When hot rod legend Jimmy Shine recently joined us at Baileigh HQ to shoot some product demo videos, we took the opportunity to ask him about the machines in his own shop. “I love all of them and I use them every day. I rely on them and they’ve never let me down,” he says.
The famous fabricator fondly remembers the beginning of his 14-year partnership with Baileigh. “When I did one of my first television shows Baileigh was nice enough to step up and sponsor a few machines. I was so pleased with the performance and the service that we’ve all grown to become a kind of a family here.”
It was tough for Jimmy to name only his favorite Baileigh machines when we asked. “They’re like children. I can’t choose just one!” Fortunately, we persuaded him to pick the top 5 most frequently used models in his Baileigh-centric shop.
1. Vertical Band Saw BS-16
- 15.25” maximum thickness.
- Variable speed from 62 to 249 fpm.
- .75 hp 220-volt single-phase motor.
- Accepts most common blade widths.
Jimmy’s take:
“What’s nice is that I use a bi-metal blade on my band saw, and it has a force feed, so you don’t have to stop and adjust the belt. There’s no simply downtime with the machine running.
“I can shift from a low speed cutting a very hard material, like steel or stainless steel. Then, with that same by metal blade, I can increase the speed up to fourth gear. When it’s just singing, I can very efficiently cut softer metals, such as aluminum. So it’s a real fast feature.”
2. Drill Press DP-1250VS
- 2 hp 220-volt single-phase power.
- 1.25” mild steel drilling capacity.
- 65 to 2,000 rpm variable speed.
- 22” x 18.5” cast iron table.
Jimmy’s take:
“My drill press has high and low speed ranges [so you can adjust on the fly]. They’re just so efficient.”
3. Milling Machine VM-936-1
- 3.37” spindle diameter.
- 5 spindle speeds from 240-1550 rpm.
- 1.5 hp 220-volt single-phase motor.
- 9” x 36” hardened, ground, and polished table.
- Forged casting with Meehanite® for rigidity.
Jimmy’s take:
“It’s perfect. I don’t need a giant machine. It’s just big enough to do what I need it to do, and it’s effective for size.
“I love the power feed because it’s all manually controlled. It’s a nice luxury. When I’m going from one side of a cut to another, I simply back off my back spacing, hit the power feed, and it just runs. It disengages the handle so the handles don’t hit you in the hand or anything like that as it’s spinning. Good safety. It quickly moves the bed in any direction. So that just expedites the process—saves me time, saves my customers money.”
4. Metal Lathe PL-1440E
- 8 spindle speeds from 70 to 2,000 rpm.
- 2-axis digital readout.
- 2 hp 220-volt single-phase motor.
Jimmy’s take:
“It has many different power features on it. Just a lovely machine. It seems to be one of the favorite machines that all my employees like to use in the shop, with all our shelves and our tooling around it.
“There’s just something about running a lathe that just puts a smile on your face. They’re fun machines to operate.”
5. Power Hammer MH-19
- 19” throat depth.
- 16 gauge mild steel capacity.
- Variable speed from 0 to 1,500 bpm.
- 220-volt single-phase power.
- 1”-thick steel plate frame.
Jimmy’s take:
“That’s a wonderful machine, because it’s a metal hammer for shaping large pieces of sheet metal into body components, hoods, fenders, rooftops, and quarter-panel door skins. But it also has the ability to work like a Pullmax machine where you can actually make your own dies and run metal through there. It’ll stamp it and actually put belt lines in a body panel.”
“These machines were developed back in wartime era for doing a lot of military stuff. Not many were produced, then later some similar machines were made, but they didn’t have the same quality. When Chris [Rusch] came on board with RMD, he developed this series of metal hammers. They’re cost-effective, wonderful machines and very well built. And now many different metal shapers have the ability to buy these quality machines and do a better job.”
All Baileigh machines include lifetime technical support by phone.
One thing Jimmy wanted to point out about all of our machines is the world-class service they come with. Speaking from our office in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, he described our awe-inspiring tech department and support resources:
“I’m looking at probably 80 to 100 machines that are plugged in, wired up, fed, everything they need. All the tech department actually has headsets so they can get up and walk away from their desk. They can be talking to somebody anywhere in the world on the phone and, looking at that exact machine, and talking them through the process. It’s pretty rad.”
If you want to see more Baileigh machines in action, go follow Jimmy Shine on Instagram!
Questions? Not sure which model is right for you? Give us a call at 1-920-684-4990.