Photo Index - Millbury Machine Co. - LT-106 Tenoning Machine

Machinery Photo Index

Manufactured/Badged by:
Millbury Machine Co.
Millbury, MA

Machine Specifications
Machine Class:	Wood Working Machinery
Machine Type:	Tenoning Machine
Machine Size:	5-Head
Submitted By:	Keith Rucker

Machine Specifications
Description/Model:	LT-106 Tenoning Machine
Date of Manufacturer:
Serial Number:	none
Last Updated	11/24/2006 4:41:09 PM

Comments:

Well, I never would have thought it would happen but it did. I actually brought home a machine that was NOT in such bad shape that most people would have wrote it off before ever even thinking of trying to restore it. Yep, it actually happened.

A month or so ago, a friend who lives up in North Georgia called me and told me about a guy he knew who was selling off an old shop full of machinery. Of course, that perked up my ears a bit. I asked him to send me a list of what he had, pictures if available and what he was asking. A week or so later, I got what I asked for.

To be honest with you, most of the machines in the shop were in pretty rough shape and the prices were a good bit on the high side. Also, most of the machines were your smaller home shop type machines rather than the larger industrial stuff that I like. That was except for two Millbury tennoning machines that he had.

Last year, right after Christmas, I found a sad bastard Millbury over in Alabama that I bought for pretty cheap. Of course, I had to go through it and do extensive restoration. Do you know how many bearings a Millbury has it it? I do - I replaced them all (they really needed it) and it cost me a pretty penny! In the end, I had a really nice little Millbury. I never actually used the machine because I did not ever get new knives put on the heads and properly ground. Then, Chip Marshall came along and offered to buy the machine. I really did not want to let her go but at the time, I needed the cash and what he offered was a very fair price considering what I had it it. Smitty loaded it up on one of his trips through South Georgia and Chip ended up with a nice little machine. Many times since, I have regretted letting the little machine go.

When I saw the two Millbury's on the list, I decided that I sure would like to get one of them. He was asking $1000 each for them - which was a lot more than I wanted to pay but considering they were both pretty much plug and play, it was probably a fair price. Not having the cash on hand at the time, I stalled a bit. It was going to be a while before I could make the five hour trip up and another five hours back to pick them up.

Then, about two weeks ago, my friend called me again. He told me that they were getting ready to sell off all of the machines at auction and if I wanted the tennoner, I needed to move on it - quick. He then told me as well that the seller was willing to sell them for $500 each.

At this point, I decided to go ahead and make my move before things passed my by. But, being that my name is Rucker, I figured I should do my best to get the machine ruckered down my way rather than driving 10 hours round trip to pick it up.

My friend is also a fellow County Agent and I knew that we were about to have our annual state professional association meeting. Surly he could just haul the machine down with him - the meeting was only 45 minuets away from my house! Made sense to me! The problem that I knew that I was going to run into was that this same friend of mine had just had surgery done on his knee to fix a ACL injury from a couple of months ago. There was no way he was going to be able to handle loading and such. I got on the pone with him - he first said there was no way he could haul it - heck, he was not even going to try driving that far by himself - he was catching a ride down with somebody else. I did not give up trying to figure out a way to get the machine hauled. I asked if he had a trailer, which he did. No problem - just have the owner load it for you on your trailer and then you can pull it to where you are meeting up with the other guys who are driving down. They can pull it for you (me)! It worked. Last Saturday evening, I met them about 30 min up the road from my home on their way down and hauled it the last 30 miles myself!

When the machine arrived in my shop, I was really surprised as to the condition. The paint was all on it. No rust. The blades were sharp and ready to go. All that was needed was a power cord and plug to plug into my converter. This past Saturday, I invested another $30 for electricals, hooked her up and switched her on. A pine 2x4 was placed on the carriage and within seconds of flipping the switch, I had cut my first two tennons. I do not know how to act - no electrolysis, no spray cans, no new bearings, no broken castings. This thing actually works right off the trailer! This has never happened before!

Photo 1:

Comments:
Source: Keith Rucker

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Photo 2:

Comments:
Source: Keith Rucker

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Photo 3:

Comments:
Source: Keith Rucker

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