The Home Machinist!

At our shop one of the guys there does most of the cut knurls Us on 8 to 10" rolls about 5 feet long. Then they get sent to be chromed. Used in sawmills.
The knurl is very deep and coarse, nothing you would want to grab with your hands.

On another note I answered an add for a bunch of kurt style vises. The guy had a pallet full of them he bought from an auction. I went to see them and there were not marking on any of the vises. I asked him if he had a 1/4" Allen wrench which he did. the 1/4" inch Allen wrench fit snug int...

I'll look on ebay for a used Kurt but would it be fair to say that a China copy would still be a big step up from what I have? I see there is a step on the starrett no. 54 hold downs. Does this step go on top of the material such that you could not fly-cut the entire top surface? Actually some Chin...

I have an old mill vise and frequently struggle to get material to sit flat. I use parallels, tighten and then tap on material so that parallels will not slide. Sometimes or frequently, I can not get this to work and the parallel on the movable side of the vise continues to slide. The attached pict...

You are looking for a starrett no. 54 hold down. Can you explain what these do? They just look like parallels. I don't have one here to show you. They are not like a parallel. It has an angle ground on both long sides, so when you tighten down the vise jaw it forces the part down. Used on the movea...

You are looking for a starrett no. 54 hold down.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/255409157918?h ... Sw0BpiG~Cz

I have both a Starrett and Lufkin. I haven't used them in quite a while since Kurt vises have become common in shops.

Richard W.

Most bath fans are around 80 CFM, but Home Depot sells one that is a vertical vent fan with 210 CFM. I put one in a bathroom and when the door is closed, you can really feel the air coming in under the door from across the room. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Broan-NuTone-210-CFM-Ceiling-Utility-Bathro...

I use 8" digital calipers daily at work. Its the first tool out of the box along with a 6" scale. I use them for most every thing, except close tolerance work. Then out come the micrometers. I get a new one every few years when the jaws wear a tapered. We are doing more and more metric wor...

I agree with Harold. You bought to a price point and that is what you got. You just might be happy with it once you get to using it. Some people upgrade but keep their first lathe. You may be one of them.

Richard W.

Still need to make that spider. Well here we are almost six weeks later and I finally made a spider. It's threaded for 1/4-20 screws with an OD of 1-1/4". For times when that's too big, I like Hanz's suggestion from a long time ago to just use a socket, although I haven't actually tried that m...

I was looking for something inexpensive that is light to lift. What do owners of this think of it?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/313520981321?e ... SwMmBV4cwe


I am trying to avoid a setup using an index head and tailstock for small quick parts.

Richard W.

All good ideas! Thanks. Glenn, what you show there is what I meant by a "giant spider". I'm still wondering if a big hose clamp would work ... kind of an adjustable ring, if you will. -- Russell Mac I have not used hose clamps, but don't see why it wouldn't work on smaller sized chucks. A...