The Home Machinist!

Harold, Thanks for all of the support and explanation of my misunderstandings. I stood with the owner (Mingledorf) of the foundry in Savannah as he explained what his workers were doing - not saying that he would totally give away what he may have felt was a proprietary process. Sorry you have never...

Good info! Some of the old methods and recipes call for ingredients that have either been renamed or they are so rare, they are impossible to find. Sort-of like a witches potion - where are the fledermaus ears?! They all had a legitimate purpose to the writer but a few chants and feather waving woul...

A counterweight for the headstock/quill is a good thought. If you use a spring it may need to be a flat wound spring such as used in the rope start rewind in a B&S or similar small engine. These will maintain a fairly constant tension over a distance maybe close to the Z axis movement. Having th...

Your backlash issue is not uncommon at all and is a major factor in either choosing the quality of a machine to start with or limiting the precision of the parts that are manufactured. The conversion of a milling machine to a CNC machine is a waste of time without due consideration to the lead screw...

So steel castings mixed in with the normal cast iron will cause a problem in a cupola? I usually add graphite and additives to the crucible melt and have not attempted any of the higher strength irons or semi-steel castings. I visited a foundry in Emporia, VA and watched in amazement what the cupola...

A small cupola would be a bit more challenging to learn to operate and control but worth the trouble due to the benefits over crucible melting iron. The quantity of melt alone is the greatest benefit. The grade of iron is necessarily low in crucible melting too so steel castings would be avoided whe...

It appears to be running on air..... looks like some of the valves stick once in a while too.... Also - even a V-12 has companion cylinders so the crank throw being machined would have another journal running with it.
But hey, the music is good!
BClem

Yes, Form crush grinding is a capability in the home shop. a while back I had a customer who needed a bunch of gear pinions ground. take a piece of roundstock, put it in the lathe and turn the reverse or mirror image of the profile that you want, then drill and bore a good hole in the center of the...

I built one from castings acquired from 'Power Model Supply' a 'few' years ago. I have used it for most any and all milling cutters and lathe tools. An acme lathe tool is a cinch on it... The set-ups can be tedious so 'one off' tools are a compromise in time spent - do a number of them on a set-up. ...

Similar to "don't make a good boy go bad" by leaving your keys in your car....What the heck was that 'good boy' doing looking for keys in cars anyhow? The blame is being placed very oddly in law enforcement as if, as you say: it's the victims fault for the crime. My grandmother used to say...

OOOHHHHH! That makes perfect sense - now... It's amazing how a structural feature will give such a distinctive (what the heck is that) appearance....

BClem

Yes Greg, I agree; the data that your Dad pulled together sounds like a publishable set of documents......