The Home Machinist!

Gerry was enjoying good health when I last visited him, and working on the plumbing for that engine, so I had the opportunity to see it close up and personal. It's truly magnificent!

Harold

Harold, I've never heard of a Wahlstrom chuck. How do they work? David Very simple. The photo, below, shows one of the ½" size. To operate the chuck, with the spindle running at a desirable speed, one grasps the knurled portion, top, and holds on. That opens the jaws. Insert the tool of choice...

I use & like keyless chucks on the milling machine when spotting & drilling then possibly counterboaring then chamfering bolt patterns. That's a bunch of tool changing. Indeed it is----along with a huge number of spindle stops and starts. A perfect opportunity to use a Wahlstrom chuck, so y...

It might not be quite as transparent as you'd like. I have ground crankshafts in a former life. We used Texaco water sol oil. Which was almost like 2% milk. In other words could just barely see your work. This Hocut 795 is much better than that. I recall that we used to use a much lighter mixture f...

Thanks for the glowing report on Hocut 795, which will save me considerable research time in the near future. Houghton seems to have a real grip on providing coolants that work, so I've long had respect for their offerings. We used their Hocut 23 7 for grinding, years ago, in all kinds of grinders, ...

what I do that's different is that I use the vacuum (central vac now) as a power unit with a 5 gallon plastic pail for the chips to go into before they reach the vacuum supply. That's an excellent solution! I, too, have a built in vac system, and it's easy to get one of the runs plugged if you happ...

Having already made mention of the DoAll grinder, the job I ran on it that made me yearn for one of those nice, small manuals was an electrode holder I made for Litton Systems, for a plunge EDM. Think of a very small Albrecht drill chuck, but with four jaws, each of which had a square recess that wo...

I have never been fond of small surface grinders with power feeds. If I'm doing intricate grinding I need to feel the movements of the machine. I don't care how well the power feeds disconnect for manual use they still are no pleasure to operate manually compared to a grinder built as a manually op...

Bill, Holding and machining a piece such as has been presented can be troublesome. I should have made mention of a few things that can keep you out of trouble. Because you're holding the part by the corners, it won't have the rigidity you'd get from holding it across flats. With that in mind, it sho...

Russ,

Could you talk a little about gas lenses for those of us that are less knowledgeable about welding? I keep hearing about them but don't have a clue.


TIA!

Harold

While they are soft, and they are used like a collet, they are properly addressed as a step chuck. Hardinge offers a nice line of them, including the closers. I have no clue if yours should, or should not, have the closer, but if there's a taper on the rim, they should have one. It's desirable for l...

Chuckle!!

Not necessarily!
Some people are "lucky" and just stumble into it.

Harold