Fascinating early DeWalt photo archive
Early DeWalt History & Machines
I'd come across this incredible archive of early-era DeWalt machines/photos a while back, and just got around to putting it together somewhere:
I'll just quote what I wrote on the album page:
This is a fascinating collection of early-days DeWalt imagery, found online in the collections of Lancaster History. This album is a subset of everything DeWalt-related found over there — the images that caught my eye for one reason or another. The range and diversity of their machines and operation is, to this day, quite incredible.
Unfortunately a large portion of the raw/original photos were extremely washed-out or otherwise sub-par, so I’ve tweaked the levels/contrast on every photo here. Lastly, anything with any color… that’s just something I do when I feel any affection for an old black & white. :)
I'm just still blown away by the variety of different machines, tables, fixtures, workholding rigs, etc. I'd have loved to see their operation back around this time. That's actually what reminded me to share this — in Master the Radial Arm Saw, I read something I'd never noticed before (should be p. 37, under "Checking the Arm and Bearings") — which told me that apparently Wallace (Mr. Sawdust) had a chance to visit the DeWalt plant at some point. Here's an excerpt from that page for anyone curious:
“The solid arm represents a phase of the metal-casting industry that will probably never come back again.
You’re familiar with the fact that wood must be “seasoned.” To make it useful, it’s moisture content must be brought down to a level where it will continue to be stable—between 5% and 15%, depending on where you live.
I remember there was about an acre of ground at the back of the DeWalt plant that looked like a junk pile. It was piled with all kinds of rusting metal—but the piles were very well organized and tagged. It was full of machine arms—being seasoned (stabilizing)—and the ma- chinists knew very well when they “were ready.”
It was not uncommon for production to be delayed because “We’ve got no arms that are ready!”
The milling process in every size of DeWalt arm was not only critical—but it was very special. The “ways” in the smaller machines were not so difficult—but the machining of the big Industrial arms was a sight to behold.
I don’t remember the specifications but we’re not talking about tolerances of just thousandths.
It was in the tenths/thousandths— and that included the straightness of the “way” through lengths as long as 12 feet!”