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Hi Rob, it’s great to see that you’re making progress on the engine. Making the radiator fins was a real pain for me, they always wanted to bend one way. I ended up coming from the opposite end, can’t recall if it was right to left or left to right, I had plenty of scrapped ones until I got it...

Hi all, I know that I haven’t posted for years now, but just to fill everyone in, due to my ongoing health problems my wife and I moved to a retirement village just over 3 1/2 years ago. It was not possible to relocate my machines so everything was sold as a whole to a friend, at that stage the...

I have, in the distant past, taken a suitable steel bar and machined a slot in one end and then soldered a piece of HSS blade in the slot. The HSS is then ground to mimick a drill, it worked but was very slow as you have to keep clearing the swarf. Paul.

Hi John, Rc 45-50 means that the part has a hardness on the Rockwell C scale between 45 and 50. In my years as a toolmaker the maximum hardness of a soft piece of tool steel was around 35Rc, this was tough but could be machined using high speed steel tooling. The piece you mention has definately...

As Goldstar 31 said. I use to have several when I was into woodwork, great for gluing planks together for table tops. Paul.

Great idea John, we all have to face that problem eventually. You are so lucky to be based there, near all the other countries, I have to drive for about 4 1/2 hours to just leave the state we live in to cross the border to the next nearest state. Paul.

Hi latheboy, welcome from another toolmaker, also in Victoria. Paul.

Hi John, maybe there's a lapidary club nearby that may be able to help you, or at least point you in the right direction. Paul.

Congratulations, a very nice engine. Paul.

Cutting speeds should be, relatively speaking, the same for whatever milling machine you have. It's the depth of cut and feed rate that you can use that is determined by your machine. I'm sure you will be able to google a milling cutter speed (and feed) chart, so just select the diameter of...

For those that have worked for a living in the metal trades, sharpening drills correctly is a necessary skill, honed over many years. But for the home workshop guy that has not had a lot of exposure, it is often a mystery. If you keep a new drill handy and use that as an example when trying to...

Hi Gus, I'm just a bit slow to get fully motivated to finish off the V4, although I am working on it slowly. The weather is getting colder here now, so will have to use the heater in the workshop. There are ways and means to prevent kidney disease, healthy living, low salt, watch blood...

The way they are going, they will be supplying very serious machinery to industry soon enough. With the upcoming closure of the automotive manufacturing, I think that a lot of the machine suppliers who only sell the one brand will call it quits and let others take the agencies. Paul.

Hi Rod, there are plenty of machine tool suppliers, but Hare and Forbes are the major one for the home workshop as well as to general industry. Paul.

Gus, I'm back at work, but slowly at the moment. I've been doing a bit of promotion work for kidney health, as well as taking part in a few discussion groups with my transplant hospital regarding their way forward in the future. Paul.

With a great rest like that you could make a nice holder for a diamond dresser that runs along the front edge of the rest. I'm another one that must copy that rest idea. Paul.

Hi Max, post 175 onwards shows a bit about the way I machined my cams. I have used other methods in the past, but decided to give this way a go. I redrew the cams on my computer from the dimensions on the drawing, and then obtained the correct offsets to allow me to use the boring head to...

Hi Max, At the moment I can't think of any reason why the cutter should not work on gears with smaller teeth, so long as your gear blanks are the right size. If the blanks are not correct for the number of teeth you will get funny looking teeth, might be worth checking. Paul.

For a model engine maker to make them for his own use is one thing, to make them for someone else and charge them for the many hours spent making them would not be an option for the end user. The cost would be prohibitive. Paul.

I thought that I better check in, I'm still alive and well, my hospital visits are now 2 weeks apart so that gives me more time to do other things. I've been having a bit of a break from machining, apart from a few things friends wanted me to do. We seem to be past the good weather now and into...