The Home Machinist!

Naughty :) you should of by code grounded it in the first place. Its attention to little details like that, that seperate the electritions from the 'sparkies'. also that wire by code should be at least 14awg :P since now if you get short to ground that 18awg wire might vaporise.. causeing fires, no...

Many of the cheaper fixtures require that the tube be close to a grounded reflector for them to start reliably. They can be troublesome if the reflector is missing or is not grounded. They use an electric field from the electrode thru the side of the tube for initial ionization. I do not know if al...

Messing around Google, I find that common aluminum alloys are B60 or higher. I'd guess B52 is the rating for dead soft steel. Anything harder than a thumb nail should cut it.

Bill

Steve, don't let the "educational" moments like grabbing the paper towel get to you. This is the newbie stuff everyone experiences. You just hope the education is completed (well, it is never complete) with you intact.. Back when I had kids at home, I had to tell them not to enter the shop...

"Many of the cheaper fixtures require that the tube be close to a grounded reflector for them to start reliably." Now that is interesting, although I had given it some thought, never checked it out. These lights have always been cobbled up to work in existing light fixtures, sans ground. I...

Steve, this is from a guy that has a home shop to make things. It is very easy to make servicable metric threads using a die. Turn the part to correct dimensions, place the die on the end of the part to be threaded, then run the tailstock ram (minus tooling) up against the die, forcing it into prope...

I only know of two important parts in a fluorescent fixture. The bulb and the ballast. Have you tried installing new ballasts? Yes. One of the fixtures has a switch installed in the reflector portion. Being the lazy type, I swapped out the back part as the ballast (in a spare fixture) had a differe...

They are driving me nuts. I have several of the twin tube 40 watt fixtures in the shop. A couple of them are playing "Stump the Fat Old Man" and winning. They have one tube location that does not want to light up. Swap tubes, same problem. Sometimes the tube will light, but be dim. When th...

I think the Rule of Thumb for mounting stuff on a face plate is if the part is held is the right position and you think it is secure, go for it. If balance is an issue, you can add balance weight or slow the speed. It seems the face plate is usually used as a last resort, so it is difficult to have ...

Can anyone provide info on types of blade guides, i,e,. bearings vs sliders? Which is best for metal cutting on a vertical saw?

Bill

Speaking of tight, ever try to loosen a keyless chuck that has been used to saw a 3" hole in 3/8" plate? Proof enough that every shop needs a pair of pipe wrenches. After the first experience, the second (and third, etc.) were due to forgetting to swap out chucks prior to starting the hole...

Steve, there is no reason why you cannot quite easily drill and tap the hammer head in the lathe. Chuck it into the 4 jaw, center it by any available means, then center drill, tap drill and tap. A shortcoming of starting out with a room full of different kinds of machines, you never learn the range ...