The Home Machinist!

Well, I'm hardly an expert, I once saw "expert" defined as: 'X is the unknown factor, and a spurt is a drip under pressure' so allow me to rephrase that: "Maybe those with way more years of experience under their belt can chime in on what I could have done better." There, now yo...

Just when I think I have it all right and tight, I find I am a little off on one axis and the other axis is too tight to let the work piece move. Well, I don't know if I'm doing it right , but it works for me. I dial in close with everything on the loose side -- snug enough that the jaws are in ful...

Actually, I'm having trouble following the logic here. Why would you want hardened rod anyway? Seems to me you want tempered or cold-drawn for tensile strength and toughness. For example, grade 8 bolts are usually tempered after forming. It might be a good idea for washers to be hardened -- they are...

Next time you are in an industrial establishment, look up. See all those pipes and things dangling from the ceiling? Held up there with all-thread rod. Consider a piece of 4" water pipe with hangars spaced on 10' centres. That's roughly 12 cubic feet of water per hangar plus the weight of the p...

Looks like a fun project. Not to discourage you from making one of those, but if you are in a hurry to get the forks back together, the low-tech solution is a long piece of ABS pipe, sized to fit over the fork inner tube and inside the outer tube. Been using one of these for years :wink: Sometimes t...

As a side question yet similar in subject matter, what bandsaw (horizontal/vertical) do most prefer to "prep" their work prior to the lathe? I prefer horizontal (I have both) for most lathe prep. The reason? I'm lazy. I can clamp the work in the vice, turn on the saw and let gravity do th...

I have been playing with stainless (303 and 316). I've found it not too bad to work with, provided I take fairly aggressive cuts, constant feed and a steady drip of sulphur based cutting oil. Now I need to thread some. I need to make a 5" long thread on a piece of 3/8" - 16 (replacement cl...

Direct reading inside micrometer with a range of .2 to 1" ENCO has one on sale for $18. Do you have a link for that? I can't seem to find it on their website. I found the one on page 351 on sale for $32. BTW: anyone else having trouble with Enco's website? Lately half the time I get a 500 erro...

He got back to me again, but indicated the same ELS bulb that Glenn mentioned. My comparator doesn't have the correct socket for that, the voltage supplied is only about 6v and the arrangement looks factory. So I guess I'll have to retrofit something. I did play around with it a bit, using my trusty...

Well, they replied quite promptly: "We no longer have user guides for the model 400, We stopped making the model 400 26 years ago. By front, I assume you mean the profile lamp? My records show we used a 1724 lamp for the profile. See attached picture. The 1724 lamp was discontinued around 10 ye...

Glenn Wegman wrote:Check with Micro-Vu as there was a mod which incorporated a socket/lamp change. I phoned them just after I bought mine as the surface lamp was dead. They asked which lamp it took as there was a change.

Ok, I sent them an e-mail with the serial number. We'll see what they say.

Should be this one... http://www.bulbworks.com/light-bulbs/ELS Cool! The description even specifically references the Micro-Vu 400 Detail. Can't get anymore exact that that, can you? Unfortunately, mine looks more like this: http://www.bulbtown.com/1004_MINIATURE_BULB_BA15D_BASE_p/1004.htm You've g...