The Home Machinist!

NP317 wrote:There was no warpage of the oil-hardened steel.

There is still a lot to be said about plain old ordinary case hardening. All the benefits of crucible steel without the complexity of hardening without damage. Casenit along with antiscale compound gives super results on mild steel.

Bill C.

I saw that article. It would be funnier if it weren't kind of poignant. The sadness is that this is not captioned by a decapod steaming across Pennsylvania countryside rather than a British locomotive steaming somewhere across Great Britain - "America's Finest News Source" doesn't know th...

Richard, You have patience! What you're doing is sort-of 'mass' production which takes diligence. (I would get bored) Interesting process too. Sorry to get off topic with the foundry stuff - Harold needed clarification. Yes, the CNC mill has become a necessity in the shop. When the 'CNC computer' cr...

Then I built a foundry to do some iron - that is a whole 'nother story!! I'd be interested in reading of your experience. And, please clarify. Building a foundry implies you set up a casting process (a foundry is a factory that produces metal castings). Building a furnace implies you built a use-sp...

Appreciate the photos - great work BTW! It's mind boggling how many different directions and pursuits you can go to 'make progress' in this hobby. I too converted (with servo motors and ball screws with anti-backlash nuts) a brand new Enco mill a number of years ago to CNC (use Artsoft Mack3 operati...

I used the 'origin' of the crown sheet radius for the stay holes axis. A bit of trig and a witness line...might just work and the FB wrapper is the one with the precision holes - for silver solder. Intend to tig the barrel stay rod ends - deep into (through) the barrel material. (that's the plan any...

It may be possible to drill the holes for the angled stays using a piloted counterbore, or perhaps a reverse counterbore, after the boiler is assembled. It would work something like this: the location of the holes in the firebox and outer shell would be drilled undersize, such as 3/32", before...

good luck with drilling all of the stays at those angles and getting everything to fit / seal for soldering in copper. STRONGLY suggest you practice on something you do not care about before you begin drilling into $1000 worth of imported pipe. Been there...done that and it is more work than it app...

Wish the photos had more detail...a close-up. What CAM software is used?

I have seen plans for a DIY wire EDM - but it is the beginning of another venture - like DI water making, buying edm wire....and probably lots if diddling around making it work.... A cnc plasma cutter is much the same thing. I have a great Snap-on plasma cutter and a Smith's cutting torch - they hav...

Thanks Bill. You and Marty have pitched in and helped with this and have convinced me that rolling the copper flues into copper flue sheets is not a good idea - even though the sheets are 1/4" copper plate - so they will be silver soldered by these recommendations. That sort-of changes the prot...

Fred_V wrote:A friend in Atlanta had this done and the result was just amazing. The fit of the die block was outrageous.

A wire EDM is another one of those pieces of equipment that would be a massive asset to own and operate - like a CNC mill.