Recent content by jlmanatee

Oooh, I do, I do. I've sent you a seperate email. I want to DRO my 9x20 lathe. - Jack

Hi Geoff, This is a Shumatech DRO. You can get it as a kit in many levels of completeness. For instance (like I did) you can get all the parts, the PCB, the enclosure, etc. Or just the PCB, etc. You cannot get one completely built though. You'll be doing some soldering. Check out Scott...

This reminds me of a story my Dad used to tell of how they moved a 50-ton press across the factory floor during the Depression. He says they puzzled about how to do it till someone suggested bananas. Apparently they got a crate of bananas and smeared the floor with them and then slid the monster...

Speaking of files, didn't the oldtime apprentices have to spend lots of time with a file before they ever even got to touch a machine? Also, in one of the Bedside Readers I remember a fascinating article about how WWII POWs in a Japanese POW camp built a beautiful lathe and all the components...

Another lurker here. I thought I'd jump in again. I have a situation and want to know if this happens to you all too. I start a project, then find that I need to make some tool for the project, then find I need to make an improvement to the mill or lathe before I can make the tool, then find I...

“Let us be silent, that we may hear the whispers of the gods.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson Silence is true wisdom's best reply. ~ Euripides It's good to shut up sometimes. ~ Marcel Marceau ;D

Uhhh, looks like this has been chewed over like an old shoe. Guess I should have done a little searching. Thanks for not beating my over the head. :-[

I've never done any silver soldering and I haven't done any brazing (with oxy acetylene) since high school some 30 years ago. I want to add SS to my repertoire but all I have for heat is a Bernz-o-Matic torch. If I'm going to tool up for SS, what do you all recommend? I have an old brass...

Steve, I thought about the real "need" for those kind of tolerances too. Makes me feel a little better about the Shumatech / Chinese scale solution I'm using. :) But what the heck, sure would have saved time to have a ready-made solution. - Jack

Gahh! :'( Where was this seller when I started the project? Looks nice and the price is O.K. too. -Jack

......... And to stop the increasing incidence of airport shoulder surfing.....

Here are some pics of the Shumatech DRO with Chinese scales I recently completed on my SX3. - Jack

Hi All, What a great forum. I decided to take up the machinist hobby about 3 years ago with the intent of making "really cool stuff" like steam engines. But it seems all I've had time to do is modify my lathe and mill. This website is a real inspiration. My father and grandfather were both...