The Home Machinist!

Modeltec had some good issues in the series. i treasure all my copies. i have all but the last few sporadic issues. some great build's on cars in the series. some trucks, and detail parts.

Hey Dave, i pretty much agree with bobs comment's. I love seeing your work, mixing of scale and what compromises you need to make to make things work yet still look prototypical. so please keep them coming i think most people enjoy what you have to say but will never leave a comment on it either. al...

Here is some more info on the early pyle national generator, go to google, then to the book section, (like the patent search) and type in "locomotive appliances" second down is the 1907 copy, open it to page 10 and there are some drawings of the early model. the early models were fairly la...

Norm, great looking loco!!!!!! can we get more info and more photos of it? what make of generater are you leaning towards? pyle national, moon, eclipse? the best advise i could give is head to an old book store and look inthere old railroad section. at our local bookstore (powells) recently i picked...

this should stir some laughs, my first boss always told me that you could use PAM spray to keep the splatter from sticking. i have heard this from others over the years. i have never tried it yet, but if it works it would be an easy and cheap subsitute for industrial supplies,,,

Great!!! who was the supplier for the air pump?

for the expansion links,,, i was going to make a short run of these myself. wire edm them out of heat treated tool steel. i figure D2 heat treated to 58 rc would give me the most toughness yet still have the best wear resistance. then wire out the die block to fit too. that way they should outlast t...

what program are you using? i believe most programs model resolution and the viewing resolution are 2 diferent things. on solidworks you can turn down the resolution of the views to speed up rebuild and graphics. when you output to a file such as stl, is where i believe you set the physical resoluti...

I have a herbert #3 turret lathe. the carriage handle is mounted on the headstock. along with the power feed handle.

I believe the largest shank of tool you can run in one is 3/16 dia. cut slots at angle, minature angle head to get inside of things. cut corner reliefs and some limited work up under a lip. but all small cuts. if you set it at the right angle and run a tapered end mill you can mill out a sharp corne...

In my opinion buying used grinding wheels is like buying used underwear,,,,not a good idea. You do not know the history of them, who has handled them, how they have been used or stored. most people dont understand or respect grinding wheels enough. I know a guy who is always after the "good dea...

I have an induma mill. variable speed head. 1974 build. use it commercialy daily. great mill. very acurate. only maintinence i have done on it in 15 years is replaced the belt in the head. i have the manuals if you need a copy. yes made in italy. the only special thing to take extra care of is that ...