The day our old core blower finally gave up the ghost

We were in the middle of a big run of 200 engine blocks for a local shop, and our core blower, a Redford model from the 80s, just seized solid. It sounded like a bag of wrenches falling down a flight of stairs. We lost a full day of production trying to jury-rig a fix before the boss had to rent a unit from two towns over. That machine had been a workhorse for decades, and its sudden death really threw our whole rhythm off. What's the longest you've had a key piece of equipment last before a major failure like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

eric_carr1mo ago

We had a band saw from the late 70s that ran until last year. The motor bearings finally gave out, but the weird part was it died during a simple cut on soft pine, not some tough hardwood. It just picked the most boring moment to go. What's the strangest timing you've seen for a machine failure?

nora_wells581mo ago

Lol, like it waited for the least dramatic exit possible.