Could'a been worse...

While working on a revision to the Clishay's "tender / support vehicle" I had to remove the old coupler pockets and incorporate a spine to the car. This spine would also serve as the coupler pockets. I tried using my disc grinder but even with a 6" cut off wheel, I couldn't reach the welds holding the existing coupler pocket to the truck's bolster. So I decided to let the Bridgeport do the work. And as you can see in the pictures, it worked, and then some.

I was lucky.

During the first cut I was conventional milling on the back side of this coupler pocket. I did not have very much to clamp on. Yes, I realize that taking the truck apart would have given me more material to clamp against, but where's the fun in that ? Anyway, I was taking a good bit of material off and the end mill grabbed and sucked the whole truck up into the quill. The end mill exploded and before I could shut the motor off, it stalled. It was in back gear and that's the first time I ever heard that phase converter grunt that hard.

Other than destroying a 3/4" 4 flute end mill and contorting the truck into a very un-natural position, I fared well.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that it jacked the vise out of indication and the mill head needed swept back in on both axis.

I have to say that this is probably one of the worst crashes, second only to that big horizontal G&L I crashed back in "88". I told them not to put me on that machine...