The Home Machinist!

Harold_V wrote:

david5605 wrote:they are big enough to hang on to with a gloved hand.

Gloves and machinery are not compatible with one another. That's an invitation for trouble.

Harold

I agree with you. Even in this case it's a invitation for trouble many wouldn't/shouldn't take.

Peace, Dave

Based on how many you have to do I'd figure out how to minimize my mill table movement operations. Constantly moving the table, even under power, can get boring quickly. Assuming you cut to rough length first, I'd set up to mill, with some kind of material stop, to square off all the lefts, or right...

Good luck trying to cut 1/4" thick steel with a grinder. BTDT. Something like cutting off pieces of ¼" rod is one thing. If you are going to try and cut a few inches or over you are going to go through cutoff wheels in a hurry. If you want to consistently cut any distance, in a straight li...

Go on eBay and you will find a couple of places that sell just rotors. They usually advertise some offbeat rotor for a Volvo or other obscure car for under $10 shipped. With a little cross referencing and looking at a napa type website I'm sure you can find two rotors that fit your needs for $10 eac...

I've been looking into 5C emergency/pot collets for doing some small, thin, repetitive work. Seems they might be just the ticket for some of the small turnings mentioned in this thread. I do like J.Ramsey's chuck spacer. I'm going to make one of those for another problem I've had rolling around in m...

Keep in mind that with the retractable arm you can really get into trouble if you run it out the other way and the weight/ center of gravity extends beyond the casters on the legs.

One second everything is fine. Next second everything is pivoting forward and instant panic. BTDT.

I've played for years. Hate to say it but it is a real good way to kill hours/days when in the hospital as a patient of long term visitor.

Even got to the point of, I think it was, 15x15.

With today's smartphones and ipad/tablet devices having free suduko games you can literally play forever.

Having successfully red neck engineered a 2000# 14x40 lathe off the back of a pickup with just a cherry picker engine hoist I'll offer the following. Keep a couple of things in mind.... Just because others have gotten away using a 2 ton cherry picker set at the 1000# point doesn't mean you will. If ...

My impression is the bleeder and its mating surface are at different angles so I could see the bleeder at 90 and the seat at 120. Sort of like valve and seat angles in a combustion engine. Although there they are only a few degrees difference. Used bleeders I have seen have a very narrow mating surf...

Based on Torch's estimating process that part is worth about $3 if that, and your payment would be a scrap of aluminum approximately 1"x1-1/2"x1/2". Try to not use all of it up on your next project. :mrgreen: I tend to estimate in beers, payment up front, and if I don't have the mater...

With those tolerances (.020) I could do that with a 1/4" and 5/16" end mill and the appropriate sized drill bit for the through hole. Would take me longer to find a piece of scrap and clean up afterwards than to make the piece.

Make it for free and hand it to him.

Another thing to keep in mind is some machines/torches are designed to work just fine being dragged on what you are cutting. My ESAB 550 is a drag machine. Pretty sure though that it says when doing thicker material the preferred way is not to drag but to standoff.