The Home Machinist!

I started my small shop with an 11" Sheldon lathe which was fully equipped. I added a Palmgren milling attachment and used that for a while. i then bought a 6x24 knee mill. A lathe and mill is most basic in any shop and can handle a good 90% of any project with added accessories. The only other machine I can think of that would be needed that can handle jobs the other two basic machines can't do is a surface grinder.

Mine started with one simple thought, I was hacksawing a piece of steel and thought it would be nice to have a band saw to save time. That's when the first dose of metal hit the blood stream.

Harold Wrote

Bottom line is that one obtains the machines needed to fulfill one's needs, and learns to do the "work-arounds" that take the place of machines one can only hope to own in the real world.

Sometimes that includes a 50kW induction oven.

tornitore45 wrote:Sometimes that includes a 50kW induction oven.

Heh!
Well, yeah, in my case it does, but it's a challenge over which I may not prevail.

I started a thread about it some time ago. I've not updated due to a very busy summer in which I have had numerous projects that have interfered, but had to be done. Got a little done with the furnace, though, and I'll likely update the original thread in the near future.

If a guy hopes to cast iron reliably, an induction furnace is quite important, although with a little luck, a small cupola could serve adequately. I make mention because many assume a crucible furnace is up to the task, but it can prove difficult, and is definitely not a reliable procedure.

H

I suppose that if we accept that there is no such thing as a complete machine shop, then an incomplete machine shop any shop is all anyone can aspire to.
Mine is particularly incomplete...

Where will the 50Kw come from for that furnace??

liveaboard wrote:Where will the 50Kw come from for that furnace??

I have three phase 240 volt 400 amp Delta service, with which I will be able to power the furnace via the power supply discussed in this thread.

https://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vi ... ce#p375416

I have not updated the status, but soon will. I have accomplished a great deal on the supply, although it is still in need of attention.

H

That's pretty cool, I look at craigslist and see the occasional deal...wish I had space.
I started out as a machinist, then machinist and fabricator, then messed up my back and now in the office. I still miss it though, probably why I'm playing with big trains now.
Technology has advanced by leaps and bounds. Slots used to be a huge deal, now I take my drawing to the local laser cutter and they patch it into their next run of like thickness plate and its done. Feeds are in feet per minute or meters per minute, not inches. It's crazy watching the thing cut. Work also has a beam-line that drills, taps, and mills, and they milled my 4 locomotive truck sides from some 6" channel in about 5 minutes a piece.
I inherited a bunch of stuff from my late grandfather, he had a truck repair place and I was only male tinkerer in the family. Got a 12" horizontal band-saw, torch with about 8 different heads and owner tanks, and some hand tools. I already had a miller-matic 250, an old Miller 430A TIG welder from a shipyard(need any holes melted in 1/2" aluminum?), 1HP drill press, belt sander, small bench-top band saw, chop saws and friction saw, generator and more. Sadly I don't have a shop with enough 220V to run any of the welders or big saw right now, but hoping to change that come next spring.
I really miss having access to a lathe, our shop is union and management is not, so I can only use the lathe at work when someone is present or willing to hang around while I use it, that is non-union after the guys have gone home. All those moons only align on a rare occasion.
Probably the most fun lathe I've ever ran was an old turret lathe. Set a bunch of dial indicators up, and you could turn, drill, tap, countersink, part-off, and repeat within a couple thousandths all day long.

Harold_V wrote:

liveaboard wrote:Where will the 50Kw come from for that furnace??

I have three phase 240 volt 400 amp Delta service, with which I will be able to power the furnace via the power supply discussed in this thread.

https://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/vi ... ce#p375416

I have not updated the status, but soon will. I have accomplished a great deal on the supply, although it is still in need of attention.

H

That's some power! The scene from x-mas vacation where they have to kick on the extra reactor when Clark plugs in his x-mas lights comes to mind lol

Where will the 50Kw come from for that furnace??

My post was just a way to needle Harold a bit, since as equipment go, his furnace project is way beyond home shop equipment.

As for the 50kW figure I slipped in, it was a wild guess of memory recollection since I did not re-read Harold original description.

Summer has a way inject distractions, we just got back from 5 months in Buffalo, missing my shop badly.

Eighteen years ago I sold my shop to my business partner. Since then, I've had nothing more sophisticated than a drill motor, hacksaw and file. A couple of years ago, I bought a Lincoln tombstone welder for $50. Last year I bought an HF 4x6 bandsaw and and benchtop 10" drill press. Recently, I had been casually looking at machines on Craigslist, with no real intent. I mentioned this to a couple of old friends who are still in the business. About a month later, I got a phone call from Fred, my former employer and the man who taught me the trade. He asked me if I wanted a lathe and a mill. Of course I said yes. He told me to get a truck and come get them. I now have a South Bend Heavy 10L and a Kent 9x42 (BP copy) mill. Both came well tooled, including DRO on the mill, chucks, vise, collets, QCTP and a large assortment of endmills and other tooling. That's how I ended up with a machine shop (again).