The Home Machinist!

I bought a used Right Angle Head, R8 Milling Arbor and Arbor Support. It looks very similar to the one Enco sells http://www.use-enco.com/pdfs/193.PDF . The name on the Angle Head is "Gem Power" (the Phase II model is another look alike). It did not come with an owner's manual or any instr...

A much better manual can be found at:

http://www.bodine-electric.com/Asp/Literature.asp

Look for the "Pacesetter MICRO Series" download.

Teco and Bodine both rep the same VFD, but the Bodine manual is much better and clearer written.

I bought mine several years ago, when it was made by Darex. The early ones had a few problems with the drill holders, but the Factory Service department was great. I was having problems getting sharpener to work right and Drill Doctor sent me a new sharpener and an extra grinding wheel for FREE. I u...

I justed installed one on my compressor, should have installed it a lot sooner! Very easy to install, the only extra parts I needed were: some self-adhesive mounts to guide the tubing around the compressor; and an extra fitting and tubing to extend the drain piping to a catch can. As a hint, now wou...

I bought a digital tachometer from Tower Hobby for about $25. It was original designed from testing the speed of prop motors, but is easy to use on a lathe or mill, etc. Just need two contrasting color strips, 180* apart, mounted to any spinning round object. For my mill, I made a couple of complete...

I am no expert on VFDs or brake resistors. From what I have learned, the amount of wattage required is related to the weight of the rotating mass (kinetic energy) and the amount of time allowed to reduce the speed. Thus the required wattage for a 2 hp lathe with a heavy chuck and a 2 hp mill with an...

I will say one thing about the Drill Doctor, the service is great. I bought mine when it was under the Darex label and had some problems. I put it on the shelf and forgot about it. A couple of years later, I contacted Drill Doctor to see what I was doing wrong. They said there was a problem with the...

I found the power resistor at a local surplus store - Halted (HSC Electrical Supply). I bought 2 - 200 ohm, 100 watt resistors and mounted them in parallel to get 100 ohm, 200 watt. These resistors are coils wrapped around a ceramic tube core. I am sure there are other surplus stores in your area or...

If you buy the TECO, be sure to downlaod the manual that Bodine has (same VFD, different name), it is MUCH better. http://www.bodine-electric.com/pdf/micro.pdf If you need to stop NOW, just add a brake resistor (I would be careful if you have a threaded chuck... would not want it to come off). The b...

Perfect for working around molten metal... protect your legs and hands from radiant heat, flame and metal splash. NEW - 1 pair of aluminized hip leggings. The leggings have Gentex 1006 Permanently Flame Retardant Rayon (PFR) coating for molten metal splash resistance, heat reflectivity and flame ret...

I have a TECO VFD, and I agree that the manual is hard to understand. This same product is also supported by Bodine Electric and their manual is much better. Here is a link:
http://www.bodine-electric.com/pdf/micro.pdf

Hopefully this will answer some of your questions

A start is to look at the schematic for the Miller's spot timer in the Owner's Manual. It would be very depressing to spend $500 for a factory spot timer and find out that it is really just $125 of parts in a $375 metal box. The wiring is very simple.. only a timer relay, a solid state relay and a s...