The Home Machinist!

SteveHGraham wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 10, 2018 1:50 pm

Final thing: a two-part video series from 1952, showing the workings of the Naval Gun Factory at the Washington Naval Yard.

That was from back when the USA had lots of industrial might.

I thought the battleship guns were made in a vertical lathe that was mostly beneath ground level, to avoid the problems with extreme lengths and gravity Naval rifles have a lot of rigidity. To give you some perspective, the final iteration of the 16 inch battleship rifle was 50 calibers in length, ...

ChuckHackett-844 wrote: ↑

Mon Apr 09, 2018 2:21 pm

BigDumbDinosaur wrote: ↑

Sun Apr 08, 2018 11:40 pm

... just can't crank out the work the way I could 15-20 years ago. ...

I'm in that group too ... but I still try to make the young kids keep up with me

This hobby seems to be top-heavy with folks such as us.

It's a real pain having to lay on your back under a steaming bay or engine stand to work on breaks, etc. No fun on the back, etc. not to mention the prospect of screws, oil, dirt dropping in your face or, worse mouth :-) Interesting gadget. I've occasionally entertained the notion of building somet...

For the Train Mountain regulars we all know all about trying to clear 37 miles of track from our accumulation of winter debris. Our railroad winds through 2,200 acres of pine trees. This of course means pine needles, pine cones, etc. We have struggled with many ideas for getting the park open for t...

Patio wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 06, 2018 12:34 am

The lathe will turn and bore a gun 73" in diameter and 60 feet long.

Those are battleship dimensions!

Harold_V wrote: ↑

Fri Apr 06, 2018 1:18 am

I will always enforce the no...bad language...mandate.

My language is always good, even when it's bad. I am an ex-sailor, after all.

While it's large, it's not really noteworthy. You want to see large? Take a look at this one: I saw a lathe like that when I was in the Boston Naval Shipyard in the 1960s. It was used for working on the gun barrels of heavy cruisers (8 inch bore) and battleships (16 inch bore). It would have been f...

RE: Tariffs on China vs. Chinese tariffs on us... I'm mindful of the old adage about how it isn't a good deal unless everyone leaves the table feeling cheated. :D Anything the USA does to protect what is left of its industrial capability is going to upset other countries. At some point we have to ma...

Hello all. I wanted to give you an update on Superscale...Basically we were lied to and misled for a year. Very sorry to hear you were led around the mulberry bush by the con artist, and also sorry about the aftermath of your father's death—there is no good way to deal with such a loss. Perhaps thi...

John Hasler wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 28, 2018 3:34 pm

Batteries generate so little hydrogen in normal operation...

True while under load. However, charging causes outgassing in non-sealed batteries, which can produce enough hydrogen to create an explosion hazard.

I don't like the rubber covers, but I have seen a red liquid that is meant to be brushed on? And, where to get? Please advise, thanks. I recommend that you use the rubber covers. Any paint on fluid such as "liquid tape" is going to be very thin and not protect from anything except moisture. Getting...