The Home Machinist!

I had some trouble with the kiln; it hadn't been used in years. The gfi tripped off a couple of times; the bricks were full of water and the steam was condensing across the contacts outside. Then there was a bad connection at the controler. So the atmosphere was worse than uncontrolled; it was wet, ...

Thanks, I didn't know that; I was lucky this time but if I do it again I'll remember to put the material in end first.

Another thing I hadn't considered is the surface oxidization causing a little material loss.
These parts didn't have to be very accurate so I had the benefit of a cheap lesson.

Thanks guys.
The tractor is sort of a hobby on rather large wheels.

. . .2 rods I made for my press didn't bend at full force. . . You don't say what function your hardened parts will perform, but if edge-loaded or if used where a bending force may be applied you definitely don't want super hard. When they break, its like an explosion - shrapnel and all! There are ...

You really should consider a more robust design... RussN Change the 1" square tube for solid maybe? The glass is 5mm and backed with a 5mm steel plate. glass foam steel.jpg lol. I think the branches need a good shaking at times. All kinds of ding a lots, bad things come off them. In my case, mostly...

Made the clamps from stainless; mounts on 12mm SS rods.

Heating, + quenching for hardness is clear; like I said, a piece that was not subsequently tempered is very hard.

It's the tempering process that I think I have wrong, but the chart Russ sent me [thanks Russ] seems to indicate I was correct.

Sent it on PM, thanks.

Too late, already done.
They should swivel out of the way but if the angle is wrong [as it often is], crunch.
Just like my passenger cars actually.
I made them from 8" weldable pipe end caps and they weigh 10 lbs each.

Yeah, that happens. Rats eat wiring and vacuum hoses. The engineering of the moving parts has gone so far that they are no longer the parts that die first. Usually, it's rust that ends a vehicle's life, but if you live in a dry place and garage it, then the electronics are the ticking bomb. My car w...

I used my OH's computer controlled ceramic kiln. It's very precise. I had some trouble with it as it hadn't been used for a while, I thought the computer might be kaput so I looked up prices; oh my, don't want to go there. Opened it up and shot some air through and it's alive again. The bit I heated...

things run over with my tractor... Oh geez. List is long. Things I hit with the mower came out worse. Several hoses and a couple of nozzles are included. I tend to crush the mirrors against tree branches in the orchard, so now I made strong mirrors. I'm a little worried about what's going to happen ...