The Home Machinist!

I suspect that "mix" is the troublesome part here. Let's throw out that term because it's a chemical fact that oil and water don't "mix." We all know that. What it does (in a hydrostatic lubricator), as I said earlier, is form an emulsion. An Emulsion is a mixture of two immiscible (non-mutually sol...

Might be bad, might not. There's no way for us to tell what you mean by "mixing" exactly, but a proper steam oil (usually labelled by petroleum companies as "steam cylinder oil") will mix, or specifically, form an emulsion with steam and condensate. If you use a proper steam cylinder oil of around I...

. . often with complex and elaborate goggles!

It never ceases to amaze me what some folks think will "get 'er done!" There's no explaining this one. But to answer your question (if you can get past the aesthetics of it), IMHO there's no reason that safeties can't be in two locations on a boiler. However, the usual practice is to "step" safety s...

I agree with James. I heard similar propagandizing in 1966 when our club was founded. At least four of the six or seven local founding members either had completed, had under construction, or actively planned 3.5"ga engines, and a local private track facility had been staked out. But the lone 7.5"ga...

There are a lot of good plate etchers in the UK, and it seems they've sprung up like mushrooms lately, but one in particular has caught my eye. www.steamagenameplates.com His plates are computer generated and then CNC milled rather than etched. I have seen his work in person and it is brilliant!

What are your thoughts on link belts? It's time to replace the belt on my mill vertical head and a link belt will be by far the most convenient way (maybe the only way) to do the replacement, at least without substantially dismantling the head. Any thoughts, pro, con, types or brands to avoid, etc, ...

G-gauge track (aka #1 gauge) is a popular size for models now, and is 1.75 inches between the rails. Many narrow-gauge railroads overseas were built to meter gauge, or 39.37 inches between the rails. So models of meter gauge engines running on G-gauge track are built to a scale of 1.75 : 39.37, equ...

The last secret (after the usual ones) to avoiding chatter on an Atlas is to go very slow. To clean up the last traces of the chatter in the flange fillets or on flywheel crowns I often had to pull wheels around by hand and that would clean it up. Otherwise "all the above" applies.

Jim B,
Thanks for this heads-up, otherwise I'd have never known about a recall.
I had a set of these, as yet unused, and was just about to get under my truck using them!
They went back yesterday.

Thanks. Yes, I've always used the Permatex on threaded stays.

Thinning out paper . . . I have four new copies of Stuart -Turner catalogues, 2 copies each of 1992-93 and 1995-96.
Fifty-six pages, some in color, brand new.
One or all Free to good home, plus postage at cost of $3.00 each.
If interested send me a PM.