The Home Machinist!

I contacted all the vendors and was surprised at the pricing seemed alot higher than what I was expecting. I like to shop local when I can but in this case i might use shapeways if the savings is significant. I have yet to send them my file but might over the weekend.

Steve

I am looking for someone who does rapid prototyping in the Southern California area. I am looking to have some patterns made for lost wax castings.

Thanks
Steve

If you want plain fish plates it is east to make them yourself. Just build a small fixture for the hole spacing and cut them out of whatever material you want to use. The one we have at SCLS holds 6 plates at a time. And can be used with a hand drill or drill press. Once you get going you can get a ...

Did a quick internet search and found this article on radios and their ranges,
http://www.bigsquidrc.com/2-4-ghz-radio ... dio-range/ There are 2 radios that went over 1000' 2 more that did over 800'.

Steve

What distance do you need the radio to work at? I have used Futaba and Airtronics radios years ago and had a range of over 100 yards in an open area. have you tried talking to a local hobby shop about the range of various radios, the radios for aircraft may have a longer range.

Steve

Here is a cheaper alteranitive to the time-sert about $10 http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-threa ... ts/=k6fzsi. It does not require any special tools just a metric tap.

Steve C.

I have seen longer bolts with nuts used multiple times. If it was mine I would do a time-sert
http://www.timesert.com/ or heli-coil. I prefer the time-serts but they are a bit pricey.

Steve

Here is a one of the members of Southern California Live Steamers most recent projects. It is a blue line commuter train, this is the first half of the unit, the second is currently being painted. It is accurately modeled all the way down to the couplers. The owner has worked on this engine on and o...

Have you looked at the products offered by Airheart? Their mechanical caliper is well suited for this type of application. They also sell rotors down to 6" od.

There is also Hi-definition plasma cutting. Was talking to the IMS sales guy about this process and he claims it is more accurate than water jetting I think the tolerance was +- .001 should be good enough for a frame. He also said it is more expensive than the water jet. Here is a link http://www.in...

PM sent on loco parts safetys

Where are you located Keith? I have had custom made hoses for propane done at my local "Hose Man". Usually takes less than a half hour to get what I need made up. Look for hydraulic hose supply/repair houses in your area, most make all types of hoses to order. Here is the link for the vend...