The Home Machinist!

Years ago, I heard a story about a repair tech who died, but did not make it to heaven. While being shown around his eternal place of punishment, he was told that he would spend eternity in a state-of-the-art repair shop with every tool ever made, every part ever made, every piece of test gear avail...

I built one of Kozo's first Shay in 1 1/2sc. I made the crankshaft in pieces, locktited them together and then used taper pins just to make sure. Its been running for 30 years and no problems.

Jim B

Adam, that's good to know. However, I had to order the parts from Shapeways because one of the contributors was on their site. I tried to contact the designer, but no avail. I just ordered one of the parts for the Cole-Scoville trailing truck and it was $834. I do plan to make molds and get the next...

I have a Kw meter on the shelf, but not a Kvar meter. Our Brown Bovari motor generator sets were gone by 1980 and replaced with Inductotherms. Being solid state, they didn't need the Kvar meter, just furnace voltage, frequency, and Kw. Still had to switch in capacitors once in while, but not often. ...

I had the same issue with a machine that I painted with Rustoleum. I followed the directions to the letter and it still happened. I went to the ACE brand of paint, and everything went perfectly. Since Rustoleum changed their formula, I have had nothing but problems with it. My use of that brand has ...

I got the one that Bill had a link to. I downloaded the catalog, but I am going to have to study it before ordering.

Jim B

Ok Bill, you convinced me, I bought one!

Jim B

LocTite that I have is at least 20 years old. I have been replacing it because the bottles are getting sticky to the touch and very soft.

Jim B

The other issue is cost. Rarely do we break even on the cost of setting up for the show, hotel rooms, and meals. The other factor for us is the weather. No fun pulling a trailer in snow.

Jim Bronson

+1 for DRO Pro's as well. I have had much better luck with them than the inexpensive Chinese stuff.
On the DRO Pro's stuff, I have used only the magnetic scales and have had to cut some really longs ones to size.
I have even received one Chinese DRO with no case!?

Jim B

I seem to remember a case at a club in the east where a 'rarher large' loco overloaded the vertical lift and .....

Dan Culps Challenger at PVLS? Yes, I was there.

Jim B

It is a three phase industrial high capacity water heater. If it was running on 240 single phase, it just wouldn't heat as fast, but it still would work. I have had to work on a couple of these at the foundry. The ones that we had, ran on 480vac and would heat from cold to 180degs in about 5-10 minu...