The Home Machinist!

Idea for a poor man's VTL: Put a VFD on a rotary table and put on a mill? You would have to run oil coolant through it instead of the normal oil at least. What would the tooling be? Stationary fly cutter?

Thoughts?

SteveR

Dave's work shown here (and that chucker is a real beauty) isn't really a good comparison to what CNC really brings to the table; the ability to run multiple axes simultaneously. In the video here, we see the lathe cutting in a single axis each time. On a manual mill, we (I) cut one axis at a time. ...

Troll. Agree with Bill.

SteveR

Radient energy is a force we can't feel or see or measure with normal instruments because it's perfectly balanced, and yet it occupies all of space and has massive power potential just by unbalancing it a little. OK - but if we can't measure with normal instruments, we need some kind of gizmo to in...

What Fender said. If you haven't used a roughing end mill, do this first. A high benefit/cost ratio.

SteveR

If machining cast iron outer surfaces with sand and grit, I try to clean as I go. If aluminum or bronze or brass or steel, then I will clean up when there is stuff starting to end up on the floor or when I change over to a different material. I segregate ferrous (4.5 - 5gal cans) from aluminum (1.5 ...

Hi Mike,
To answer your question, I might take a set or two or even three depending on the price.
thanks,
SteveR

I use Vactra #2 on my mill and lathe ways. I thought I would capture this as a reference. From the Mobil Vactra website: https://www.mobil.com/English-US/Industrial/pds/GLXXMobil-Vactra-Oil-Numbered-Series "Mobil Vactra Oil Numbered Series products are recommended for the lubrication of machine tool...

Not exhausted at all.

You make it sound like it's either Monel or CRS. You only need a thin protective layer. Has anyone had the inside of a boiler plated?

SteveR

From what I can tell, there are too many variables involved in boiler failure as well as too many different failure modes to definitively say that there is any one best or worst way to build a boiler. Its going to be a tradeoff between a bunch of factors, none of which anyone really keeps track of. ...

Go Kart. Go Kart. Go Kart. Big gear on motor. Tiny gear on axle. Fast. Torque. Zoom.

Gents - I'm trying to build a steam locomotive and I believe it's the hardest thing I've ever done. It challenges my persistence often, so I look for inspiration wherever I can find it. One place is in this book by Anne Lamott called "Bird by Bird" that talks about overcoming obstacles. It is actual...