Recent content by moconnor

Hello Tim, Great job so far on your engine. I am following along with interest. A little trick that you can use when trying to judge the color of steel when heating a small part or a cutting tool with a propane torch or similar for hardening, is to keep a magnet close by as you heat the part...

With regards to Rick's photo of the crushed wedding ring, I witnessed a similar injury during my first year as an apprentice in the above mentioned shop. The journeyman that I was working with was showing me how to machine a rather large Diesel engine cylinder head for new guides and seats. He...

Hello All, The shop that I began in as an apprentice machinist was an engine rebuilding shop that took in just about anything from single cylinder engines to a V-8 Detroit Diesel power unit that was used to power the overhead ladle at our local Chevrolet Engine Plant Foundry, which was the...

Hello Don, Wonderful job documenting your project. Thanks for taking the time and effort to share it with us. Beautiful finishes and presentation as always. Well done! Kind regards, Mike

Hi Don, That is very funny. I sure hope that it isn't true. Thanks for sharing that. Regards, Mike

Hello Jerry, I remember a company that used to advertise in The Home Shop Machinist magazine back in the mid-1980's that sold just such a device called the Thomson Template-Controlled Mill-Drill (TM) Table for drill presses and milling machines. After a quick search, I don't think they are in...

Hello Don, The lamp pole, base and shade are fantastic! I love to see gravers being used for complex profiles like your lamp project. George Thomas advocated their use quite often for model engineering in his written work. Keep practicing and develop the skill set, it sure is faster than...

Hey Guys, When I read your post earlier Marv, I thought the same thing and went searching through my files trying to find the article. I am glad that I found it though before I tore through all of my files. Regards, Mike

Hello All, What Marv and Kerrin may be thinking of is an article in Guy Lautard's 'The Machinist's Second Bedside Reader' titled: "AN ULTRA SENSITIVE DIAL INDICATOR BASE" (pp 83-84) which uses a cantilevered beam inside a thin walled tube. Not a precision square, but a very fine adjustable...

Hi Jack, Congratulations on your new Bridgeport mill and successfully getting it in your basement shop. The heavy-duty two-wheeler looks like it worked perfectly. Did you use a truck mounted winch to help control the down hill move of the base? Looks like you had everything well thought out and...

Hello Vince, The clearance in the ring land area is always greater than the piston to cylinder wall clearance (measured at 90 degrees to the piston pin on the skirt). This is done to keep the ring land area from expanding and scuffing the cylinder wall due the the higher temperature of the...

Hello, To set your steady rest, set it up close to the headstock with a dummy shaft that is the same diameter as the axle and will fit through the bushing as Bill suggested. Adjust the fingers to the mocked-up part held in your chuck. Slide the steady down the bed to the position that it will...

Hello Jolijar, I haven't had an Atlas 618 for awhile, but looking in my notebook, the headstock to countershaft belt (Atlas PN M6-127A) was a 3L-310 and the countershaft to motor belt (Atlas L9-125) was a 3L-210. The 34" length belt that you chose will be just fine, your countershaft will just...

Hello Rich, I checked to make sure that no one had mentioned this (tool orientation) before I posted, but forgot about the other thread where you were looking for ideas on machining the radius. It appeared to me as if the tool wasn't re-ground for clockwise (normal) rotation and if so, would...

Hello Rich, Another great project that you have going again. I have been intently following along. Not a criticism, just an observation... when you were machining the radius on the saddle with your boring head, the finish that you ended up with would have been much improved if you would have...