This eliminates the need for using blocks or a wooden jig to raise the motor above the bench top when repairing or testing the motor.

Django, I’ll be over with my auger later to “fix up” your delightful antique benches.

Mark

[victor 15-1]

At least later in the text they spelled the word Vise correctly

[Django]

Yes, many different benches would work if you don’t need the organized small parts storage. Having a tray to catch dropped parts is certainly a plus.

Did you notice that the top is half-covered with metal and contains a hole? The hole is certainly the bench’s most unique and useful feature. It allows the motor to be laid flat upside down with the motor spindle extending into the bench hole. This eliminates the need for using blocks or a wooden jig to raise the motor above the bench top when repairing or testing the motor.

Django, I’ll be over with my auger later to “fix up” your delightful antique benches.

Mark

You are welcome anytime, but please leave the auger at home. I have plenty of equipment right here.

The advertisement states that the bench was made by the Unit Construction Company of Philadelphia. It may have been a variant of a standard bench of some kind that Victor was promoting. It could have been an optician’s or dental technician’s bench. It would probably be useful for many applications, so if you are searching for one, I would broaden the search to include anything that includes many small parts and also “ Unit Construction Company of Philadelphia”.

I always wanted a Moore “desk”, (Moore Special Tools, jig borer). That is a nice setup. Of course I could always try to liquidate my collection and buy this bench, but then I wouldn’t need the bench any more, (a bit of a conundrum). I think that it even has the elusive hole. I guess that I will just suffer alone with what I have for now.

[edisonclassm]

$50 in 1923! According to the inflation calculator it translates to $867.83 in today's money. Do you think you can build them and sell them for $867.83 today?

[JerryVan]

$50 in 1923! According to the inflation calculator it translates to $867.83 in today's money. Do you think you can build them and sell them for $867.83 today?

Get a quote from Gerstner!

[JerryVan]

Django,

Of course I could always try to liquidate my collection and buy this bench...

Is that an espresso machine?



We have a Moore desk at work. It's in our Jig Grind Dept. I refinished it years ago, but my efforts were not appreciated, and it looks worse today than it did before I worked on it.

[Django]

Django,

Of course I could always try to liquidate my collection and buy this bench...

Is that an espresso machine?



We have a Moore desk at work. It's in our Jig Grind Dept. I refinished it years ago, but my efforts were not appreciated, and it looks worse today than it did before I worked on it.

They were made of Mahogany. I sold my Moore 1 ½ a couple years ago, but I never owned the desk. Usually a good jig grinder person would treat the equipment with the respect that it deserves. Incredible machines. I guess that it’s a sign of the times.

[MarkELynch]

Django,

Thanks for posting the picture of the Moore jig grinder, that really is a cool piece of antique technology. At first look with all the drawers extended, etc it looks like it might have been H.G. Wells’ inspiration for the Traveler in the Time Machine.

Is there still a modern equivalent for making jigs for machining operations or has CNC pretty well replaced them?
Not having a CNC mill I made some drilling jigs with my manual milling machine for locating holes in some of the 10-50 changer parts that I hope to introduce in the spring. A jig allow quick and repeatable hole positioning.

Back to Simple’s question about building one of these, short of a measured drawing, have we provided enough details and are you ready to start?

Mark

[Django]

Django,

Thanks for posting the picture of the Moore jig grinder, that really is a cool piece of antique technology. At first look with all the drawers extended, etc it looks like it might have been H.G. Wells’ inspiration for the Traveler in the Time Machine.

Is there still a modern equivalent for making jigs for machining operations or has CNC pretty well replaced them?
Not having a CNC mill I made some drilling jigs with my manual milling machine for locating holes in some of the 10-50 changer parts that I hope to introduce in the spring. A jig allow quick and repeatable hole positioning.

Back to Simple’s question about building one of these, short of a measured drawing, have we provided enough details and are you ready to start?

Mark

That’s actually a jeweler’s bench.

A CNC jig borer or jig grinder is as accurate as the older machines providing that proper jig borer methods are used. CNC mills typically have the encoders on the motor and use compensation for accuracy. An interpolated hole is never round because the motors have to keep reversing, so bearing pockets still require boring. You can see the errors at each quadrant using an indicator. Most Moore machines have double “V” ways in all three axis so there is no racking or position error. The Moore 1 ½ that I owned could easily hold .0001 position all day and it was built in 1965.

Regarding building an accurate copy of the bench, if the overall dimensions are known, the rest could be scaled, but the joinery and secondary woods would still be an unknown. Without reverse engineering the real thing, the best that you could do is make a look alike bench.