What is the oddest machine you have worked on or operated

[kenmbz]

Ran this as the first prototype - ASDE-3, not my pic, but they are somewhere, started at Republic Airport and now at Newark Airport

 

[chim]

Built a three-circuit liquid cooler for use while testing AWACS "tube" years back. They needed to regulate three different flow rates of RO/DI(?) water. Been a while

 

[chim]

Another was a tubular knitting machine back in the early 70's. I was the kid who got sent on oddball service calls. Manual was in Chinese IIRC. Fortunately the schematic wasn't quite so "foreign" looking. A local company had several and they made material for tee-shirts. The machine would stop itself on a fault by grounding a 9V circuit.

 

[forgeblast]

Dad had one and I still have the B&S motor from it. It had tractor- like tires, if I remember right each wheel had a flip lever to disengage it. The manual for it is around here someplace and shows attachments you could get for it. He had a front tiller & mower deck. I'm thinking by right grip was throttle, left was an engagement lever.

lol yep it was like riding a bike that wanted to go where it wanted to lol. you held one and off you went lol.
There are so many attachments, everything from plows to sickle bars to a crazy buzz saw.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/506373551854952418/

shows some of them.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

When I was about 14 me and a buddy built a go cart out of 2x4’s and plywood. We even rigged up steering by using rope wrapped around a steel rod, which worked surprisingly well. The brakes didn’t exist and we just wore old shoes and drug our feet. I think the only thing we spent money on was a centrifugal clutch.

The engine was originally a vertical shaft Briggs and we converted it to horizontal. It wasn’t that hard and I remember pieces of Erector Set held the carb in place and we had scrap flat steel to hold it on the go cart. The gearing wasn’t great and it took a long time to get up to about 15 mph but then the clutch would lock up and that 3.5 hp Briggs would dig in and it run about 40 mph. We had a big parking lot we would run it in at night after the stores closed. And yes, it wasn’t very safe.

That reminded me of a go cart my Dad & Grandad built for me(11) and my brother(15), 2x4 "frame" with plywood. It had a kick-start Briggs & Stratton motor from a Maytag washing machine. Similar design, steering was a small cable wound around a pipe, no brakes and clutch was simply an idler pulley. The v-belt motor to axle had play, pressing left pedal put tension on idler. Seat was just wide enough both could ride and Dad working on it my brother wanted to ride alone. I saw Grandad wink at Dad, brother didn't. They sad it would be ready to ride soon. They put a tighter v belt on it (no clutch) and wound steering cable backwards. They had rear end on a block, wheels slightly off ground. Brother got on, Dad started it and unhooked throttle spring as he kicked it off the block.
That day we had guests over and watched brother going about 15 mph all over the place, steer left it went right. It finally stopped when he ran through bushes hitting a tree.
After that I can't remember him ever riding it, and I could always get it started (I never showed him the choke lever ).
He's 75yo now and to this day hates anything mechanical.

 

[grsthegreat]

holy cow...look at the saw blade on that thing. id run in horror if i saw someone get ready to start that up

 

[forgeblast]

holy cow...look at the saw blade on that thing. id run in horror if i saw someone get ready to start that up

Yes, that was for cutting stumps and legs im guessing .....

 

[grsthegreat]

this is why people had shorter life spans in the past.......

 

[Dennis Mohn]

david bradley walk behind tractors. I had a few and a ton of attachments. When they ran they were a beast, when they didnt you collected others to rebuild them. I truly wish i didnt sell them off. They were fun at times lol.

I have a 1949 Universal in the garage for rebuild

I think you win so far!!!

Good stuff

 

[dodge man]

That reminded me of a go cart my Dad & Grandad built for me(11) and my brother(15), 2x4 "frame" with plywood. It had a kick-start Briggs & Stratton motor from a Maytag washing machine. Similar design, steering was a small cable wound around a pipe, no brakes and clutch was simply an idler pulley. The v-belt motor to axle had play, pressing left pedal put tension on idler. Seat was just wide enough both could ride and Dad working on it my brother wanted to ride alone. I saw Grandad wink at Dad, brother didn't. They sad it would be ready to ride soon. They put a tighter v belt on it (no clutch) and wound steering cable backwards. They had rear end on a block, wheels slightly off ground. Brother got on, Dad started it and unhooked throttle spring as he kicked it off the block.
That day we had guests over and watched brother going about 15 mph all over the place, steer left it went right. It finally stopped when he ran through bushes hitting a tree.
After that I can't remember him ever riding it, and I could always get it started (I never showed him the choke lever ).
He's 75yo now and to this day hates anything mechanical.

That brings back memories. With our home made go cart we used a rope going to the front “axle“ which was a 2x4 on a pivot with wheels on the end. We put athletic tape around where the rope was wound so it had something to bite into and wouldn’t slip. We also wound the rope the wrong way once.
When we bought a centrifugal clutch we had chain drive. We originally had a belt drive with some kind of clutch rigged up that put pressure on the belt, it sort of worked.