The Home Machinist!

Ahhh, I see you haven't caught the Sickness yet. Some are immune, apparently...

2. Getting the mill onto the trailer was surprisingly difficult. The threshold ramp on the trailer looks small but is pretty significant when trying to roll 2K lbs. The mill wanted to slide as we angled up. I should have just used the forklift but I wanted to be sure to understand the physics and c...

Frankly, if you want to stay small, you might look at the micro lathes from Unimat or Seig, or similar. I have no experience with these, but these seem to be very popular with small scale machinists. Otherwise, Imwould look for a good used 12" Craftsmen or Atlas. There are LOTS of these on crai...

Actually a Nice looking model! The price certainly seems very high. but consider the source. the seller's web site seems to be a high end antiques dealer- with stuff advertised at two or three times actual value. Apparently they think, they can get that kind of money by presenting it as a rare and u...

Wow. You should rivet the body of the tender out of clear lexan so you can see the craftsmanship of the frame!

Charlie, one thing to consider, if you remove the front truck the drivers will impart a lot of wear to the aluminum rail in the curves. I had a 4-4-4 once apon a time with a poorly machined front truck. It derailed constantly. So finally took it off and ran as an 0-4-4. It was a Christmas train for ...

Harlock - indeed, projects galore! I figure there is enuf work on tap to keep busy until 125 years of age. Would actually like to reconfigure the cab on each of the switchers to more closely represent the actual prototypes. Plus build some rolling stock. Both cabs could pretty easily be cut down and...

image.jpg Couple of photos of the 'switchers' that came with the Ottaway. They have been in storage for 30 years, so in need of a bit of new livery... The steeple cab is all electric and needs a motor. The 1500 switcher is powered by an old one lung Onan gas engine and what looks like a model A For...

Recently picked up a Crystal Lake OD grinder (Model 811) to make collets and things. It seems like it's in very good condition, but doesn't have ANY documentation - either with the machine or on the Web. Anybody know about these machines? Or where I might find a parts diagram or operators/maintenanc...

So I've been looking for a dividing head, and see many old brands for sale on EBay that are missing one or more indexing plates. Can anyone educate me on how universal these indexing plates are? For example, are indexing plates of a certain diameter usually made with a standard bolt hole pattern? Or...

Of course, if what you're doing is fitting a shaft to a bore, then the two parts just have to be at the same temperature at the time of measuring. Shop temperature doesn't matter. Iam getting ready to grind some arbors and collets to fit standard size quill in a universal mill. So interested to fin...

A related problem I've wondered about is what happens to tolerances when working in my un-heated shop during the winter. At present the outside temp is around 40 F. Standard measuring temperature is 68F. So yesterday I measured a 1" piece of CRS round stock at 40* that I had previously turned t...