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Most of my crankshaft designs so far have been on the smallish side, never bigger than a 1.25" roundstock. I have one last (quickly fading) opportunity to obtain some materials and want to build a crankshaft grinder, and the first dilemma is how big to make it. It would be more practical if it...

Recently, I have been rather unsuccessful with some copper rivets, until I tried annealing them first. Do you always have to anneal rivets, or just the ones that have sat around too long and hardened?

My Google-Fu does not seem to be working so well this morning. I recall finding a webpage with a program that would calculate and print out a timing tape for whatever diameter of circle. I checked Marv's pages but if its there I missed it. In this case, I am looking to make degree markings on...

I am trying to deceide if a project is feasible. I would like a steam powered emergency generator that can run say 4000 watts of electrical equipment. Some of the ham radio operators on this board may realize there is a field day bonus for renewable energy. :) Now to get 4k watts of power would...

I have a pice of 6" round x 3.5" mystery steel (probably 1018), and need a fixture to turn a crankshaft that I cannot turn between centers. I drew this up, but am looking for some feedback or other ideas before I start, as its a heck of a lot of metal to remove. In use, the stock is clamped in...

I am starting to work on carburetor design, and need to step turn the inside diameter into a venturi on the lathe. While I can draw a decent venturi, I would like to find out how to model one mathematically, so I can generate coordinates for step turning. Of course, I could draw it out 10x...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/04/13/yale-student-dies-chemistry-lab-accident Anyone hear about this? I am sure there is a lesson to be learned there somewhere.

I cant find much information on electrodeposition of babbit material out on the web. I see a few places using tin/lead plating so it may work. Has anyone heard of using a babbit anode to electroplate a bearing shell?

Boxxer twin prototype Having finally worked up the courage to start a build thread, and finding the spare time, I offer this up to our community. I cant promise any great contributions to the art, only the hope that some might find some things here useful. We learn from our mistakes, and I...

Had a semi sucessful casting experiance tonight, casting engine block halves for a twin I am building. Took a few pictures and decided to share them. The forms were 3d printing in nylon, another first for myself in this project. There are a lot of things I would do differently next time around...

This is a nearly complete crankshaft with a special 1/16 chip clearing, deep hole drilling, drill bit with the tip snapped off as it started to break through. Uploaded with ImageShack.us I didnt even realize it happened until I inspected the part, I dont think there is much depth to the...

Has anyone used any 3d printing companies? Recommendations? I am thinking of using 3d printing for some molding patterns.

I needed to repair an old telescope mount that was broken when it tipped over. The shape was easy enough to cast, but it needed a rather large bore with an internal keyway. having long ago read and filed away the idea of using the lathe as a shaper, it came to me that this dusty memory was...

http://www.kwgn.com/news/kdvr-tiny-town-train-txt,0,7283838.story I sure hope everyone turns out ok.

I am not proud of this, but it did work, so I could keep it out of the mistakes, blunders, and boo boo's section. In America, this is probably considered Rube Goldberg, I forget the English gent that epitomized the concept on the other side of the pond. Often, one of the biggest, and usually...

Hello there! Forgive my ignorance, but I am new to the boiler world. I would like to build a small model boiler (approx 3"dia), and while copper is a dream to work with, I am afraid of turning $150 in materials into scrap. I can tig, mig, gas weld, braze, soft solder, and surface mount solder...

I need to install one helicoil insert for a m10x1.5 thread. Mcmaster wants $20 for the tap. I see they list 12.5mm as outside diameter for the helicoil. Is there anything special about the tap where I couldnt reproduce it? I can probably make a 12.5x1.5 homemade tap on my lathe, or 1/2x17tpi for...

I guess if I wait until a good shop cleaning I will never get around to posting some pics. Since this is such a friendly bunch, and likely just as cluttered in your own workshops at times, that excuse wont hold any water. I am rather new around here, but some of you I have followed for quite...

I suppose dropping my lathe counts as a boo boo. Mistake 1 was the questionable parentage of the hooks in the basement ceiling, but I figured it would go along with the questionable Chinese heritage of the lathe. It weighs approx 375# fully dressed as a 3n1 machine, but I had removed the mill...

I am at the point where I am making tools to make more tools to finally make parts. One set of these tools requires dovetails, and while I find a wealth of information on measuring them, I have found very little info on actually cutting them. Just what is the best way to avoid explosive...