The Home Machinist!

The book math is only a guideline in my experience. Experience is a very good but stern teacher. From your description, and from your other post, it appears the parts roll only and do not drive. If you could make the axle and bore EXACTLY the same size (0.0000) they would not go together without the...

Without further comprehension on my part, stitch welds on cast iron are very poor practice. The reason, rapid chilling guarantees cracks. Yes, there are procedures to avoid that But alternate methods may be preferable...anaerobic lockers, mechanical (pins, dutch keys etc.) If the part is not greatly...

"Anyone had any experiences with the tempilstick products?"

Yes.
Some are crumbly until you are near target, when they either smear or act like liquid.
The wrapper contains it until then.
If it is falling apart on handling, complain.

Informed response requires intended mechanicals and thermal gradients.
What purpose does the weldment serve?

If you buy blocks to check your mikes, you can't use your mikes to check the blocks. Unless your mikes have been checked. And if you could do that, you wouldn't have bought the blocks. (snip) Paraphrasing Nick, and attempting clarification of my statement: Say you have a gage block of known provena...

The PM dudes claim errors cancel instead of adding. It's funny; people say to use blocks to calibrate mikes, but when they evaluate their blocks, they say they're "dead on"...according to their mikes. Shars has a reasonable set of AS-0 blocks. I think that might not be a bad thing to have...

Steve It's all relative. Fine and practical work that precedes us was done by craftsman who never knew the "numbers" but relied on the feel of fits assessed by all manner of calipers without graduation. As Rich said, shops can produce good work using in house standards, even if they don't ...

No Heat !! JB weld if you must. Agree, no heat. Epoxy on the way holes and dimple is quick and makes cleaning easy. I doubt you'll give it much thought post deed, but some other repair later would be easy to facilitate. Babbitt was used in days of yore for oops and cosmetic casting flaws but I see ...

A couple methods in addition to shimming. 1. Tap a hole in the side of the casting and use soft tipped drive screw(s) or a brass slug to take up play. 2. Inject Moglice or homemade version. You will need to research clearance req'd, parting, mixes etc. I've known a few Bports that had this done, a l...

"What is a punch pin ?"

An ambiguous term, though specific to users, as in Earlgo's reply.
Those pins need the diameter maintained, essentially form tools.
Picture in the OP will do OD's and ends

Those old time batteries were supposed to have been used to gold plate lead figurines. So, if you ever buy an old "gold" statue, it just may be lead that was gold plated. BTW, they had hearing aids back then. They just didn't fit in your ears. You married them and they told you everything...

Let me invite abuse by asking: why would anyone spend that much on a manual lathe? What do you get that's so wonderful? I don't really know much about the 10EE. (snip) 1st question, I doubt anyone would these days. A fully equipped 10EE compared to a modest CNC is a no-brainer for someone making ch...