Wow, I have worked on hundreds of miles of conveyor in my career and haven't seen that style of conveyor before! Very cool stuff. Most of the stuff I worked on was a rod with a pad that snapped on and was controlled by a diverter arrangement underneath. Also cool to watch but not nearly sophisticated at that!
You used to have to drill several centerdrill holes in the end and then set the lathe up for every journal. CNC just makes it too damn easy! Last one I used I had to write the program in code, type it onto a tape and run the tape into the computer. Once you hit start you kept your hand next to E-stop in case you wrote the program wrong!
Wow, that brings back memories! I used to build form dies and punch dies for hot metal when I worked at the car shop building railroad boxcars. There were no robots back then, just a bunch of guys in leather aprons and a pair a tongs!