The Home Machinist!

When it started costing $100 to get the oil changed at one of the chains, I couldn't take it. I remember when oil was a buck a quart and a filter was $3. Now I get 5L of Pennz 0-20 full synthetic from Amazon for $22 (free shipping) and a Honda filter also from Amazon for $12. I'm into pain and suffe...

The saddle bolts are dummies. Not to be critical, but how do you know they are dummies and not blind tapped? I know this seems unlikely, but when all else fails, you have to start looking at unlikely things. Do they unscrew? Is there something on the bottom, back, sides of the boiler that you misse...

Just make it 8 weeks. When you get it in 4, you will talk about the great service!

Unrelated to trains and machining, I discovered this the other day:
I figure there are a few others like me here that might appreciate it.
One more thing for the bucket list.
SteveR.

Harold,
Thank you for your wisdom and your time you take to share it.
Much appreciated!
SteveR

This was briefly mentioned in this recent thread,viewtopic.php?t=112908 but I think it deserves it's own topic.

From the Little Engines Facebook page(https://www.facebook.com/littleenginessteam/)
SteveR

How about looking at plastic car ends.
There are a lot of materials out there that can readily processed that can take more of a beating
than out of aluminum

Cast polyurethane resin in a silicone mold?
SteveR

What about copper sheet? Easy to anneal and work hardens after you press it. Nice and bendy when annealed.
SteveR

Yep - In progress.
Good idea to get way ahead of disassembly.
Thanks for the reminder!
SteveR

Not original to me, but these are helpful to me.

I thought twice about posting, and then thought; "what the heck, it's the Junk Drawer"!
SteveR

Seems to me like the drivers don't turn as freely as they might. So I decided to build a rotator to make it easier to work on the underside where the pedestal binders are. This is similar to the one ChuckHacket-844 describes here: https://www.chaski.org/homemachinist/viewtopic.php?t=106643 . Since I...

Couple of thoughts: 1) Your test piece is not like the spherical part - the test piece is a big block connecting to a thin tube. Perhaps the block didn't heat up enough. You could put a thermocouple directly on the parts to make sure it's at the temperature you think it is. 2) Ask the manufacturer f...