The Home Machinist!

By the time I read this Harold has recovered, he is a tough old bird. Welcome back.

This are really small. I use mine when a small part needs a compound angle or need to be held with an attitude the regular vise does not favor. It can be useful for the right job but not too often.

Sure, but when I asked for their "toss away" at the tire store they said: "nowadays they are rarely lead". I grabbed a coffee can worth of them and found about half to be something else. The file roughly like aluminum, harder than lead and not gummy as lead.

What are they made of, these day that lead is banned?

Continuing with sorting and classifying When I saw a few shiny pieces of round stock I thought "oh goodie some SS" then as I pick them up they felt way too light to be SS They shine like SS but do not have that yellowish tinge Density range from 4.72 to 4.9 average 4.77 by the "lab grade" kitchen sc...

You haven't lived until you've witnessed a magnesium fire. When I was about 7 my brother and I went to the Luna Park. My brother tried the Photo-shooting where if you hit the bull's eye a photo is taken instantly. Looks cool staring right at the barrel. Believe it or not they still had Magnesium Fl...

Sorting through inherited junk i run into a chunk of very light metal The dark matte gray scale (Oxide ?) scratches to a shiny bright similar to Aluminum. The specific gravity determined with my "lab grade" kitchen scale turns out to be 1.77 I just looked up Magnesium, in pure form has density = 1.7...

What my Chinese lathe and mill lack in power, rigidity and accuracy is offset by their intelligence and ability to learn because they have learned to turn out better and better parts since the the day I bought them. They still screw up occasionally but not as nearly as they were brand new.

When I still was under that spell many of you know as "I can't live without that tool" I accumulated a 1/2 a dozen chucks plus an expensive Bison 5C collet chuck. After refining a technique to center stock in a 4 independent jaws chuck the larger 6" chuck stays on the spindle 99% of the time. The on...

IMG_0106.JPG IMG_0106.JPG A Mikey Mouse set up but is plenty rigid for drilling an tapping 5 #8 holes The Tractor rear wheels at 7.5" OD are taxing my machines to the limits, after that all parts fall inside the machine envelope. The RT is on 2" blocks + parallels laying flat to clear the RT base e...

Here is the 3M technical web page about their family of deburring wheels:

Thanks Russ, will study the guide. Sounds I "need" one or two.

Same happen to me on a Dykem of nearly the same vintage.
There was a discussion on this topic.
They changed the formulation at some point, probably because it gave diarrhea if one drinks more than 1/2 a gallon.
The old stuff kept fine.