The Home Machinist!

Harold V makes an excellent point. I have a friend whom owns several watch maker lathes. Why? because all he works on are small mechanical clocks. My biggest lathe is a Lathemaster 8x14 and it suits me just fine. One thing that I will add is what ever lathe you buy, make sure that tooling is easily ...

If you are not in a hurry, you can use white vinegar. I bought a galvanized metal oil drip tray that fitted just right under my mini-mill. I wanted to paint it so it would match the machine. Did not have a container big enough to hold it. So I laid down plastic sheeting on a piece of plywood. Laid w...

There are several factors here. If the rust is flaking off, I'd just as soon forget it. Surface rust with some pits, no biggy. Definitely check for wear and abuse. Is it an orphan for some special job or some odd brand, it may be hard to get parts and/or tooling. You also must realize that you will ...

About 25 yrs ago my father-in-law, whom was a machinist, showed my son,Ed, on how to make a cold chisel from a piece of rebar. I showed it to a friend of mine and he said. "What's the point, you can buy one at the hardware store". I said to him. "You just don't get it". My son no...

I agree with both MrRon and SteveHGraham. The Grizzly 7x12 is a nice little lathe. Do however check out some of the tooling. Little Machine Shop sells a basic tooling package for 7x lathes for about I think $200. More important, what you need is some knowledge and experience. After some time you wil...

I want to thank you Wes on your info on tool oil. I was not sure about it, but after you mentioning that the oil may have zinc is a good point. Not good. You are correct on the oiling of the scanner and one could have oil dripping everywhere else. However, I found it best to explain to a customer th...

You must have the LMS 3990(if I got that right). I got the LMS 3960. Same mill except it has the spring. I measured the force on raising and lowering the head. Not real accurate since I used a fish scale. The head near the bottom of the table about 10 lbs, near the top close to 0. Definitely not goo...

Hello, after a little surfing on this site, I found myself making a couple of comments in the Junk drawer. So I better introduce myself. Went to a technical high school, learned some machinery, welding, foundry, pattern making, eventually majored in electronics. Spent 4 yrs in army repairing crypto ...

Steve, you got me thinking on the oil, so I did some research. Unfortunately, the secret of what is Hammond oil must have gone with Lauren Hammond's grave. You could buy it on the net, but I don't trust it. There have been people who have used refrigerator compressor oil and some have used drug stor...

Thanks for the complements, guys, you made my day. Steve what model is that organ? I still have many of my Hammond service manuals and even the tech notes that Hammond would print. I'm glad and not surprise that replacing a capacitor fixed your problem. Now here is a little something about the old s...

I repaired electronic organs for over 15 years and many a Hammond. Never had a bearing go bad nor have I heard one going bad. We got our oil from Hammond and it was called, get this, Hammond oil. It was a very fine light oil 10w? similar to sewing machine oil. Do not use 3in-one or WD-40. About 8 to...