Recent content by Wizard69

Silver & Demming, Hole saws. boring operations, core drills & etc. Well if I can, throw the part in my back pack and take it into work. That isn't going to last for long as retirement is near. I probalby should do something for my lathe, tooling wise for that need. Woodruff cutters...

I haven't been here all summer but I have a few suggestions for you that diverge from most of what has already been said. 1. Get at least one good drill set, standard, and one metric, that are kept in pristine condition. 2. Keep a set of drill bits, possibly just fractionals, next to the drill...

Never heard of Drill America until now so can't comment on them. However there are so many options for drill bits and other tools that I don't see a need to focus on a hardware store chain. For End Mills try some of these: MSC Travers McMaster-Carr DXPE (maybe a little too business to...

I'm not sure how the original posters build went but hope that he has had some success. I entered the machine too rebuilding industry real early in my career and then moved to automation. In any event that early fist exposure to all sorts of lathes and mills made me think seriously about a...

I have to agree with others here, it MIGHT be worth fixing up! This especially if you have any interest and tooling associated with machine tool rebuilding. As for Castiron and breaking it down, you can have success in a number of ways as castiorn will crack easily. A large sledge hammer...

Machining shouldn't be a problem. YOu should be able to find a good recommendation for spindle speed on line or in Machinery's Hand Book. If you are manual machining there is no snese in rushing so you don't need an optimized spindle speed like a production CNC machinist. The really...

Places like MSC, Travers, McMaster-Carr, DXP and others can suppy this sort of stuff. There is a massive selection of belts that can be had, every thing from sanding to Scotch bright. Locally you try hardware stores though they often have crap, Woodcraft stores, welding supply shops and...

Harold has one nice web site full of great ideas and I might add well written. However it is worth pointing out that there are many DIY variants of a die filler around. I even came across one recently optimized for needle files for very small work. I forgot where I saw that die filler...

It is more like $5 a pound for a good quality anvil. And yes they are very hard to find these days. I've been out bid at most aucitons I've gone to recently.

I'm a little late to this thread but man what a great build!!!!! I hope to see a posting soon with the whole engine sitting on a stand. As to the issue of tap clearance much earlier in the thread I'v had similar issues at work in the maintenance of equipment. First if you are looking fo...

I was really saddened to read this as I rather enjoyed the trip to southern PA, to escape the winter hazards of NY, for a few days. The show has always been interesting and I've always managed to pick up a few used tools. Never did well at the auction but that is generally due to folks too...

The first thing that came to mind is that you need to be careful doing any casting indoors, even with the electric furnaces. The reality is you can have gases generated that are not good for you and as such any indoor casting needs significant ventilation. Just after leaving high school I...

I've run into the broken drills in aluminum at work and ended up scrapping the parts. Its extremely frustrating but also very easy to do when drilling with very small drills. Largely though I blame myself for being in a hurry. Learning to manually peck drill carefully is one way to avoid...

Nice work bazmak. Improvised anvils is all I've ever worked with and yes they are a big compromise. Actually it isn't so much the age, it is just act a quality new anvil costs so much that used anvils are often the more cost effective. It isn't uncommon to pay $5+ dollars a pound for...

Honestly I wouldn't feel comfortable using a chuck with a "repaired" jaw like this. The last thing I would want is to be hit in the head with a chunk of iron. So if Taig doesn't have a replacement part I really think your best bet it to make one yourself. Most likely the jaws are steel...