The Home Machinist!

I looked back to the start to confirm you said "16 ga steel". Even the craptastic HF step drills should do just fine for that, unless you run it too fast and burn off the edge. Most seem to be a high carbon steel, so they like to run pretty slow. Anyway, I've got a cheap chinese set, and even they w...

I didn't read everything, so may have been said, but if the deck is wood, I like to screw down some 2x4 sections to box in the base of machines just to make sure there is no sliding.

For the record, mine are all ballast bypass as well. Can't comment on savings. Not sure why others seem to have such good luck when I've had an unacceptable failure rate. Maybe I just got unlucky. I've still got maybe 10 or so new in the box awaiting either their brethren or other fluorescents to di...

I had similar frustration. Even buying a not cheap "good one" these days is an exercise in futility. So I make my own. Just get a good brass ball valve hose bib, and a hose female thread brass adapter for mounting it on a hose. Now you have a good setup to put on the end of a hose to control the flo...

Yes, as usual, John is on the money. Hard to be without step bits, and that's the right tool for this job. I've also got a really large one by Neiko (IIRC?) from Amazon for not much money. Goes up to 1-3/8.". However, in a bind, I've used brad point (wood) bits when I need smaller sizes or finer siz...

High, my name is Russ, and I'm an addict... I don't do a tremendous amount of sheet metal work, and for what I do, I've mostly made do by using my press brake and welding. But recently I took and opportunity to buy a pretty nice Diacro box/pan (aka finger) brake. Most of it is in great condition, bu...

I've cut down a few Kennametal holders without difficulty. As others have said, not very hard, but didn't cut easily. I used a 1/2" 3 flute carbide roughing EM, which did the job to my satisfaction.

Absolutely agreed. I was just making sure it was doubly clear for those with the insert blades like my Sandvick, those aren't suitable. On that topic, I do have one of those for (IIRC) 3/4" blades in CXA. However, I never use it for parting. But having it and assorted HSS parting blades on hand, I h...

I've got one of those adapters for the Sandvick blades. Inserts are a bit pricey, but last very well in my experience. And the blades are pretty pricey too. But these things have taken ALL the drama out of parting for me. With a rigid setup, they just simply work and cut beautifully every time. And ...

Oh, and you can get bulk T12 "tombstones" for very cheap. I've harvested a fair number from old fixtures as I come across them, just in case.

On LED lights, I've stated in the past that I have been very happy with the T8 drop-in LED replacements (directly replace T12 or T8 removing the ballast). I was absolutely loving them, and had bought some bulk boxes of the things to have on hand to replace as tubes/ballasts died. But it's not standi...

Glad to hear you are physically healing rapidly, and best wishes for the nerve recovery.