The Home Machinist!

They have their place in the world. A good example is laser printer toner. The bushing is pressed into plastic, so it doesn't distort, and it only has to live so long. They are perfect in electric drills too (planned obsolescence!). I've re-oiled several. They didn't belong in the product I was work...

Glen, I believe it's more than ease of assembly. It's real easy to get oil-lite bushings to not weep their oil like they should. If it's not a slip fit, they will not self lubricate. If you grease them, they will not lubricate. If you oil them with the wrong oil, they will not lubricate. Use the wro...

Thirdly there are two-pieces vises, but most of these are meant for the full-size machines. They have the mounting slots set at the slot width of the big machines, so there's no easy way to attach them to a smaller table. I have been shopping for one myself lately (I have a bigger benchtop mill/dri...

On a sheet of plastic, you are going to have to clamp down on it. There is no vise that can hold that without making it flex, bow and bend.

If you have no electrical knowledge then my best advise would be to unplug the lathe and call a qualified electrician to diagnose the problem. Your life is at stake so this is not a situation where you want to cut corners. Sorry if this sounds less then helpful but since you are getting shocks from...

On the OD, you should be able to get pretty close if you make the last few cuts light and stop and measure before you repeat. Just turn the handle as little as you can. Do the ID first and shoot for the middle of the usual recommended .001-.003 over and you should be in range. If you have a good way...

My liver saw enough toxins in the 70's, so I try to go light on anything I'm exposing myself to regularly. In the warmer months, I use castrol safety draw, which I believe is half beeswax (~$10/16 oz squeeze bottle). It settles and is too hard to shake up in the winter, I use beeswax diluted with ke...

SteveHGraham wrote:Yes. It even came packed in soy sauce.

You must keep those whetted with soy sauce or they won't cut.

schwabw wrote:Not so fast, guys Vinegar and salt??? Am I falling for a prank, or does that really work?

The salts cause the acetic acid (vinegar) to react with the iron much faster. Add hydrogen peroxide and you can make rust fast!

Salt plus lemon juice makes a mild solution of HCL.

This guy a rebuilding a do-all like it was a Bently: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/ge ... aw-180234/

Beautiful work! You can probably apply some ideas from that thread, Darren.

I love my basement, especially when there are tornadoes out and about! Mine used to leak some, and I resolved it with some creative landscaping. Now it just leaks in one place if the downspout gets clogged, and that part doesn't matter, just fix the clog and pump out the water. 100 year old home. Ne...

Probably fine for general purpose grinding, breaking edges, shaping parts, etc. I can hardly immagine having less than 4 or 5 grinders sitting around