The Home Machinist!

Steve:

There are some machining videos on YouTube featuring the Shapeoko, see this channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpyCap ... oanzYDLwnQ

- Wes

I have similar "anvils" on an insert face mill used with square SEKN type inserts. That style lacks a center mounting hole, it is instead held by a clamp. The holder has an angle that matches the one on the edges of the insert, and the "anvil" serves as a "shim", becaus...

I didn't have much trouble machining a 12mm ball screw (shortened and reformed the slack end). I used a 4-jaw chuck and copper pads, carefully dialed it in, and a carbide parting blade and lathe bit. It seemed the steel core is not all that hard, although the chrome plating over it is. Once under th...

Huot makes a "Bit Buddy" that is a round plastic drill index. But it lacks the feature of the hole in the lid... the lid screws off and you remove/replace the bit and put the cap back on.

All I tried to do was put the "old versus new" in perspective. If the old ones are working as they did originally, people made a lot of sophisticated parts with them. Personally, I would no longer enjoy spending the needed time with an oscilloscope or a signal analyzer to determine what wo...

Here is a very specific discussion about DRO scales on Practical Machinist: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/general/do-any-dro-scales-interchange-any-other-brand-dro-other-than-same-brand-336490/ A lot of the newer Chinese-made DRO scales are more compatible with other readers, since they all s...

He told us about a device called a pyrometer, used in the steel industry to gauge temperature. It's a thing you look through, and it lets you compare the color of hot metal to a reference color. I have seen those used, over 40 years ago. It was so important that a member of management brought it do...

Oh. The price I saw was $1,500. Good luck on your project.

Square column (dovetail) mills can suffer from side-to-side tramming issues if the gibs are not very tight or the table is not locked. This is most noticeable on facing operations when traversing in alternate X axis movements using any large diameter facing tool. A large plate will have curved milli...

That is a good tour.
I wish I had 10% of John Saunder's enthusiasm!

I saw your post days ago, but I didn't have specific information on that model. But I felt bad that no one was responding, and I think it was likely for the same reason. Anyway, welcome to the forum. Most of the active members add a location in their profile... it needn't be the exact town, just a n...

For what it is worth, I have used an all-thread rod (using a pair of jam nuts) as a draw bar before on a small 3/4 HP mill with a head similar to the online pictures I saw of your Maximat (I have never seen one in person). All the cutting forces transfer to the spindle through the taper, a draw bar ...