It was one year ago today that I got my Robust American Beauty home and setup! I had the story all ready to post but circumstances prevented me from posting the whole story. So, in honor of her birthday… here is the rest of the story.
It all started on a Thursday morning (Oct 6, 2011) at 4 a.m., when I hit the road and headed south! Figured that by leaving early, I could take my time and still miss all that U.P. traffic! What I didn’t count on was fog and it started just a couple of miles from my house and lasted all the way down into the Appleton, Wisconsin area, which normally is about a 4 hour drive. Makes for a long drive when there are areas you can’t see 50’ in front of you!
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Photo #1 - shows the beautiful sunrise over Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin
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Photo #2 – Arrival at the Robust Factory
I arrived at the Robust factory, located in Mt. Horeb, WI, a little past 10 a.m. (my time) and was happy to get out and stretch my legs a bit! Brent English, the owner of Robust, welcomed me and promptly gave me the grand tour of the facility. First thing he did was point out the fully assembled American Beauty lathe in the center of the shop and said “That’s your lathe!”
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Photos # 3 – lathe front view & 4 – lathe rear view
I have to admit, I was thrilled to finally being able to take her home! Brent then walked me through the different areas in the factory and explained many of the steps they take to go from raw metal stock to a finished lathe.
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Photo # 5 – Brent showing me the raw steel they use to form headstocks
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Photo #6 – Brent showed me the steel used for the body of the different lathes
He also introduced me to each of his obviously skilled employees! I’ve always appreciated precision metal work and really admire the quality of product these guys produce!
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Photo # 7 – Wayne setting up the mill
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Photo #8 – Rich building a long bed Beauty
continued...