The Home Machinist!

Got to looking at the valve hand wheel castings on the turret valves. They are just smaller versions of a standard design that was popular on both sides of the big pond it seems. A simple yet elegant design that looks as good today as it did a century ago.

I found the same style of small anchor block located under the tailstock of my new Jet gear head 1340 lathe when it arrived. Same anchor block was used for the steady rest no less. The anchor block was perhaps half the length of the tailstock base and when tight, would allow the tailstock to move wi...

What scale is the locomotive? All boiler feed water supply lines should be as free flowing as possible with as few right angle bends as possible. The 1/8 diameter tubing is definitely part of the problem. Straighten out the supply line from pump to the check valve as much as possible and use at leas...

With some careful evaluation, it was discovered that the rotary table had a sump for oil and a drain plug. We removed the drain plug and it was dry of oil. Not a good sign, no wonder it would not rotate when the table clamps were all loose. Filled the sump with a thin machine oil and let it marinate...

Long ago I watched a friend install a well worn blade on his bandsaw. He then got out his small angle head grinder and proceeded to quickly remove the teeth that remained on the blade while the blade was in operation. A great show of sparks. He than began to stop the saw and check the width of the b...

Jack, The very late model compressor governor was often noted for being easier to service than the earlier model pump governors. They were also known for being more reliable with fewer road failures. By that time in development of the compressor governors, Westinghouse had finally figured out what w...

Mike, From what Dick Finn he told me he keeps in on display at the museum in the winter months and then takes it up to the monster track in St. Croix for the summer. Once the good weather is over with, he brings it back to the museum. With the current Covid conditions, no telling what he is doing wi...

Appears to be a sight glass valve stem that has a built in restriction for some unknown reason. Appears to be an aftermarket manufacture based on the threading job of the stem where it mates with the bonnet threads. Any calcium or rust deposits should be cleaned out on a regular basis instead of usi...

The steam supply piping on the LE prints will make the locomotive operate nicely. In rebuilding a 1 inch pacific into a northern design, I saw where some improvements in the steam supply might improve the performance of the design. A new boiler was required and a slightly larger dry pipe diameter wa...

Dick, At one time I had made master patterns for shooting wax and making two wax terminal check valves of the Nathan design. Howard Gorin cast them for me and I have no clue what happened to the master patterns. You might reach out to him and see if he still has them and has any castings in stock. F...

Replacing headstock bearings can be more important than we often realize. Long ago a friend had a used home shop lathe with plenty of hours on it but never abused. He began to notice a minor vibration in the machine and soon the part being cut began to show some minor irregular micro chatter marks. ...

WhategO, The rotary table in question would probably be easy to sort out if the missing handle on the right side of the right handwheel were where it belongs. The fact that the handle is long gone and the entire crank/shaft assembly to make the table rotate will not move at all. Makes us believe the...