The Home Machinist!

So I have to ask the question, how many of each part are you making? 6, 8? or a much larger quantity? I own a commercial shop, much like Harold did, and I would not even think about using super glue to make the parts. For small quantities I would make them just as Harold says, using stops, doing eac...

What kind of mill is it and what type of power feed unit is on the X-axis? Many of the Bridgeport clones use the Servo or similar power feed units. They have a plastic gear that is usually the victim when table stops moving, yet the motor keeps running.

Nyle

McMaster, Doall, Msc Industrial Supply are the sources I go to as well as Ebay. Starrett, Lenox and Doall make great blades. Stick with Bimetal for most things. Stay away from Wikus....I friend told me they were great blades, so I tried a couple. They didn't last long, I think they were too hard as ...

Yes, around $1700 is the going rate for something considered a half day job. I use Pedowitz for my rigging, very professional and most important, they are insured. Nothing worse than trying to do it yourself and dumping the machine over, which is very easy to do. There are other riggers in the Tri S...

3" Hudson, drawings by Seymour Johnson.

Nyle

Interesting project dozer you have. I have an old Speedcat Dozer that I have to repair. The tracks are worn out, and the spline on the drive sprocket is stripped. I was thinking about getting rubber tracks as well, so I"ll be curious to see how you adapt them to your machine.

Nyle

Just because it is in Wikipedia, doesn't mean it is correct. Misinformation abounds on the internet.

I'm not saying it isn't the locomotive that was used....

Nyle

"Thoriated won't ball" I use thoriated all of the time on aluminum and have no problem at all balling it. It doesn't hold the ball as well as other types of tungsten but does work quite well. Granted I have zirconiated on the shelf which is great for aluminum, but sometimes I get lazy....it's not li...

If you have enough stock on an edge try a spark test. Hit it with a grinder, short orange sparks and you have cast iron, longer yellow sparks , you have steel. try the spark test against a known piece of cast or steel.

Nyle

Proper way to weld aluminum on AC is to ball the tungsten. You will get a more stable arc that will hold up better at higher current. Grinding a blunt /rounded end is a lazy way to do it, and I have done it many times myself when feeling lazy. If your tungsten start to get fuzzy little hairs on the ...

You say that you have to regrind the tip when welding aluminum....are you balling the tungsten before you weld the aluminum? Are you welding the aluminum using AC with high frequency on? when you switch over to the steel are you also switching to DC-, high freq on start only? Your electrode size is ...

He's not dead...he's just resting.....