The Home Machinist!

SteveHGraham wrote:I actually KNOW engineers and scientists, though. I AM a scientist.

You are a scientist? What discipline may I ask?

I decided to go back and read this thread a second time. In so doing I discovered this statement on page 3 : "Henry Greenly, who in many areas of miniature steam locomotives was THE leading light and in others was seriously retarded in his thinking ...." (my emphasis added) If I'm reading ...

....I believe I have an answer to all of this. Every stack design since steam locomotives were built are covered in this book all the way up to modern designs....http://www.camdenmin.co.uk/products/the-fire-burns-much-better-second-edition-to-be-published-late-april Errrrr....A great deal of this t...

Will Chaski eventually be overloaded and break due to too many photos? As things are structured currently, yes, that can happen. The owner is working on a solution. ....Harold Harold, What is the current situation as far as Chaski potentially becoming overloaded, and has the owner looked into it ? ...

I used AutoCAD R12 & R14 a long time ago. I really liked them back then. Even got up to AutoCAD 2002 (in university). But then I got SolidWorks 2004 right afterwards; and (I'm up to SolidWorks 2012) now can't imagine designing and producing Live Steam parts strictly with AutoCAD anymore. Would b...

You should get a milling attachment for your cousins lathe soon , if possible. What make is it ? You may have to have it made, but it's a very sound investment. And learn to use the attachment - along with learning facing, turning, threading, parting off, and boring operations for starters. You'll b...

For Heavens sakes! 59 is not too old to start (I'm close to your age). look, if you really want it and work diligently, I'm fairly confident you could build it inside of 5 years and that's a liberal estimate I think (it's not like your building a Hudson) - you'd be 64 then. Why is that too old? Ridi...

....I am simply looking at various ways to approach the subject and weighing the pros and cons. My cousin does not have a milling attachment. I did not know if that could be done with modifications to a good drill press or not. It is likely that you will not be too successful in modifying a drill p...

I would like to point out FWIW that for many years there were a lot of model engineers who built locos (and other model engineering projects) with hardly more that a 9" lathe and a drill press. Case in point Bill Harris, known for his Falk and Logging In The 1880's books. In fact he mentions th...

Harold, Thanks for the advice (and thank you Bill too). I'm going to try it, turning boring that is. What I don't understand is why this material does not lend itself to reaming. I would think that since you're not taking off very much, there shouldn't be any problem. Has it got something to do with...

Bill,
How would this material work for loco axel bearings if the plan called out bronze bushings/bearings? Has anybody tried that? Thanks again.

"...or at 12 noon, 2 o'clock, and 4 o'clock?" bigc Can't be. Have to be 120° apart. Edit: I would consider a built up crankshaft and with a jig to hold them at 120° apart, you could taper pin them. Re-edit: well, you could have three throws 12-2-4, but I've never seen nor heard of such a ...