The Home Machinist!

UPDATE: The second time boring went well thanks to all of your advice. Used an end mill holder instead of the drill chuck to hold the boring head, ran at 450 RPM, used some lubricant, and it cut nicely. The hole I had to bore was 0.600 so I was able to use the next size boring cutter and that probab...

I think sticking with what you know is good advice - I can say the IT job market is pretty tough. I work in IT and we recently got over 150 applications for a fairly low level job. Tons of applicants makes the hiring managers unwilling to compromise about getting the exact skills and experience they...

Thanks for the reply. I should have been clearer that I am using a boring bar holder - a small Criterion. It has a 1/2" shank but does not have a Weldon flat so I am using it in a drill chuck rather than an end mill holder. I assumed an end mill holder would not be as good because it effectivel...

I am boring for the first time and wondering if I am doing it correctly. I drilled a 15/32" diameter hole, 3/4" deep in mild steel, and am boring it out to 0.501" diameter. I am using a carbide tipped boring bar running about 100 RPM. I have a set of boring bars, all 1/2" diamete...

There are lots of devices - I have made several. On a large saw such as a 7 x 12 you can simply put the part in a smaller vise (I use a drill press vice) and then clamp the vise in the saw vise. On my old 4 x 6 saw which was too small to hold a drill press vice, I made a small parts holder with two ...

I agree with Gunboatbay that color can be an issue. My first, failed light used a 'camping ring' light designed to fit around a tent pole. Marginal lumens and the color was way too blue. These 'true white' at 6,000 Kelvin are OK so far - I've spent about 6 hours straight at the mill using the light....

Thank you Harold. These are better pictures - essentially an aluminum plate that is screwed to a ring that goes around the quill holding the quill stop - the stop knob is on the right side of the bottom photo. This kind of quill ring is fairly standard for a mill-drill and you would need something d...

Completed a mill LED light array for my RF-45 and results are finally what I wanted. Lots of light and does not interfere with anything. More pics and construction details on my web site http://www.msbn.com/Art/shop.html Spent a lot more time learning about LED's than actually making the light but I...

I made some quick change tool holders - female dove tails - and broke a dove tail mill learning to take smaller bites than one takes with an end mill. It is a lot more like side milling than end milling.

I have a sort of cabinet of plastic boxes I got from Home Depot. There are four rectangular boxes with adjustable compartments roughly 12" x 9" x 2" deep and they slide into a cabinet that has a carrying handle.

I use two boxes for taps and two for lathe tools.

Thanks to Dave's suggestion on mounting a DTI I have a way of measuring alignment. As a side benefit I also now know that the left side of the head varies .025" over 5" measured on the X axis and -.007 in the Y axis. No surprise - it is painted cast iron. I don't understand how the spheric...

Bill - Dave, thanks for your help. I am mulling all this over but am stuck on the next question. How do/ did you get the scale exactly parallel to the quill? The only way I can think of doing this is using a known straight bar, putting it in the vise, indicating it parallel to the quill, and then us...